I agree that retirement is an achievement to be gained. I hope you get there some day. It's pretty fucking awesome.
That is probably a key difference between you and I Sol, I would say that FI is an achievement to be gained. All I need to do to 'retire' at this point would be to write up a letter, sign it, put it on my boss' desk, and stop showing up to work. I would not consider that an achievement, it'll just happen. In fact, I've done it twice before, before I was FI even!
I used to work, then I retired and now I don't work any more. I do fun stuff instead. Nobody pays me for it, because I don't need anyone else's money. I already have money. Now I do stuff that I find interesting or inspiring, pretty much regardless of cost. You know, like a retired person.
I've had lots of people tell me that I'm "not really retired" but so far I can't see the difference between my life and a retired person's life. Except that my body is not yet old and broken down, of course.
I do fun stuff, but people call it work! Why can't I just call myself retired if I am doing what I want to do and paying other people to do things I don't want to do or don't have time to do. I get paid a salary that I no longer need (hence paying other people for their labor), but I do like getting company provided healthcare, paid vacations, business travel, housing in Paris near work, paid to get culture and language training, etc. In my case, 'retirement' would mean finding my own health care plan, not getting paid to go on vacations, having to buy my own plane tickets and living arrangements, being a tourist rather than a local colleague... so retirement sounds worse to me than continuing to work!
Also don't get me started on SAHP's (Retire by 40, Mr. Tako) that can call themselves retired when it suits them. I would never dream of calling my wife retired (other than on this forum). She certainly does not consider herself 'retired' although she's been a substitute teacher on and off for about the last 10 years while we've traveled.
But back to my main point, other than to FIRE people, do you tell the average person you meet that you are retired? Neighbors, people older than you that are working, family, etc.? I'm genuinely curious, sorry if I struck a nerve earlier with careless use of the word 'dumb'. And how is it going, surely you get some confused looks? For me, I would imagine I'd either get asked if I'm a stay at home Dad or between jobs (aka unemployed). I don't think I ever said young people never retire, I was just pointing out that it is an awkward word (especially when MMM used it while making 400k/yr building his brand). He was having fun doing his blogging 'hobby' but it seemed in a way very much like my job (or worse, because at least I can always leave it all 'at the office'). If you've ever blogged for income, there are a lot of tedious things around managing the back end ads and partners, comments, keeping the thing up and looking good, keeping links active, fighting off spam and evaluating questionable offers...