
Originally Posted by
JohnParis
I bring this up for the sole purpose of discussion, not because the previous answers are in any way incorrect.
Eldest.
Because of it singular definition, (of one out of a group of related or otherwise associated people) of the greatest age; oldest : Swift left the company to his eldest son, Charles | he was the eldest of the three) I have always been inclined to use eldest when referring to my position in my family. The Appalachian mountains were old but I was always referred to as the eldest child. Would "eldest" be better when describing groups of related people compared with "old"?