Benjamin Button

English

Etymology

In reference to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (1922), a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a man who is born old and ages in reverse.

Verb

Benjamin Button (third-person singular simple present Benjamin Buttons, present participle Benjamin Buttoning, simple past and past participle Benjamin Buttoned)

1. (informal) To seemingly "age in reverse"; to appear younger, either through changes in appearance or one's personality and lifestyle.
   • 2012 October 26, “Would You Want to Age Backwards Like Benjamin Button?”, in VICE‎^[1], archived from the original on 2023-06-03:

     Wouldn't it be nice to have some variety in the whole "we get older the longer we are alive" cliche? For instance, what if we Benjamin Buttoned? That is, wouldn't you want to be born old and with the mind of an infant, then get physically younger as you matured?

   • 2014 December 19, Brittany Talarico, “Photo Proof That Jennifer Aniston and Jennifer Lopez Never (Ever!) Age”, in People‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: Dotdash Meredith, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-06-15:

     You can't deny that both Jennifer Aniston and Jennifer Lopez are Benjamin Buttoning. The actresses look just as good now as they did 10 years ago (click here if you need a reminder!), and they definitely didn't disappoint when it came to their red carpet looks at the PEOPLE Magazine Awards.

   • 2016 July 28, “The Art of Benjamin Buttoning”, in HuffPost‎^[3], archived from the original on 2023-06-15:

     His eyes were mirthful yet solemn when he told me: "These old bones are still too young to let the fun die! Who said fifty was when life settled? It's only just beginning! We're all just Benjamin Buttoning through life, ya know? We all just crave a little adventure and novelty."

   • 2019 April 10, Nathan Ma, “Carly Rae Jepsen Benjamin Buttons Through Life in Her Videos”, in VICE‎^[4], archived from the original on 2023-06-04:

     But over the years, she found her beat by Benjamin Buttoning herself, hitting reverse and reexamining the messy, hormonal and overwrought soap operas that we drafted in our pubescent heads.

   • 2020 December 3, Liz Richardson, “13 Times People "Benjamin Buttoned" Big Time And Somehow Aged In Reverse”, in BuzzFeed‎^[5], archived from the original on 2022-12-25:

     Well, people on TikTok are sharing how they basically "Benjamin Buttoned" over time as they somehow look younger now than they did years ago.

   • 2023 February 8, Rex Huppke, “'Dark Brandon' shows up at State of the Union, mops the floor with lost Republicans”, in USA Today‎^[6], archived from the original on 2023-06-11:

     Whatever the White House cooks are feeding Biden these days, I'd like a plate of it myself. It's like he's Benjamin-Buttoning all of a sudden.

See also

• agerasia
• Dorian Gray syndrome