For me the joke just doesn’t work reversed. The younger generation grows up hearing the older generations slang, so even if the younger generation doesn’t use that slang they know it. Older generations don’t tend to keep up with younger generations slang so, at least to me, the joke really only works with the older not understanding the younger.
Millennials are split into the older and the younger ones. I am one of the older ones, and I don’t know what the heck is going on with the younger ones.
Anna Garvey has described these individuals as having "both a healthy portion of Gen X grunge cynicism, and a dash of the unbridled optimism of Millennials"
Might as well. GenX is trying to keep a roof over its brainwashed parents’ heads while its own kids rack up student loan debt. What difference would one more mouth make?
As a younger one, we grew up with social media becoming available to us right at the worst age. Like seriously imagine if you and your parents were allowed on Facebook right as you hit puberty and nobody understood what it could do to you.
That and also growing up not remembering 9/11 but remembering adults mocking al gore for caring if we all die of ecocide.
We’re basically the prototype for gen z. You merely adopted hopelessness. We were born into it, molded by it, we didn’t see a chance until we were adults.
I hate to break it to you, but memory of 9/11 is kind of a litmus test for the Millennial/Gen Z border. If you don’t remember it you’re likely Gen Z or right on the border where generational definitions get really fuzzy.
Well that still puts you pretty safely in the range, actually. The typical cutoff year is 1996. I’m 30. You were 7 (or almost 7) but you don’t remember 9/11?
Fun Fact: this has always been true. That and avoiding the children. In the days of outhouses, sitting on the toilet for hours was not great. So they read newspapers.
Edit: I was more being funny about wasting time in the bathroom too avoid child responsibility. People have often needed long times to make things work. The person that responded to me had some great points.
They would have the Pennysaver, the WSJ, that local paper made by someone with a trust fund who practices “real” journalism, or some anti-government conspiracy “paper” made at Kinko’s.
Only you talk like that. I would just say call the fire department, our living room is on fire! Not any of those examples in this comic. That is not funny to label me something that I don’t do, or act
As a “Millennial” in the 40s, myself and others my similar age don’t ever seem to fit into the millennial category well. The start should be in the mid 1980’s not the beginning. Gen x seems more fitting for the early 80s. But the generation thing is kind of silly anyway.
Hm I thought this whole time it was the mid decade like 85-94, 65-84. It is silly though, nobody has the exact same upbringing just because they’re born in a certain year.
I thought it was overly exaggerated but then I saw the generation before me, blame my generation for the problems of the world and the "decadence of society " and then I saw my generation blame the next for those exact same things. Nothing new under the sun I guess.
You missed by a year, but how does that change the zoomers I’m hanging out with?
Edit: wait, could I be one of “that 20yo millenials” in 2023? I’m the millenialest you can get!
My favorite part about generations is how the cut off changes with every source I look at. Like, technically I’m a millennial, but I was born in '81 which is only sometimes part of the millennial age range and never part of the gen x age range. It’s almost as if generations are entirely fabricated and not real.
Yeah, my GF and I were born in 96 but both in fairly rural areas so our experience aligns more with being millennial. I think it depends a lot on the context of your personal upbringing, but I definitely agree with your sentiment.
If you were old enough to grasp how 9/11 changed the world as we know it and have clear memories from that day, you’re a millennial. If you had to be taught about it then you’re not.
Everyone has their own definition but that’s always been the cutoff that’s stuck with me.
I was born in '81 which is only sometimes part of the millennial age range and never part of the gen x age range.
I was '83. Last I heard, we’re referred to as “xennials”, but I always called myself an “elder millennial”. People need a label for everything, I suppose.
I put myself in the elder millennial window too. I think the divider for elder and not is that I remember when we got a computer and Internet. Younger millennials don’t remember not having it, or at least not having Internet
But it’s all just Hokum trying to pigeonhole everyone into neat uniform experiences
I think the divider for elder and not is that I remember when we got a computer and Internet.
I agree with this.
My first computer was a 386 running Win3.1 and DOS. I sometimes ask, “Do you know what an AOL installation CD is?” That, most of the time, let’s me know who was when.
It was never a hard cutoff, nor was it universal. Technology has long been a big factor, which means people in rural/poor areas were a decade+ later in experiencing the same generational norms.
Even cultural cornerstones are variable. For instance, you might remember the Challenger, or you might not, depending on your early childhood schools and your memory. The news about Magic Johnson or Kurt Cobain may have shattered your worldview, or you may not have even noticed.
But even in the best case, these are only useful as a rough guide. You should not be trying to do anything specific with these generalizations.
I fucked around for 10 years before working. Born in 85 LOL. I don’t feel like the younger generation at all. The only thing is that I am shocked when colleagues actually watch traditional TV stuff like that . Other than that I am very detoxed from the typical social media nonsense maybe that’s why.
One: Hello, fellow Xennial. I'm just a couple of years older than you.
Two: I find we sort of sort ourselves based on life experience, family structure, etc. I have an brother 7 years older than me, so I skew Gen-X. My wife is less than a year younger than me, but she's the oldest and her parents are a touch younger a d fair bit less traditional than mine, so she skews Millenial.
The generations are a convenient shorthand to discuss broad trends about how certain cultural and economic factors affect the shared experiences of certain cohorts, but they're pretty silly, especially on the edges. Chronological astrology, really.
Maybe how angsty you were feeling when the internet arrived in your town? I dunno. It feels very appropriate though, that the forgotten gen X would spawn its own even more liminal sub/pseudo group.
The line between generations isn’t a date, it is collective experience. For example, the split between Gen X and Millennials is digital technology. And whether one’s experience more closely aligns to either generation is entirely down to the individual - and thus, not a rigid date.
Right? We used to be like “this is written like how some 60 year old executive thinks kids these days talk … nobody talks like this we just talk normally…”
I’m still slightly mad that everyone wanted to use AIM instead of ICQ, even though icq was better. It had offline messaging and you could change your display name, neither of which aim supported.
Anyone younger than like 30 probably has no idea that those were noteworthy features at one time. You could only send someone a message if they were actively connected at the same time as you.
No I don’t think we do. I sure as hell don’t. Yes indeed, we are, and we did. That’s why I think the whole comic is bullshit, like wtf is this whole thing? Feels like some Gen X or earlier is trying out this web comic thing. I don’t even know.
Yeah no millennial is doing that to fit in/not feel old (okay there are probably some but they’re a minority for sure), at best they’re doing that to be annoying/make fun of the crazy slang.
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