Believe it or not, people once actually talked about Generation X
March 6, 2024 6:06 PM Subscribe
Okay, so there's a bug in the bottom corner and a timecode and a pesky watermark, but this MTV News special feature about Generation X from 1991 [50m] is still pretty amazing. Narrated by Kurt Loder.
With growing horror, I've come to realize that a fair number of Millenials and the overwhelming wave of Gen Z include Gen X in their "Ok, boomer." categorization.
I'm not a Boomer, damnit. We're the first ones that got shafted by them. :)
posted by drewbage1847 at 7:34 PM on March 6 [102 favorites]
I'm not a Boomer, damnit. We're the first ones that got shafted by them. :)
posted by drewbage1847 at 7:34 PM on March 6 [102 favorites]
I've seen that as well, drewbage1847. Natural consequence of not talking about G_nX.
posted by doctornemo at 7:42 PM on March 6 [4 favorites]
posted by doctornemo at 7:42 PM on March 6 [4 favorites]
Yeah... that's kind of the point of "Ok, boomer". It cuts real deep like, "you sound just like Grandpa." It's brilliant actually.
Of course, I agree with the your last sentence, and I think that if the boomers didn't want to be called names they could have chosen not to name us "Generation X" as a slander.
posted by Horkus at 7:43 PM on March 6 [14 favorites]
Of course, I agree with the your last sentence, and I think that if the boomers didn't want to be called names they could have chosen not to name us "Generation X" as a slander.
posted by Horkus at 7:43 PM on March 6 [14 favorites]
I recall that Kurt Loder seemed impossibly old for MTV in 1991. I look now and see that he was 46.
posted by q*ben at 7:47 PM on March 6 [26 favorites]
posted by q*ben at 7:47 PM on March 6 [26 favorites]
Of course, I agree with the your last sentence, and I think that if the boomers didn't want to be called names they could have chosen not to name us "Generation X" as a slander.
It comes from a book written by a member of Generation X called, amazingly, Generation X
posted by LionIndex at 7:49 PM on March 6 [28 favorites]
It comes from a book written by a member of Generation X called, amazingly, Generation X
posted by LionIndex at 7:49 PM on March 6 [28 favorites]
I don't understand the obsession with the generations and their goofy ass names. I once told that to someone much younger than me and their response was, "that's so Gen X of you." I about lost my mind, I felt like I was in a Bill Hicks routine featuring marketing people.
posted by NoMich at 7:50 PM on March 6 [36 favorites]
posted by NoMich at 7:50 PM on March 6 [36 favorites]
Who?
posted by mhoye at 7:50 PM on March 6 [6 favorites]
posted by mhoye at 7:50 PM on March 6 [6 favorites]
Always wondered if Copeland borrowed GenX from Billy Idol and crew and.. at least according to Wikipedia - he did.
posted by drewbage1847 at 7:54 PM on March 6 [6 favorites]
posted by drewbage1847 at 7:54 PM on March 6 [6 favorites]
It comes from a book written by a member of Generation X called, amazingly, Generation X
posted by mhoye at 7:55 PM on March 6 [9 favorites]
"Generation X is a framed narrative, like Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales or The Decameron by Boccaccio."We see you, Mr. Coupland, and you are violating the fourth crack commandment.
posted by mhoye at 7:55 PM on March 6 [9 favorites]
i feel like i am the last slacker alive
posted by MonsieurPEB at 7:55 PM on March 6 [14 favorites]
posted by MonsieurPEB at 7:55 PM on March 6 [14 favorites]
It comes from a book written by a member of Generation X
Douglas Coupland was born in 1961, which by most definitions makes him a boomer.
posted by senor biggles at 7:56 PM on March 6 [17 favorites]
Douglas Coupland was born in 1961, which by most definitions makes him a boomer.
posted by senor biggles at 7:56 PM on March 6 [17 favorites]
"Generation X is a framed narrative, like Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales or The Decameron by Boccaccio."
Those stories are decidedly not how my life and inner monologue go.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:57 PM on March 6 [1 favorite]
Those stories are decidedly not how my life and inner monologue go.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:57 PM on March 6 [1 favorite]
i feel like i am the last slacker alive
Nope, not yet.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:59 PM on March 6 [5 favorites]
Nope, not yet.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:59 PM on March 6 [5 favorites]
Always wondered if Copeland borrowed GenX from Billy Idol and crew and.. at least according to Wikipedia - he did.
In turn, Idol says he borrowed the moniker from a 1964 book titled "Generation X", about British youth culture. So even the term Generation X is squarely from the baby boom years. GenX shafted again!!
posted by senor biggles at 8:02 PM on March 6 [23 favorites]
In turn, Idol says he borrowed the moniker from a 1964 book titled "Generation X", about British youth culture. So even the term Generation X is squarely from the baby boom years. GenX shafted again!!
posted by senor biggles at 8:02 PM on March 6 [23 favorites]
Strauss and Howe used the term in their more academic attempt to talk about generations because they were describing a group of people, around the same time of this television special, who had not yet actually defined themselves as a group. The group before them were the Baby Boomers, before them was the Silent Generation who birthed the Xers, before them the GI Generation... it's a whole thing, really. But the generation they were describing at the time, they called the 13th Gen or Gen X because they had not been alive long enough to show their character yet.
posted by hippybear at 8:09 PM on March 6 [4 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 8:09 PM on March 6 [4 favorites]
Douglas Coupland was born in 1961, which by most definitions makes him a boomer.
"You're Generation X now. That's your generation's name."
"OK Boomer."
posted by mhoye at 8:19 PM on March 6 [7 favorites]
"You're Generation X now. That's your generation's name."
"OK Boomer."
posted by mhoye at 8:19 PM on March 6 [7 favorites]
Hey, here's Douglas Copeland in the early 90s making an experimental infomercial describing the zeitgeist of the era.
posted by ovvl at 8:19 PM on March 6 [4 favorites]
posted by ovvl at 8:19 PM on March 6 [4 favorites]
Ya know, I'd completely forget I'm part of GenX if people didn't keep bringing it up.
posted by Ickster at 8:26 PM on March 6 [3 favorites]
posted by Ickster at 8:26 PM on March 6 [3 favorites]
Hah, geography doesn't exist any more. Yes, it does, and you really can't escape it. Your food comes from somewhere, all of the things you use on a daily basis were made with resources that came from somewhere. No matter how near or far. You exist somewhere. That's geography.
posted by mollweide at 8:28 PM on March 6 [1 favorite]
posted by mollweide at 8:28 PM on March 6 [1 favorite]
No, it's from the intro from the Coupland video ovvl posted.
posted by mollweide at 8:39 PM on March 6 [5 favorites]
posted by mollweide at 8:39 PM on March 6 [5 favorites]
Younger people cannot hurt us by calling us Boomers, we will just shrug and say "whatever." If you have no expectations you can't be disappointed, isn't that our motto?
Anyway, I remain content to be ignored. More peaceful.
posted by emjaybee at 8:49 PM on March 6 [30 favorites]
Anyway, I remain content to be ignored. More peaceful.
posted by emjaybee at 8:49 PM on March 6 [30 favorites]
I bought the book Generation Ecch in 1994 for the Evan Dorkin cartoons (sample). He really captured the Gen-X flavor with the illustrations (reprinted in Dork). His work on the Eltingville Club and Milk & Cheese were some 90's cultural staples for my crowd.
posted by JDC8 at 9:27 PM on March 6 [7 favorites]
posted by JDC8 at 9:27 PM on March 6 [7 favorites]
Yeah... that's kind of the point of "Ok, boomer". It cuts real deep like, "you sound just like Grandpa." It's brilliant actually.
