This why old people aren't necessarily the old ones

Ideally, this post would’ve been written for last week, but I was lazy and it was written for this week instead. It was ideal in the sense that it would’ve correlated well with my birthday, and all. I was lazy in the sense that it was the day after my birthday and I just didn’t feel like it. So I was talking to my brother, Aaron, last week about people that aren’t “our age” just can’t seem to find the right thing to talk about for extended periods of time with someone that is “our age.”  What I mean by “our age” is someone who is in their young adult life. And I’m not talking about moms or close relatives; I’m talking about people you occasionally see and people you tend to not speak to all the time. So really, without saying it, I’m saying older people. But of course, if I label it as such, I will most definitely hear about this from some relatives. Also, I was just talking about this to my mom right now and she told me to make this post politically correct, to which I said no because it loses all comedic value. See what I mean about older people?

All joking aside, I do not consider my mom to be old. So you can take that as you will about what I consider to be of old age. Please, please, please do not message me, contact me, comment, or whatever trying to stick up for your age group. I do not care. And just to make you feel better, I think the whole “Like this if you’re a 90s’ baby!” has gotten way out of hand and really stupid on my generation’s behalf, so now the playing ground is even. Happy?

Aaron and I were conversing about how uncomfortable situations can get with a generation gap. It shouldn’t be that way, and it isn’t always, but it’s most definitely there at times. So we came up with a list of things different age groups will do to try to relate to one another:

They use lame sayings that seem to be hip or current. The best example I can give for this is when people use phrases that were probably really witty 15 years ago. “Why be normal?” and “You don’t have to go home, but you have to get the heck out of here,” are two of the main ones I could think of. 

They try to dress a certain way. I made Aaron show his work with this one, seeing as how a lot of people tend to try to dress inappropriately or in a way that doesn’t suit them. 

 

(Zubaz and mullet, anyone?)

 They try to quote “pop culture.” At a recent gathering, someone tried to talk to me about the popularity of the Kardashians. I verbatim said, “I don’t know what that is or what you’re talking about.” Of course I know what that is, I just don’t want that kind of talk encouraged anywhere! 

They use Comic Sans MS. And they do so un-ironically! That was a hipster reference and this is what Comic Sans MS looks like. I just can’t take this very seriously. 

Okay, so maybe I was unfair before. It’s not just different ages that do this. Young people do this stuff too. Just maybe with a little bit more awareness.  And if you are genuinely stuck in a conversation try using something like the Olympics. You could ask if the other person is going to watch. You can always segue to “What was your first memory?” This really should just be made into a PSA about not having awkward conversations.  

I guess it doesn’t really have to do with only people who are old. So in summation, anyone, young or old, can try to be hip in weird ways. That’s not really what I started with at all.