I work in market research for a big company. Old fashioned is a term for boomers and retro is a term that appeals to gen x'ers.

What connotates a gen-"x"er?

Generation X, and now there is a generation Y. I believe Roper International came up with it. don't know the reason they chose the letter though.

I hate 'retro', too and I missed being a boomer by four years (born too soon!). The term Generation X was popularized by Canadian novelist Douglas Coupland in 'Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture', which describes the angst of those born between roughly 1960 and 1965 who felt no connection to the cultural icons of the baby boom generation. (1945 to 1964). In Coupland's usage, the X referred to the namelessness of a generation that was coming into an awareness of its existence as a separate group but feeling overshadowed by the Boomer generation of which it was ostensibly a part.

Coupland took the X from Paul Fussell's 1983 book "Class", where the term "Category X" designated a region of America's social hierarchy, rather than a generation. The term has transcended its roots, as do most social phenomenon names. And there is now of course Gen Y and there will soon be Gen Z.

Couldn't resist providing the info - demographics was part of my career (now retired) and is still a passion (besides Hosta).

Westy

thanks Westy!

LOL....Ok westy you beat me to it!
Are Gen Z going to be my Grandkids? lol

I guess the old saying "Everything old is new" applies.

Hostared - if you're a GenX-er, then GenZ's will likely be your grandkids. But here's the part that's so interesting -- there is 'overlap' like you wouldn't believe. Here's a direct quote from a demographic research study we used in marketing: (I worked in the area of 'buying behavior' for a Discover Card database project)

"Generation X includes anyone born from 1961 to 1981 in the United States. In the USA, this generation's parents are comprised of the 'Silent Generation' (born 1925-1942) and, to a lesser extent, the Baby Boomers. The subsequent generation, Generation Y, have been born of not only older Generation X parents, or Generation X parents having children at a young age, but strikingly also by younger Baby Boomers having children in second and third marriages (resulting in 10-18+ year gaps between the children). Generation Y was born between the early 1980s and the late 1990s.

In Western countries, Generation X consists of far fewer people than the baby boom generation and has had correspondingly less impact on popular culture, but it came into its own during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Hostility between Baby Boomers and Generation X increased in the 1980s and 1990s as Gen Xers accused Baby Boomers of hypocrisy and a 'greed is good' mentality and Baby Boomers accused Gen Xers of being slackers."

It's thoroughly complicated - especially by the 'second marriages' which produce children. So there is a lot of wiggle room for definitions and lots of grey. I don't care what generation my grandkids are - I JUST WANT SOME! I think I stay in the garden so I don't have to keep wondering when that will be! And I continue to wonder what will come after 'Z' - maybe they'll start naming generations like hurricanes.

Westy