Cutting equally deep is the Boomer reply of, "Ok, renter."
posted by ITravelMontana at 9:36 PM on March 6 [16 favorites]
Cutting equally deep is the Boomer reply of, "Ok, renter."
posted by ITravelMontana at 9:36 PM on March 6 [16 favorites]
Yikes.
posted by nobody at 9:38 PM on March 6 [10 favorites]
posted by nobody at 9:38 PM on March 6 [10 favorites]
It comes from a book written by a member of Generation X called, amazingly, Generation X
for the record, Mr. Coupland was born in 1961. So technically a Boomer, not Gen-X. But he was sharp enough to note a certain cluster of cultural peculiarities and put a label to them.
I personally prefer Slacker in terms of a cultural document that actually nailed a zeitgeist I recognized at the time. Writer-director Richard Linklater is also technically a boomer, born in 1960.
posted by philip-random at 9:54 PM on March 6 [8 favorites]
for the record, Mr. Coupland was born in 1961. So technically a Boomer, not Gen-X. But he was sharp enough to note a certain cluster of cultural peculiarities and put a label to them.
I personally prefer Slacker in terms of a cultural document that actually nailed a zeitgeist I recognized at the time. Writer-director Richard Linklater is also technically a boomer, born in 1960.
posted by philip-random at 9:54 PM on March 6 [8 favorites]
I'm of the opinion that we are going to have two generations the youngs and the olds and in the future we will refer to them as "boomer" and "millenials" and thus it shall ever be the eternal struggle.
posted by symbioid at 10:12 PM on March 6 [12 favorites]
posted by symbioid at 10:12 PM on March 6 [12 favorites]
Living at home, working through college, rising cost of education and few job prospects coming out of school...yup. Sounds about right.
posted by Chuffy at 10:22 PM on March 6 [3 favorites]
posted by Chuffy at 10:22 PM on March 6 [3 favorites]
Hah - Jesus Jones - they certainly nailed the music from that point. It is strange to recall that "Generation X" was really an American only thing. Growing up in the UK, I don't think we ever called ourselves that. The experience of latter generations us considered more globally. It is significant that journalists start to write articles about [name of the next generation] as they are entering their twenties - so a lot of the observations are really just pertinent to people in their twenties at any point: idealism meeting practicality, being full of energy but a little naive, aspiring to get a place to live, and so on. But really - of course - you can't definitively write about any generation until it has lived and died off. And that last chapter: retirement, growing old, passing on a legacy and dying - is maybe the most important.
(In terms of name origins - I know Blank Generation was kind of taken - but always would have preferred that one)
posted by rongorongo at 10:28 PM on March 6 [4 favorites]
(In terms of name origins - I know Blank Generation was kind of taken - but always would have preferred that one)
posted by rongorongo at 10:28 PM on March 6 [4 favorites]
With growing horror, I've come to realize that a fair number of Millenials and the overwhelming wave of Gen Z include Gen X in their "Ok, boomer." categorization.
I'm not a Boomer, damnit. We're the first ones that got shafted by them. :)
I'm Gen X, and I think for our cohort it's kind of a split. Maybe half (??) of us made the right the financial decisions and were in the right place at the right time (though less so than Boomers to be sure), and are doing a-ok financially, with a nice pension/retirement to look forward to. The other half of Gen X are those of us who made the "wrong" financial decisions, like not buying house when they were cheap, are just as screwed as millenials and Gen Z. More screwed, because we're gonna be too old to work in a decade or so.
posted by zardoz at 10:36 PM on March 6 [30 favorites]
I'm not a Boomer, damnit. We're the first ones that got shafted by them. :)
I'm Gen X, and I think for our cohort it's kind of a split. Maybe half (??) of us made the right the financial decisions and were in the right place at the right time (though less so than Boomers to be sure), and are doing a-ok financially, with a nice pension/retirement to look forward to. The other half of Gen X are those of us who made the "wrong" financial decisions, like not buying house when they were cheap, are just as screwed as millenials and Gen Z. More screwed, because we're gonna be too old to work in a decade or so.
posted by zardoz at 10:36 PM on March 6 [30 favorites]
I thought we settled all this with “Homerpalooza” nearly 30 years ago.
posted by credulous at 10:52 PM on March 6 [9 favorites]
posted by credulous at 10:52 PM on March 6 [9 favorites]
Here's the 1952 Holiday Magazine that first uses "Generation X" and here (1 2 3) are the subsequent three photo essays on various individuals "just turning 21."
posted by user92371 at 11:35 PM on March 6 [6 favorites]
posted by user92371 at 11:35 PM on March 6 [6 favorites]
Something I (late era Gen Xer) am often saying to the Millennials I work with is "I didn't break the planet, it was like this when I found it" which I think came from a Denis Leary short on MTV, back when the M stood for Music.
posted by Molesome at 1:05 AM on March 7 [4 favorites]
posted by Molesome at 1:05 AM on March 7 [4 favorites]
✋🏽: GenX, a Boomer slur
👉🏽: Gens Decem, a DIY RomanEmpirePunk patrician found family
posted by otherchaz at 2:15 AM on March 7 [4 favorites]
👉🏽: Gens Decem, a DIY RomanEmpirePunk patrician found family
posted by otherchaz at 2:15 AM on March 7 [4 favorites]
too long; didn't watch
posted by BYiro at 3:14 AM on March 7 [1 favorite]
posted by BYiro at 3:14 AM on March 7 [1 favorite]
"you sound just like Grandpa."
I'm now the same age my grandpa was when I was born
posted by torokunai at 3:29 AM on March 7 [5 favorites]
I'm now the same age my grandpa was when I was born
posted by torokunai at 3:29 AM on March 7 [5 favorites]
I'm Gen X, and I think for our cohort it's kind of a split. Maybe half (??) of us made the right the financial decisions and were in the right place at the right time (though less so than Boomers to be sure), and are doing a-ok financially, with a nice pension/retirement to look forward to. The other half of Gen X are those of us who made the "wrong" financial decisions, like not buying house when they were cheap, are just as screwed as millenials and Gen Z. More screwed, because we're gonna be too old to work in a decade or so.
There's also this thing called Generation Jones for those who were born in the latter part of the baby boom and those born early in the Gen X years. I am part of this group. I used to call myself a cuspie (being born in the commonly cited year that divides the generations) because I definitely didn't relate to the older boomers and their culture, and the Gen X stuff, well I felt slightly older than most of that cohort, but I did identify more with that culture but still felt outside of both groups.
I guess that there were enough of us that felt this way that they felt the need to create a micro-generation.
posted by newpotato at 3:32 AM on March 7 [10 favorites]
There's also this thing called Generation Jones for those who were born in the latter part of the baby boom and those born early in the Gen X years. I am part of this group. I used to call myself a cuspie (being born in the commonly cited year that divides the generations) because I definitely didn't relate to the older boomers and their culture, and the Gen X stuff, well I felt slightly older than most of that cohort, but I did identify more with that culture but still felt outside of both groups.
I guess that there were enough of us that felt this way that they felt the need to create a micro-generation.
posted by newpotato at 3:32 AM on March 7 [10 favorites]
i feel like i am the last slacker alive
https://imgur.com/BmrxE8p
posted by torokunai at 3:37 AM on March 7 [3 favorites]
https://imgur.com/BmrxE8p
posted by torokunai at 3:37 AM on March 7 [3 favorites]
The Generation Jones thing makes sense. The whole original point of "boomer", supposedly, was that soldiers came home from World War II, all started families at the same time, and boom, created a demographic wave.
Not people who came home, hung around for over a decade and a half, then decided to have a kid. Totally different situation.
People who were born in 1960, 61 or so, you're starting to talk about people whose parents were toddlers in World War II. 1964 (arbitrarily the end of the "boomer" generation)? If you were born in 1964 and your parents were 18, your parents were born in 1946....boomers themselves.
Formative experiences of actual boomers around the time they graduated high school and went out into the world: hippies, drugs, Vietnam, Martin Luther King assassination, Woodstock, moon landing, women's rights, Nixon gets elected.
