Hi Erica! I *am* the older person who got a strange look from a younger classmate once. (And if memory serves, I was only in my thirties when this happened.)
I was attending classes at a local community college for personal interest. The classmate and I were between classes, standing on the sidewalk between classrooms, having a conversation. Suddenly I realized we had been there a while, and I said "Oh, if we don't want to be late for class, we better not dawdle."
The younger classmate looked at me and, very, very quietly, under her breath, laughed and said "Daaaw-dle." But not quietly enough. I was only in my thirties and my hearing was still pretty good.