The male mid-life crisis is not what it used to be. In the bad old, sad old, please-can-we-have-them-back-old days, a chap could greet the arrival of thinning hair, sagging jowls and a tightening waistband by following a well-trudged path, replacing pinstripes, executive saloon, marital fidelity and a quiet pint of Old Leg Over on the way home from the office, with leather jacket, sports car, bibulous nervous breakdown, then slow and shamed return, possibly with the help of understanding wife to something approaching sanity, sobriety and solvency. (“No, dear, you can’t keep the Maserati. And take out that bloody earring.”)
現在男人的中年危機與過去不同了。在過往艱難困苦與物質匱乏的時代，年輕小夥由於一路坎坷，可能會提前迎來漸趨稀疏的頭髮、日見鬆弛的臉頰以及逐漸變小的肚腩，細條紋西裝、公務車、對愛人的忠貞不渝以及下班路上悄然喝一杯Old Leg Over的情形不復存在。現在與此相對應的是，穿皮夾克、開跑車、宿醉精神失態而後晃晃悠悠無地自容回家則成了常態，有時還得在善解人意的妻子的提醒下變得理智、持重以及有擔當。（「不，老公！你不能再開瑪莎拉蒂車(Maserati)了，把你那血色戒指也褪下來。」）