Formative experiences of Generation Jones at that same age: punk and post-punk, Iranian hostages, inflation, crappy economics, Reagan and Thatcher get elected, AIDS, last gasps and crises of the (original) Cold War.
Not the same.
posted by gimonca at 4:33 AM on March 7 [15 favorites]
Not people who came home, hung around for over a decade and a half, then decided to have a kid. Totally different situation.
People who were born in 1960, 61 or so, you're starting to talk about people whose parents were toddlers in World War II. 1964 (arbitrarily the end of the "boomer" generation)? If you were born in 1964 and your parents were 18, your parents were born in 1946....boomers themselves.
Formative experiences of actual boomers around the time they graduated high school and went out into the world: hippies, drugs, Vietnam, Martin Luther King assassination, Woodstock, moon landing, women's rights, Nixon gets elected.
Formative experiences of Generation Jones at that same age: punk and post-punk, Iranian hostages, inflation, crappy economics, Reagan and Thatcher get elected, AIDS, last gasps and crises of the (original) Cold War.
Not the same.
posted by gimonca at 4:33 AM on March 7 [15 favorites]
Characterizing people by their "generation" is about as reliable as astrology.
posted by pracowity at 4:34 AM on March 7 [17 favorites]
posted by pracowity at 4:34 AM on March 7 [17 favorites]
"OK Boomer" is gonna be like the word "vintage" - it will apply to anyone 20 years older than the speaker
"OK renter," as said above, is no slander to me. I am SO grateful I wasn't swindled into home ownership. As I don't want to be almost a half million dollars in debt. Such it is for many of us in the Oregon Trail Generation (1979 for me). (Saw the rise of computers, didn't have cell phones in high school, corded phones at home, was on early internet, shit, HEART SURGERY was new in the 80s). I am not Millenial, but I see people my age trying to say they are.
posted by tiny frying pan at 4:56 AM on March 7 [4 favorites]
"OK renter," as said above, is no slander to me. I am SO grateful I wasn't swindled into home ownership. As I don't want to be almost a half million dollars in debt. Such it is for many of us in the Oregon Trail Generation (1979 for me). (Saw the rise of computers, didn't have cell phones in high school, corded phones at home, was on early internet, shit, HEART SURGERY was new in the 80s). I am not Millenial, but I see people my age trying to say they are.
posted by tiny frying pan at 4:56 AM on March 7 [4 favorites]
This is divisism sown by billionaires of all ages.
We're all in the same cohort, y'all, the find out generation, brought up by the fuck around generation.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:06 AM on March 7 [19 favorites]
We're all in the same cohort, y'all, the find out generation, brought up by the fuck around generation.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:06 AM on March 7 [19 favorites]
I'm Gen X, and I think for our cohort it's kind of a split. Maybe half (??) of us made the right the financial decisions and were in the right place at the right time (though less so than Boomers to be sure), and are doing a-ok financially, with a nice pension/retirement to look forward to. The other half of Gen X are those of us who made the "wrong" financial decisions, like not buying house when they were cheap, are just as screwed as millenials and Gen Z. More screwed, because we're gonna be too old to work in a decade or so.
This matches what I see anecdotally around me. People who started with some advantages (like parents who helped pay for their education), didn't end up with crushing student loans, maybe bought a house 15+ years ago, and got onto some kind of career path are doing ok (albeit still with a lot of precarity, especially now that this cohort is starting to have to deal with elder care for their parents). But people who didn't have those starting advantages, or who made financial or job choices along the way that turned out badly, are in a really crappy situation, plus starting to face age discrimination in the workplace.
I see sort of the same thing with boomers I know, where the ones for whom things worked out are doing very well (better than the equivalent Gen X person), but plenty are living very financially-constrained lives, with no savings and reliant purely on Social Security and whatever else the formal and informal safety net can provide.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:24 AM on March 7 [7 favorites]
This matches what I see anecdotally around me. People who started with some advantages (like parents who helped pay for their education), didn't end up with crushing student loans, maybe bought a house 15+ years ago, and got onto some kind of career path are doing ok (albeit still with a lot of precarity, especially now that this cohort is starting to have to deal with elder care for their parents). But people who didn't have those starting advantages, or who made financial or job choices along the way that turned out badly, are in a really crappy situation, plus starting to face age discrimination in the workplace.
I see sort of the same thing with boomers I know, where the ones for whom things worked out are doing very well (better than the equivalent Gen X person), but plenty are living very financially-constrained lives, with no savings and reliant purely on Social Security and whatever else the formal and informal safety net can provide.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:24 AM on March 7 [7 favorites]
I was born in 76, and I remember a period in the very early days of Gen X being a thing that the lower age cut-off was like 74 or 75 and the upper age cut off for Gen Y was like 1980 and I joked that demographically I did not exist.
posted by thivaia at 5:40 AM on March 7 [13 favorites]
posted by thivaia at 5:40 AM on March 7 [13 favorites]
I joked that demographically I did not exist.
Depends on the definition.
posted by Ashwagandha at 6:09 AM on March 7 [2 favorites]
Depends on the definition.
posted by Ashwagandha at 6:09 AM on March 7 [2 favorites]
I remember the NYTimes capitalizing on the Xennial trend a few years back with a quiz purported to help those of us born between about 76 and 83 decide if we feel we’re more X or Millennial.
My favorite comment on the socials about it was something to the effect: “I know I’m GenX because there’s no way I’m taking that fucking quiz.”
posted by heyitsgogi at 6:20 AM on March 7 [18 favorites]
My favorite comment on the socials about it was something to the effect: “I know I’m GenX because there’s no way I’m taking that fucking quiz.”
posted by heyitsgogi at 6:20 AM on March 7 [18 favorites]
I'm not a Boomer, damnit. We're the first ones that got shafted by them. :)
Yeah, I remember when Boomers were telling me about these things called "pensions" and "retirement".
posted by mikelieman at 6:40 AM on March 7 [11 favorites]
Yeah, I remember when Boomers were telling me about these things called "pensions" and "retirement".
posted by mikelieman at 6:40 AM on March 7 [11 favorites]
Yeah, I remember when Boomers were telling me about these things called "pensions" and "retirement".
Or, "There's about to be a huge wave of retirements which will create lots of job openings." If that ever happened, it sure wasn't when I was young and looking for work.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:57 AM on March 7 [18 favorites]
Or, "There's about to be a huge wave of retirements which will create lots of job openings." If that ever happened, it sure wasn't when I was young and looking for work.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:57 AM on March 7 [18 favorites]
"There's about to be a huge wave of retirements which will create lots of job openings."
Unless it follows the normal Boomer path of "pulling the ladder up behind them"
posted by djseafood at 7:01 AM on March 7 [10 favorites]
Unless it follows the normal Boomer path of "pulling the ladder up behind them"
posted by djseafood at 7:01 AM on March 7 [10 favorites]
I had to explain to a group of Gen Z college students on Monday the difference between Boomers and Gen X and how we Gen Xers hate the Boomers more than they ever possibly could.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 7:36 AM on March 7 [28 favorites]
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 7:36 AM on March 7 [28 favorites]
Characterizing people by their "generation" is about as reliable as astrology.
Sure except if you were a GenXer you probably at some point in your childhood sat in the way-back of a brown station wagon carrying at least two more people than it was supposed to and you got to ride your bike around the neighborhood without your parents caring where you were as long as you were home by dinner.
posted by bq at 7:42 AM on March 7 [29 favorites]
Sure except if you were a GenXer you probably at some point in your childhood sat in the way-back of a brown station wagon carrying at least two more people than it was supposed to and you got to ride your bike around the neighborhood without your parents caring where you were as long as you were home by dinner.
posted by bq at 7:42 AM on March 7 [29 favorites]
The theory waaaaas that every generation would get two decades to run things, except that the boomers have been running things for nearly four decades. Because the silent generation died off early and health care has improved so much that the boomers are staying in positions of power into their 70s and 80s and we're just sitting here waiting for them to fucking die or retire and they will do neither. That's why GenX is angry. So god damn angry. They told us we could change the world, that we could do anything, but they won't get out of the fucking way to let us fucking do it.
