That got me to thinking about other words we use to describe ourselves. So my answer is that crone, and sage, are equivalent states of being. But most males are geezers and codgers. We only occasionally achieve the sage state. For all you whippersnappers who don t have a clue, geezers and codgers are basically the same, except that geezers cackle, codgers harumph, and sages chuckle knowingly.
Some men are capable of doing all three within a single sentence.
Don t try these exercises at home or without adequate supervision. One missed cackle in the midst of a harumph or chuckle can have the same effect as laughing with a mouth full of ginger beer and the lot comes out your nose. If you are being a sage, this sort of behavior is guaranteed to destroy your image. If you are being a codger, it s not so bad as most codgers need deflating in any case. If you are being a geezer, you can consider nose emissions as normal.