You know you're getting old when people tell you how good you look.

In this wry, self-deprecating line, Alan King turns a seemingly flattering remark into a marker of aging. The joke hinges on the social subtext of “you look good”: when said to younger people it can be casual or romantic, but when directed at someone older it often carries an implied comparison to decline—“good, for your age.” King’s humor exposes how compliments can be backhanded, reflecting cultural anxieties about aging and appearance. The line also captures a familiar shift in social interactions over time: praise becomes less about attractiveness or vitality and more about surprise that one is “holding up” at all.