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:44 AM on March 7 [34 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:44 AM on March 7 [34 favorites]
Re: Generation Jones, I think of it as the cohort containing the people who were making music that Gen X liked before the older cohort of Gen X were able to start publishing music. Robert Smith, Madonna, Weird Al being canonical members of Gen Jones for me.
posted by Carcosa at 7:49 AM on March 7 [7 favorites]
posted by Carcosa at 7:49 AM on March 7 [7 favorites]
Definitely Gen X over here and when I use it in online or IRL spaces, I take care to clarify it as a North America thing.
IMO, Gen Xers who were born before the mid to early 70s definitely seem to have done better on the whole than those of us who came after. Of course, YMMV if your family had a great income.
posted by Kitteh at 8:19 AM on March 7 [5 favorites]
IMO, Gen Xers who were born before the mid to early 70s definitely seem to have done better on the whole than those of us who came after. Of course, YMMV if your family had a great income.
posted by Kitteh at 8:19 AM on March 7 [5 favorites]
I should probably say something profound about my generation and how we screamed helplessly as Reagan and Thatcher set us on the completely predictable course for our current hellscape future, but while I've got you all here...
Was there like a three-week period where Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes was all over the place, after which it vanished completely? Did that happen? Does anyone else remember this? It was super weird, right?
posted by MrVisible at 8:46 AM on March 7 [19 favorites]
Was there like a three-week period where Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes was all over the place, after which it vanished completely? Did that happen? Does anyone else remember this? It was super weird, right?
posted by MrVisible at 8:46 AM on March 7 [19 favorites]
"There's about to be a huge wave of retirements which will create lots of job openings."
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1hY9P
blue is 75% "full employment", red is # of jobs in the US
another 70s kid Gen-X reference
posted by torokunai at 8:50 AM on March 7 [1 favorite]
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1hY9P
blue is 75% "full employment", red is # of jobs in the US
another 70s kid Gen-X reference
posted by torokunai at 8:50 AM on March 7 [1 favorite]
Of course, YMMV if your family had a great income.
That's the way it is for all ages, and a big reason why generations are mostly fiction. Your age matters, but there's a big difference between old Gen X (about 60) and young Gen X (about 45), and your fairly specific combination of wealth, education, gender, race, religion, nationality, family structure, sexual orientation, etc., will override most of what your age does to you.
posted by pracowity at 8:50 AM on March 7 [7 favorites]
That's the way it is for all ages, and a big reason why generations are mostly fiction. Your age matters, but there's a big difference between old Gen X (about 60) and young Gen X (about 45), and your fairly specific combination of wealth, education, gender, race, religion, nationality, family structure, sexual orientation, etc., will override most of what your age does to you.
posted by pracowity at 8:50 AM on March 7 [7 favorites]
early Gen X had the good timing of growing up with computing advances tho.
My pre-teens featured introduction to the limited first gen-pcs, teen age and college years featured basic MS-DOS & first Macs, then the 90s hit with affordable PC clones, color Macs, desktop publishing/laser printing, LANs, the internet, web stuff. We had a 30-year straight shot right through 2008 LOL, then mobile tech arrived to give us another bite at the Apple.
My grandpa turned 18 in August 1929, two months later the stock market crashed and there was no good work for 10+ years until Japan bombed us and he joined the marines to fight in two nasty battles in the Pacific (see said HBO series for the details).
Things settled down for him after the Korean War I guess but he was in his 40s then.
posted by torokunai at 8:59 AM on March 7 [2 favorites]
My pre-teens featured introduction to the limited first gen-pcs, teen age and college years featured basic MS-DOS & first Macs, then the 90s hit with affordable PC clones, color Macs, desktop publishing/laser printing, LANs, the internet, web stuff. We had a 30-year straight shot right through 2008 LOL, then mobile tech arrived to give us another bite at the Apple.
My grandpa turned 18 in August 1929, two months later the stock market crashed and there was no good work for 10+ years until Japan bombed us and he joined the marines to fight in two nasty battles in the Pacific (see said HBO series for the details).
Things settled down for him after the Korean War I guess but he was in his 40s then.
posted by torokunai at 8:59 AM on March 7 [2 favorites]
way-back of a brown station wagon
its called the back-back
/Gen X
posted by supermedusa at 9:08 AM on March 7 [9 favorites]
its called the back-back
/Gen X
posted by supermedusa at 9:08 AM on March 7 [9 favorites]
What? It's the wayback.
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:19 AM on March 7 [23 favorites]
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:19 AM on March 7 [23 favorites]
#TeamWayback here.
I’m mid-GenX which means The Breakfast Club came out when I was in high school, Pump Up The Volume came out when I was in my first year of university, and Clerks came out when I was working three very part time minimum wage jobs.
posted by warriorqueen at 9:38 AM on March 7 [9 favorites]
I’m mid-GenX which means The Breakfast Club came out when I was in high school, Pump Up The Volume came out when I was in my first year of university, and Clerks came out when I was working three very part time minimum wage jobs.
posted by warriorqueen at 9:38 AM on March 7 [9 favorites]
except if you were a GenXer you probably at some point in your childhood sat in the way-back of a brown station wagon carrying at least two more people than it was supposed to and you got to ride your bike around the neighborhood without your parents caring where you were as long as you were home by dinner.
born in 1959, so a boomer even if I don't have the real estate equity to show for it. This completely aligns with my 1960-70s North American childhood.
I wonder if the two biggest single differences between Boomers and whatever came next (here in the Americas) is Boomers tend to remember a world without Cable TV ... and were adults (or almost) the first time they saw Star Wars (the original one, the movie they just called Star Wars on all the posters).
posted by philip-random at 10:06 AM on March 7
born in 1959, so a boomer even if I don't have the real estate equity to show for it. This completely aligns with my 1960-70s North American childhood.
I wonder if the two biggest single differences between Boomers and whatever came next (here in the Americas) is Boomers tend to remember a world without Cable TV ... and were adults (or almost) the first time they saw Star Wars (the original one, the movie they just called Star Wars on all the posters).
posted by philip-random at 10:06 AM on March 7
I’m mid-GenX which means The Breakfast Club came out when I was in high school, Pump Up The Volume came out when I was in my first year of university, and Clerks came out when I was working three very part time minimum wage jobs.
I was in high school at the same time as the kids in Beverly Hills 90210 as it aired (technically they were one class above me). Both River Phoenix and Kurt Cobain died in my last semester of high school. I was 25 and writing record reviews when 9/11 happened.
posted by thivaia at 10:15 AM on March 7 [7 favorites]
I was in high school at the same time as the kids in Beverly Hills 90210 as it aired (technically they were one class above me). Both River Phoenix and Kurt Cobain died in my last semester of high school. I was 25 and writing record reviews when 9/11 happened.
posted by thivaia at 10:15 AM on March 7 [7 favorites]
The single best way to tell if you are a GenXer in the US is by the number of Jennifers you knew growing up.
posted by DiscourseMarker at 10:16 AM on March 7 [46 favorites]
posted by DiscourseMarker at 10:16 AM on March 7 [46 favorites]
HEART SURGERY was new in the 80s
That would be news to the millions of people who underwent heart surgery in the decades before the 1980s...
posted by senor biggles at 10:17 AM on March 7
That would be news to the millions of people who underwent heart surgery in the decades before the 1980s...
posted by senor biggles at 10:17 AM on March 7
The single best way to tell if you are a GenXer in the US is by the number of Jennifers you knew growing up.
That is not an exaggeration. Three of my past girlfriends were named Jennifer (specifically Jennifer M. -- all three of them were Jennifer M.). But another name that was popular was Lisa.
