Skip to main content

Arbitrary Idea Generation

Friends,

Society seems comfortable with this notion that people born within a 20-22 year window share common traits. Marketers and the media casually refer to us as Boomers, Gen-Xers and Millennials. Popular as these groupings are, we seldom delve beyond the broad strokes they convey. Peel the curtain back a little, and a bizarre framework emerges. I’ll set aside the 80-90 year repeating cycles of idealists, nomads, heroes and artists –if you’re curious, read this. Instead, I’ve decided to share some random observations –from this easily amused Gen-Xer (yes, I had to look it up).

  • The now defunct Millennial catchphrase “OK Boomer” carries a secret irony: it’s based on a generational paradigm created by two Baby Boomers: William Strauss (b. 1947) and Neil Howe (b. 1951).
  • Gen-X gets its name from the 24th letter in the alphabet, because it’s the 24th generation on the list. Fittingly, unlike the preceding and following generations, we were too lazy to change it.
  • Baby Boomers were preceded by the Silent generation, which might help explain why we don’t hear much about them.
  • If asked, wouldn’t it be amusing to say your product is targeted at the Lost generation? Granted, it might have been funnier before April 2018, when the last member of the Lost generation was lost.
  • The Homeland generation (i.e. generation Z) started in 2005. With the alphabet exhausted, does that mean the world will end in the mid-2020s?  (Fortunately not. Greek alphabet to the rescue!)
  • Hanson Gregory, the alleged donut inventor, was a member of the Gilded generation (1822-1842). Is it any wonder he created an excessively delicious golden treat?

It’s just as well my list neglected to mention one living generation. Their superlative name tells me they don’t need a self-esteem boost –besides, we’re getting Monday off to celebrate their feats.

Happy Friday!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Donut Doodle Dandy

Dear Members and Constituents, In trying to figure-out Wednesday’s cool-looking Google Doodle ( Jorge Luis Borges’ 112 th birthday ), I stumbled across a list of Google Doodles you’ll never see. This, and a Rockies game later that day, were sufficient inspiration to get my head spinning around what other doodles Google might never noodle? I’m sure you’ll probably have a few ideas of your own, but I was able to come-up with a couple. How about a former Colorado Rockies player whose unfortunate encounter with a moth put him in the news this week? The Matt Holliday doodle might look something like this… Another item which, surprisingly enough, has not been made into a doodle are donuts. Although I was slightly taken aback to find this delicious pastry has not been featured, after the initial disappointment, I decided to take matters into my own hands and take a stab at one (perhaps Google can use it next year for national donut day )… or to celebrate Greek police having “ blown a ho...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bring your own Geiger counter!

Friends, This week’s news were literally radioactive -and I’m not talking about the fallout from the Trump-Putin summit. I’m talking mutate your DNA-exciting news. I’m talking Marie Curie-worthy news. I’m talking Geiger-counter-tilting news. I’m talking… well, you get the (glow in the dark) picture. A study about a lone wolf collared near Chernobyl and tracked on a long trek spawned the headline “ Could Chernobyl Wolves Be Spreading Mutations? ” While one can be forgiven for envisioning a flying wolf with laser eyes and a green aura about it, the disappointing story basically says most mutations are harmful to an animal’s health -and unhealthy animals are unlikely to travel 250 miles and mate with other wolves, contaminating the gene pool. So, much ado about nothing. The desire to open Rocky Flats (a nuclear weapons facility turned wildlife refuge) to the public has triggered some litigation from an environmentalist group. At st...
Post a Comment
Read more

Habemus Donuts

Friends, On this first Friday of Leo XIV's papacy, there’s a lot we still don’t know about the new pope. As we learn more, I’m sure there will be many tomes published on the visible head of the 1.4 billion strong Catholic Church. Here are a few possible titles for books and articles to come: From Chicago to Chiclayo: an unexpected journey to Rome Leo is a Virgo, and other fun facts LEO: not just for Low-Earth Orbit anymore How White Sox became part of the papal regalia One Leo, two Leos… the Count counts popes I was going to throw one in there about his favorite foods, but it seems nobody knows. Here’s hoping the first US-born pope loves donuts (that would be a great omen for things to come). If not, Sophie Carrigan's classic, Leo's Lost Donut , would take on a whole new meaning. Happy Friday! Photo Credit: Sophie Carrigan
Post a Comment
Read more