I'm a Chris(topher), so that would be the Gen X male equivalent of Jennifer.
posted by grubi at 10:20 AM on March 7 [8 favorites]
That is not an exaggeration. Three of my past girlfriends were named Jennifer (specifically Jennifer M. -- all three of them were Jennifer M.). But another name that was popular was Lisa.
I'm a Chris(topher), so that would be the Gen X male equivalent of Jennifer.
posted by grubi at 10:20 AM on March 7 [8 favorites]
Even in my elementary school that was 65% latino full of Juans and Marias, I had 5 Jennifers in my grade cohort.
posted by hippybear at 10:24 AM on March 7 [4 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 10:24 AM on March 7 [4 favorites]
my very small high school class had 5 Lisas
posted by supermedusa at 10:54 AM on March 7 [2 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 10:54 AM on March 7 [2 favorites]
I'm a Chris(topher), so that would be the Gen X male equivalent of Jennifer.
Jason.
posted by joannemerriam at 11:05 AM on March 7 [5 favorites]
Jason.
posted by joannemerriam at 11:05 AM on March 7 [5 favorites]
God, I've known so many Jasons. And Michaels.
posted by grubi at 11:16 AM on March 7 [3 favorites]
posted by grubi at 11:16 AM on March 7 [3 favorites]
Jessica, Stephanie
posted by bq at 11:27 AM on March 7 [1 favorite]
posted by bq at 11:27 AM on March 7 [1 favorite]
except if you were a GenXer you probably at some point in your childhood sat in the way-back of a brown station wagon carrying at least two more people than it was supposed to and you got to ride your bike around the neighborhood without your parents caring where you were as long as you were home by dinner.
The only thing you'd have to change for this to be current is station wagon to SUV, which isn't much of a change. Everything else is still incredibly common. Kid might be riding a scooter instead of a bike. Kids being home alone and roaming the streets alone/with a pack is also income/class-based.
Also ironic that the implication is that the Gen X parents are preventing their kids from doing this, because of perceptions of crime I guess? Who knew Gen-X was going to be worse than boomers?
posted by The_Vegetables at 11:30 AM on March 7
The only thing you'd have to change for this to be current is station wagon to SUV, which isn't much of a change. Everything else is still incredibly common. Kid might be riding a scooter instead of a bike. Kids being home alone and roaming the streets alone/with a pack is also income/class-based.
Also ironic that the implication is that the Gen X parents are preventing their kids from doing this, because of perceptions of crime I guess? Who knew Gen-X was going to be worse than boomers?
posted by The_Vegetables at 11:30 AM on March 7
we had a LOT of Michelles also
posted by supermedusa at 11:39 AM on March 7 [3 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 11:39 AM on March 7 [3 favorites]
Laproscopic surgery, probably the most important advance in invasive medicine since probably antibiotics, really only came into major usage in the 90s and later. Before it was in wide usage, people would regularly get cut wide open and have to deal with healing from that damage as well as whatever the operation was planned to cure. Additionally, olds like me will remember the term "investigative surgery" which is now basically not a thing due to modern imaging, again with truly useful CT scans and MRIs only coming into use in the 90s. So not only the same operation less dangerous than it was today than it was 40 years ago, it's also going to be more targeted and more accurate because of powerful computational diagnostic tools that simply didn't exist when e.g., my mother was dying of cancer in the 80s. These two advances have given comparatively wealthy old people a much longer "working" life than before.
I'm just saying. Medicine has made shocking advances in the last few decades that the silent generation never benefited from, and is now keeping boomers in boardrooms and parliaments to higher ages than in the past.
posted by seanmpuckett at 12:03 PM on March 7 [9 favorites]
I'm just saying. Medicine has made shocking advances in the last few decades that the silent generation never benefited from, and is now keeping boomers in boardrooms and parliaments to higher ages than in the past.
posted by seanmpuckett at 12:03 PM on March 7 [9 favorites]
I was 17 when Kurt Cobain died. My then-boyfriend was just gutted. My sister, who is two years younger than me, and I were talking not too long ago about the OG Real World cast from NYC. (I was 15! A baby!)
Honestly one of the few things I miss about the 90s is Liquid Television, 120 Minutes. Oh god, I just remembered when Kennedy was a VJ?! And Alternative Nation wasn't a patch on OG Dave Kendall 120 Minutes.
posted by Kitteh at 12:16 PM on March 7 [4 favorites]
Honestly one of the few things I miss about the 90s is Liquid Television, 120 Minutes. Oh god, I just remembered when Kennedy was a VJ?! And Alternative Nation wasn't a patch on OG Dave Kendall 120 Minutes.
posted by Kitteh at 12:16 PM on March 7 [4 favorites]
one of the few things I miss about the 90s is Liquid Television
Apparently the actual episodes of Liquid Television are never going to be released. I do have VHS someplace if I can find it and can do video digitization... it's just tedious. But yes, I found Liquid Television to be utterly thrilling in a way that few things on television since then have been.
posted by hippybear at 12:23 PM on March 7
Apparently the actual episodes of Liquid Television are never going to be released. I do have VHS someplace if I can find it and can do video digitization... it's just tedious. But yes, I found Liquid Television to be utterly thrilling in a way that few things on television since then have been.
posted by hippybear at 12:23 PM on March 7
The only thing you'd have to change for this to be current is station wagon to SUV, which isn't much of a change. Everything else is still incredibly common. Kid might be riding a scooter instead of a bike. Kids being home alone and roaming the streets alone/with a pack is also income/class-based.
Also ironic that the implication is that the Gen X parents are preventing their kids from doing this, because of perceptions of crime I guess? Who knew Gen-X was going to be worse than boomers?
Hey, I didn't say ONLY Gen X had those experiences. But shared experiences DO exist.
Cultural norms have shifted. Minivans yes (SUVs actually), but overcrowded and not wearing seatbelts? No way. You leave your kid unattended in the wrong place and you are likely to get the police called on you. And god forbid you actually USE the ashtray in your car, are you insane?
I experienced the existence of shared norms personally, as I spent several years in my teens living in another country. When I came back to the US and I had a lot of conversations that went: 'remember that....' reply: 'no'
I understand starting a sentence with 'So...' is also a tell, but that is basically invisible to me, and therefore not useful.
posted by bq at 12:28 PM on March 7 [7 favorites]
Also ironic that the implication is that the Gen X parents are preventing their kids from doing this, because of perceptions of crime I guess? Who knew Gen-X was going to be worse than boomers?
Hey, I didn't say ONLY Gen X had those experiences. But shared experiences DO exist.
Cultural norms have shifted. Minivans yes (SUVs actually), but overcrowded and not wearing seatbelts? No way. You leave your kid unattended in the wrong place and you are likely to get the police called on you. And god forbid you actually USE the ashtray in your car, are you insane?
I experienced the existence of shared norms personally, as I spent several years in my teens living in another country. When I came back to the US and I had a lot of conversations that went: 'remember that....' reply: 'no'
I understand starting a sentence with 'So...' is also a tell, but that is basically invisible to me, and therefore not useful.
posted by bq at 12:28 PM on March 7 [7 favorites]
I'm a Chris(topher), so that would be the Gen X male equivalent of Jennifer.
Jason.
As someone in that category, here are a few of my fellow Gen X namesakes: Bateman (Silver Spoons), Hervey (Back to the Future, Wonder Years), Of Star Command, Priestley (90210), and Voorhees.
posted by JDC8 at 12:49 PM on March 7 [3 favorites]
Jason.
As someone in that category, here are a few of my fellow Gen X namesakes: Bateman (Silver Spoons), Hervey (Back to the Future, Wonder Years), Of Star Command, Priestley (90210), and Voorhees.
posted by JDC8 at 12:49 PM on March 7 [3 favorites]
You forgot Jason "J.D" Dean from Heathers.
posted by grubi at 12:56 PM on March 7 [3 favorites]
posted by grubi at 12:56 PM on March 7 [3 favorites]
after a few drinks, a younger guy I knew in the early-mid 90s would sometimes shout across a night time street busy with club goers etc, "Hey, Jason!", just to see how many heads would turn.
the most he ever counted was six.
posted by philip-random at 1:01 PM on March 7 [1 favorite]
the most he ever counted was six.
posted by philip-random at 1:01 PM on March 7 [1 favorite]
My mom has informed me that the first person she met when taking me home from the hospital was a gas station attendant named...Jason.
posted by JDC8 at 1:06 PM on March 7
posted by JDC8 at 1:06 PM on March 7
The single best way to tell if you are a GenXer in the US is by the number of Jennifers you knew growing up.
Or you are one. :)
The only thing you'd have to change for this to be current is station wagon to SUV, which isn't much of a change.
Absolutely not. The wayback had no seat belts or seats, just pillows and an old comforter (if a long trip) and you slid around. Or, for one memorable birthday party, kids crammed into the hatchback part of a VW bug, leaning over into the back seat so as to get 6 kids into it.
posted by warriorqueen at 1:06 PM on March 7 [10 favorites]
Or you are one. :)
The only thing you'd have to change for this to be current is station wagon to SUV, which isn't much of a change.
Absolutely not. The wayback had no seat belts or seats, just pillows and an old comforter (if a long trip) and you slid around. Or, for one memorable birthday party, kids crammed into the hatchback part of a VW bug, leaning over into the back seat so as to get 6 kids into it.
posted by warriorqueen at 1:06 PM on March 7 [10 favorites]
OMG that tiny tiny compartment behind the back seat of a Beetle. I remember being a very skinny 6 year old or so being able to slide down into there so the vehicle could carry maybe 5 or 6 instead of just 4.
Also, the era of bench seats in cars. We had a Gold Duster with gigantic bench seats, and the drive-in charged per car not per person when I was in high school, so we could pile 8 or more into that car, with coolers and fold-up lawn chairs in the trunk [the kind with the 3" wide webbing], and could get everyone into the movies on a Tuesday night for $5.
posted by hippybear at 1:12 PM on March 7 [6 favorites]
Also, the era of bench seats in cars. We had a Gold Duster with gigantic bench seats, and the drive-in charged per car not per person when I was in high school, so we could pile 8 or more into that car, with coolers and fold-up lawn chairs in the trunk [the kind with the 3" wide webbing], and could get everyone into the movies on a Tuesday night for $5.
posted by hippybear at 1:12 PM on March 7 [6 favorites]
Apparently the actual episodes of Liquid Television are never going to be released. I do have VHS someplace if I can find it and can do video digitization... it's just tedious. But yes, I found Liquid Television to be utterly thrilling in a way that few things on television since then have been.
I used to have stacks of VHS tapes of nothing but Liquid Television, 120 Minutes, The State, and god knows what else. I used to decorate them with sticker and taped cutouts of letters and pictures. Current Me is glaring angrily at 22 year old me for tossing them.
posted by Kitteh at 1:12 PM on March 7 [2 favorites]
I used to have stacks of VHS tapes of nothing but Liquid Television, 120 Minutes, The State, and god knows what else. I used to decorate them with sticker and taped cutouts of letters and pictures. Current Me is glaring angrily at 22 year old me for tossing them.
posted by Kitteh at 1:12 PM on March 7 [2 favorites]
The wayback had no seat belts or seats, just pillows and an old comforter (if a long trip) and you slid around. Or, for one memorable birthday party, kids crammed into the hatchback part of a VW bug, leaning over into the back seat so as to get 6 kids into it.
I had a babysitter (i.e. neighborhood mom) in the 3rd grade, circa 80-81, who had a Pinto (one of the explodey hatchback models) and on the occasions when she had to pick up all the kids she watched from school there would always be at least a couple of kids crammed in the way back — usually the youngest ones cause they were the smallest! And definitely too many of us in the back seats for seatbelt use.
I have the sense that this is not a thing that you would see happening from today's suburban SUV driving moms.
posted by DiscourseMarker at 1:57 PM on March 7 [5 favorites]
I had a babysitter (i.e. neighborhood mom) in the 3rd grade, circa 80-81, who had a Pinto (one of the explodey hatchback models) and on the occasions when she had to pick up all the kids she watched from school there would always be at least a couple of kids crammed in the way back — usually the youngest ones cause they were the smallest! And definitely too many of us in the back seats for seatbelt use.
I have the sense that this is not a thing that you would see happening from today's suburban SUV driving moms.
posted by DiscourseMarker at 1:57 PM on March 7 [5 favorites]
From a fellow Gen-Xer, Kevin Gilbert, way back in '95. Still rings true--
Goodness Gracious my generation's lost
They’ve burned down all our bridges before we had a chance to cross
Is it the winter of our discontent or just an early frost?
Just an early frost
Goodness Gracious of apathy I sing
The baby boomers had it all and wasted everything
Now recess is almost over and they won't get off the swing
Won’t get off the swing
Goodness Gracious we came in at the end
No sex that isn't dangerous, no money left to spend
We're the cleanup crew for parties we were too young to attend
Goodness Gracious me
posted by luckynerd at 2:06 PM on March 7 [10 favorites]
Goodness Gracious my generation's lost
They’ve burned down all our bridges before we had a chance to cross
Is it the winter of our discontent or just an early frost?
Just an early frost
Goodness Gracious of apathy I sing
The baby boomers had it all and wasted everything
Now recess is almost over and they won't get off the swing
Won’t get off the swing
Goodness Gracious we came in at the end
No sex that isn't dangerous, no money left to spend
We're the cleanup crew for parties we were too young to attend
Goodness Gracious me
posted by luckynerd at 2:06 PM on March 7 [10 favorites]
Man, Goodness Gracious Kevin Gilbert... one of the true songwriting champions and sadly gone far too soon.
posted by hippybear at 2:10 PM on March 7 [2 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 2:10 PM on March 7 [2 favorites]
Where Have All the Lisas Gone? (NYT, July 6, 2003, about the SSA's Popular Baby Names site, which ranks the 1,000 most common boys' and girls' names since 1900) Michael reigned as the No. 1 boys' name for 35 years beginning in 1964, after about a decade of duking it out with David and Robert. It was unseated by Jacob in 1999. [...] Although I have never personally met a Madison (2), I have watched friends seduced by the seeming novelty of Alyssa (12), Olivia (10) and Dylan (24 among boys), only to discover that their children are destined to spend life with the initials of their last names appended to their first.
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:30 PM on March 7 [1 favorite]
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:30 PM on March 7 [1 favorite]
i feel like i am the last slacker alive
Nope, not yet.
i too am not yet alive
posted by Rev. Irreverent Revenant at 4:06 PM on March 7 [2 favorites]
Our wagon was blue, pops tolt me I coined the #wayback but I think this is provably not accurate. Pretty sure I've read prior art right on this here webbed sight
posted by Rev. Irreverent Revenant at 4:08 PM on March 7
posted by Rev. Irreverent Revenant at 4:08 PM on March 7
https://archive.org/details/liquid-television-complete
I have not tried to watch these yet, so cant speak to their quality. There are several reviews and no one has mentioned anything egregious or incomplete
posted by Rev. Irreverent Revenant at 4:15 PM on March 7 [2 favorites]
I have not tried to watch these yet, so cant speak to their quality. There are several reviews and no one has mentioned anything egregious or incomplete
posted by Rev. Irreverent Revenant at 4:15 PM on March 7 [2 favorites]
That... looks like it's about right? It wasn't on for long at all; every season was disappointingly short.
I'll have to watch it and see if there are any holes I can recognize while I search for my VHS tapes. I'm downloading right now.
I do know that Aeon Flux became something else entirely after Liquid Television, and I'm not sure I entirely supported what I turned into.
Abusing the edit window: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LINKING THIS!!!!!!
posted by hippybear at 4:29 PM on March 7 [2 favorites]
I'll have to watch it and see if there are any holes I can recognize while I search for my VHS tapes. I'm downloading right now.
I do know that Aeon Flux became something else entirely after Liquid Television, and I'm not sure I entirely supported what I turned into.
Abusing the edit window: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LINKING THIS!!!!!!
posted by hippybear at 4:29 PM on March 7 [2 favorites]
You forgot AMY. (1970 here)
posted by tristeza at 4:54 PM on March 7 [1 favorite]
posted by tristeza at 4:54 PM on March 7 [1 favorite]
I also have a 1970s trend name, despite being born about year before the song.
posted by thivaia at 6:57 PM on March 7 [3 favorites]
posted by thivaia at 6:57 PM on March 7 [3 favorites]
I knew my given name was popular, but I was surprised to find it was number 2 for the year I was born and the year after. I didn't have that many people with the same name in my schools growing up. I did get this song out of it, though, which does sort hit a bit hard.
posted by mollweide at 7:26 PM on March 7
posted by mollweide at 7:26 PM on March 7
I've met two people with my name and one person with a variant spelling on my name across my approaching 6 decades of life. This is largely because I was named after a friend of my parents but after they came back to the US after living in the UK for a while.
I'm okay with my name being rare. Although it also means a lot of people know know how to spell it.
posted by hippybear at 7:29 PM on March 7 [1 favorite]
I'm okay with my name being rare. Although it also means a lot of people know know how to spell it.
posted by hippybear at 7:29 PM on March 7 [1 favorite]
The single best way to tell if you are a GenXer in the US is by the number of Jennifers you knew growing up.
There were three Jennifers in my pre-calc high school class. Mrs.Chavis called them "Jenny", "Jenny Jenny" and "Jenny Jenny Jenny".
posted by charred husk at 8:57 PM on March 7 [2 favorites]
There were three Jennifers in my pre-calc high school class. Mrs.Chavis called them "Jenny", "Jenny Jenny" and "Jenny Jenny Jenny".
posted by charred husk at 8:57 PM on March 7 [2 favorites]
I think there are things that define age cohorts, but they are mostly your experience of technology and media consumption, and particularly the variation between what was normal as a child and what was introduced as an adult. In the UK, I think it goes wireless/radio - analogue broadcast TV - video games - mobile phones - social media - non-linear TV / streaming. Other markers include whether you watched Top of the Pops (Boomer + Gen X + Millenial) or not, and how old you were when you first encountered the internet.
posted by plonkee at 5:05 AM on March 8
posted by plonkee at 5:05 AM on March 8
How on earth are we talking about Jennifers, Lisas and Jasons without mentioning... Heathers?
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 7:30 AM on March 8 [2 favorites]
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 7:30 AM on March 8 [2 favorites]
NameGrapher - "Explore the historical popularity of United States baby names"
posted by pracowity at 8:00 AM on March 8
posted by pracowity at 8:00 AM on March 8
According to Namegrapher, there is a smaller but still significant number of male Jennifers? Has anyone every met a male Jennifer?
Regarding names one that is surprising no one has mentioned - Michael. I knew so many men named that in my 1970s age cohort. It has also all but disappeared now - when my kid was born there were six Austins on the midwife board but no Michael.
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:29 AM on March 8
Regarding names one that is surprising no one has mentioned - Michael. I knew so many men named that in my 1970s age cohort. It has also all but disappeared now - when my kid was born there were six Austins on the midwife board but no Michael.
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:29 AM on March 8
According to Namegrapher, there is a smaller but still significant number of male Jennifers? Has anyone every met a male Jennifer?
Regarding names one that is surprising no one has mentioned - Michael.
I have not met a male Jennifer, although I have met a female with the middle name of Michael.
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 9:12 AM on March 8
Regarding names one that is surprising no one has mentioned - Michael.
I have not met a male Jennifer, although I have met a female with the middle name of Michael.
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 9:12 AM on March 8
Wow, my name peaked in the 90s (no. 187) and my sister's in the 1970s. I mean, I have met maybe five other women in my lifetime with my name (usually spelled differently), and while my name is not particularly unique, it's still not very common.
posted by Kitteh at 9:42 AM on March 8
posted by Kitteh at 9:42 AM on March 8
Regarding names one that is surprising no one has mentioned - Michael.
I did mention it upthread.
posted by grubi at 10:11 AM on March 8
I did mention it upthread.
posted by grubi at 10:11 AM on March 8
The single best way to tell if you are a GenXer in the US is by the number of Jennifers you knew growing up.
This is how I placed myself on the elder millennial side of things; never went to school with a single Jennifer (or a Michael)! Jessicas and Stephanies, now, that's another story.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:29 AM on March 8
This is how I placed myself on the elder millennial side of things; never went to school with a single Jennifer (or a Michael)! Jessicas and Stephanies, now, that's another story.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:29 AM on March 8
Hi, fellow Gen-Xer here. I sometimes write terrible songs. I wrote this in 1992.
"We"
We are the forgotten ones
The children of no one
The American dream’s no more
Never knowin’ what’s in store
Open wounds that never heal
Searchin’ for something that’s real
Never knowing just who you are
Wishing on a fallen star
Can’t find a purpose
They never seem to last
Switchin’ channels on
Generations past
We – are – the
Lost – souls
The broken hearts
The lonely fools
We – are – the
Lost – souls
For us there are no heroes
They’re all dead and gone
All that’s left are the memories
And a distant song
Can’t be free with our money
Because there are no jobs
Can’t be part of a community
We’ve been divided for so long
Can’t find a purpose
They never seem to last
Switchin’ channels on
Generations past
We – are – the
Lost – souls
The broken hearts
The lonely fools
We – are – the
Lost – souls
[Bridge]
For us there will never be a Summer of Love
You turned your back on all you thought of
No Woodstock or cause to unite me or you
Only the holy dollar to get us thru
Innocence lost so long ago
Ripped away so it shows
On and on into the night
Searchin’ for a guiding light
Can’t believe in family
We’re the children of divorce
Can’t be free with our love
Or death will take its course
Can’t find a purpose
They never seem to last
Switchin’ channels on
Generations past
We – are – the
Lost – souls
The broken hearts
The lonely fools
We – are – the
Lost – souls
We’re the baby bust from the baby boom
Livin’ in a quiet gloom
Hearts filled with an empty doubt
Don’t take a chance on a life without
We – are
...
Ooof my teenage angst.
posted by kmartino at 12:29 PM on March 8 [4 favorites]
"We"
We are the forgotten ones
The children of no one
The American dream’s no more
Never knowin’ what’s in store
Open wounds that never heal
Searchin’ for something that’s real
Never knowing just who you are
Wishing on a fallen star
Can’t find a purpose
They never seem to last
Switchin’ channels on
Generations past
We – are – the
Lost – souls
The broken hearts
The lonely fools
We – are – the
Lost – souls
For us there are no heroes
They’re all dead and gone
All that’s left are the memories
And a distant song
Can’t be free with our money
Because there are no jobs
Can’t be part of a community
We’ve been divided for so long
Can’t find a purpose
They never seem to last
Switchin’ channels on
Generations past
We – are – the
Lost – souls
The broken hearts
The lonely fools
We – are – the
Lost – souls
[Bridge]
For us there will never be a Summer of Love
You turned your back on all you thought of
No Woodstock or cause to unite me or you
Only the holy dollar to get us thru
Innocence lost so long ago
Ripped away so it shows
On and on into the night
Searchin’ for a guiding light
Can’t believe in family
We’re the children of divorce
Can’t be free with our love
Or death will take its course
Can’t find a purpose
They never seem to last
Switchin’ channels on
Generations past
We – are – the
Lost – souls
The broken hearts
The lonely fools
We – are – the
Lost – souls
We’re the baby bust from the baby boom
Livin’ in a quiet gloom
Hearts filled with an empty doubt
Don’t take a chance on a life without
We – are
...
Ooof my teenage angst.
posted by kmartino at 12:29 PM on March 8 [4 favorites]
Wow, my name peaked in the 90s (no. 187) and my sister's in the 1970s. I mean, I have met maybe five other women in my lifetime with my name (usually spelled differently), and while my name is not particularly unique, it's still not very common.
Going off of your profile, I had not met anyone with your name until about three years ago. Since then, I have worked closely with two! And a third with L for the first letter instead. All three did spell it with two s, though.
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 12:52 PM on March 8 [1 favorite]
Going off of your profile, I had not met anyone with your name until about three years ago. Since then, I have worked closely with two! And a third with L for the first letter instead. All three did spell it with two s, though.
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 12:52 PM on March 8 [1 favorite]
Lol, a non mouse, a cow herd!
I joke the way mine is spelt is the correct way. Much like Saras/Sarahs of the world battling for correct spelling dominance at times.
posted by Kitteh at 1:21 PM on March 8 [2 favorites]
I joke the way mine is spelt is the correct way. Much like Saras/Sarahs of the world battling for correct spelling dominance at times.
posted by Kitteh at 1:21 PM on March 8 [2 favorites]
Elon Musk, who lives in an X and eats over $100,000,000 s day, is an outlier and should not be counted
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:28 PM on March 8 [5 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:28 PM on March 8 [5 favorites]
Elon Musk, who lives in an X and eats over $100,000,000 s day, is an outlier and should not be counted
People like Musk are why you almost always want to be looking at median incomes and wealth, not average.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:04 AM on March 9 [1 favorite]
People like Musk are why you almost always want to be looking at median incomes and wealth, not average.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:04 AM on March 9 [1 favorite]
Also, the era of bench seats in cars.
I have an early childhood memory of sitting the footwell of the back seat of my parents' newly purchased used 70ish Impala with a supersized Spiderman vs Doc-Oc comic book spread on the bench while my family was driving to Florida one spring break. We were in a blizzard and my dad hit a slippery spot and lost control and the car was spinning on the interstate in a white out blizzard so I climbed up and peaked over the front bench to see my Dad wildly overcompensating due to unfamiliarity with power steering and my mom white-knuckling it. An 18 wheeler came out a wall of snow barreling right down one us. None us had seatbelts on. With the perfect timing of survivor's bias we spun right into the truck's front wheel and bounced off it into a snow bank. I remembering pestering my parents to start driving again. "What are you waiting for?" and they were just sitting there completely silent and frozen for what seemed like an eternity.
I feel like part of being early GenX is an awareness that it was a miracle any of us survived.
posted by srboisvert at 9:04 AM on March 10 [7 favorites]
I have an early childhood memory of sitting the footwell of the back seat of my parents' newly purchased used 70ish Impala with a supersized Spiderman vs Doc-Oc comic book spread on the bench while my family was driving to Florida one spring break. We were in a blizzard and my dad hit a slippery spot and lost control and the car was spinning on the interstate in a white out blizzard so I climbed up and peaked over the front bench to see my Dad wildly overcompensating due to unfamiliarity with power steering and my mom white-knuckling it. An 18 wheeler came out a wall of snow barreling right down one us. None us had seatbelts on. With the perfect timing of survivor's bias we spun right into the truck's front wheel and bounced off it into a snow bank. I remembering pestering my parents to start driving again. "What are you waiting for?" and they were just sitting there completely silent and frozen for what seemed like an eternity.
I feel like part of being early GenX is an awareness that it was a miracle any of us survived.
posted by srboisvert at 9:04 AM on March 10 [7 favorites]
srboisvert, I am reminded of how my sister and I used to get excited as kids when my dad would offer to run us to the Jiffy Store for a treat by letting us sit in the truck bed. We'd plead him to do a little swerving so we could roll from side to side. He complied.
posted by Kitteh at 10:08 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]
posted by Kitteh at 10:08 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]
> Characterizing people by their "generation" is about as reliable as astrology.
bullshit.
the past is a foreign country, people here are talking about the countries they grew up in and how they differ from both each other and from the country we're currently living — you might have missed it, though, because the boundaries of these countries are drawn in time rather than space. nevertheless, one's mindset, worldview, preferences and habits are all very much indeed strongly influenced by which of those countries one grew up in. and you all coming in here saying which country — i.e. generational cohort — you grew up doesn't matter?
never mind that each generational cohort is bound together with other members of that cohort and separated from members of other cohorts by the differential effects of climate change (and its associated rolling omnicrises) on each generation, differential because each successive generation is exposed to more of the damage and more of the most severe forms of the damage than the generation before it.
like, uh, miss me with that "reliable as astrology" gibberish. generations are communities, they are communities with distinct natures, and they are communities that experience distinct traumas and distinct risks directly related to being in that community.
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 11:37 AM on March 10 [3 favorites]
bullshit.
the past is a foreign country, people here are talking about the countries they grew up in and how they differ from both each other and from the country we're currently living — you might have missed it, though, because the boundaries of these countries are drawn in time rather than space. nevertheless, one's mindset, worldview, preferences and habits are all very much indeed strongly influenced by which of those countries one grew up in. and you all coming in here saying which country — i.e. generational cohort — you grew up doesn't matter?
never mind that each generational cohort is bound together with other members of that cohort and separated from members of other cohorts by the differential effects of climate change (and its associated rolling omnicrises) on each generation, differential because each successive generation is exposed to more of the damage and more of the most severe forms of the damage than the generation before it.
like, uh, miss me with that "reliable as astrology" gibberish. generations are communities, they are communities with distinct natures, and they are communities that experience distinct traumas and distinct risks directly related to being in that community.
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 11:37 AM on March 10 [3 favorites]
But like physical countries, a generation is not a single monolithic community where everybody's the same. There are the haves and the have-nots, those who by fortune of birth have access to culture and amenities and those that don't, a wide range of folks with different attitudes and opinions... Calling them a "cohort" is a bit misleading and reductive, same as calling oneself a "Gemini" or a "Taurus". It's not that simple, in other words.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:40 PM on March 10 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:40 PM on March 10 [1 favorite]
Yeah, but there's an entire generation that saw the Challenger blow up live on television. That's a singular shared experience. That's a cohort.
There are other markers across years, but it doesn't matter what your background is when things happen, they happen to everyone.
posted by hippybear at 5:12 PM on March 10 [2 favorites]
There are other markers across years, but it doesn't matter what your background is when things happen, they happen to everyone.
posted by hippybear at 5:12 PM on March 10 [2 favorites]
I will admit to knowing a few Challenger-related jokes that more recent generations probably aren't familiar with. Which, given the understandably morbid-humor nature of said jokes, is probably just as well.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:16 PM on March 10
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:16 PM on March 10
Calling them a "cohort" is a bit misleading and reductive, same as calling oneself a "Gemini" or a "Taurus". It's not that simple, in other words.
Of course it is reductive! How else can you generalize? If you want to discuss anything cultural you have to reduce otherwise you have to spend your entire life collecting all the near infinite data and die before you can ever say anything. The real question is how good is the reduction for its purpose?
posted by srboisvert at 5:56 PM on March 11 [4 favorites]
Of course it is reductive! How else can you generalize? If you want to discuss anything cultural you have to reduce otherwise you have to spend your entire life collecting all the near infinite data and die before you can ever say anything. The real question is how good is the reduction for its purpose?
posted by srboisvert at 5:56 PM on March 11 [4 favorites]
Stamping postcards today and realized that’s another dividing line. That sticky dry feeling of your tongue after you licked too many stamps….
posted by bq at 8:11 PM on March 16
posted by bq at 8:11 PM on March 16
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Gen X is that valley, when live births per year in the USA fell from 4.x million/yr in the 50s and early 60s to 3.1M/yr in the early 70s.
posted by torokunai at 6:56 PM on March 6 [3 favorites]