“That sounds like a good idea…….”-“Is there something bothering you with the idea?”-“No, the idea is GOOD…..”
Can someone explain this to me?
Old people use quotation marks to indicate emphasis, as a substitute for italics (which many of them could not produce on the old typewriters they learned to write on), whereas young people use them to indicate sarcasm or falseness. They’re used as “scare quotes”.
And old people use ellipses simply to indicate a pause, or for some other incomprehensible reason I’m not aware of. But young people use ellipses to indicate passive-aggression.
So an old person could type something like:
how are things going with your “boyfriend”….
and what they mean is
How are things going with your boyfriend? [Im so excited for you, sweetie, and I wanna hear about it]
But a young person would interpret that sentence as
How are things going with your so-called boyfriend…. [I say, while seething with contempt for him and possibly for you too]
The linguistic difference across generations is beautifully explained here thank you
Here is your guide to “the olds” and their communication styles, and “the youths” too, circa 2022, and very America-centric. And from the viewpoint of a GenX.
Silent Generation (1935-1949)
Honestly, the youngest of these are in their early 70’s, so they aren’t emailing or texting much. You can expect long, rambling voice mail from them more than anything else.
Boomers (1950-1964)
Like cop-disliker69 said, they grew up with mechanical typewriters and have 2 ways of emphasizing word, ALL CAPS and quotation marks. They will use ellipses to indicate pauses or breaks in their thought process, but not to indicate that something was left out. If they don’t like something, they tend to just say they don’t like it. They might not have a reason, but they will say what they think when they do. However, if you don’t like something, they will defend their position to their dying breath, so be ready to defend yours. Also, if they don’t like something, they won’t help with it, and they might even undermine it because they feel it is doomed anyways.
They grew up during a time when the USA was riding high off of “winning” WWII, and standing up against the horrible threat of communism and the evil USSR. They tend to think that since they are the children of the greatest generation, that has also made them great, and tend to overcompensate when it is pointed out that is not how that works. This leads to them often believing in their own inherent right-ness, and often take criticism to how “things are done” as personal attacks. They tend to demand that they know how to do everything, and refuse help, unless they “ask” for it, by stating what you will/should do and exactly how it should be done.
GenX (1965-1979)
During their childhood, GenX started with mechanical typewriters, used electric typewriters, and started using computers, all before finishing high school. They tend to use punctuation as ‘it was intended’, in that double quotes are used to quote things, single quotes paraphrase things, ellipses are used to show text that has been removed, etc. You will also find a smattering of uses around brackets [ ], forward slashes /, and other punctuation that was used in chat/bbs/message systems to convey emotions, attitudes, or what can be considered early emoticons. While they can be strict about punctuation, their use of grammar is, creative. If they use low emphasis like “good”, then they mean it’s good, if they say “bad” they mean it is great, and if they say “great” then they mean it’s horrible and going to be a disaster. They tend to not express views that are purely neutral in nature, so if they express a view that is neutral, like “OK” or “fine”, it most assuredly isn’t. Contextual clues will need to be used to see if they love it or hate it. They can often be described as a mixture of extreme sarcasm and apathy.
GenX grew up during the threat of nuclear war. They lived their lives believing that at any moment, the “big one” would start, being WWIII, and they would all be annihilated. When the USSR finally collapsed in their early teens to late 20’s, they were left both relieved, and a bit anxious, they hadn’t really prepared for “a future.” Also during their childhood, the percentage of children living with both parents went from around 85% to 70%, where it has pretty much remained since. Many GenX grew up in either single-parent households, or ones where both parent worked, which led to many being “latch-key” kids, who would leave home for school after parent(s) left for work and arrive home before them. They tend to be self-reliant, and are often uncomfortable asking for help.
Millennials (1980-1994)
Text messaging, and phones that only had the 12-keys of 0-9, *, and #, rose to prominence during their childhood and early teens. Many will still use a lot of text-speak, and will often skip what they feel is unnecessary punctuation, especially in personal communications. You will see this less often with emails, and more often with SMS/Text or chat. They tend to be less sarcastic than GenX, but they will tend to use a lot of meme-speak that is usually about 6 months out of date.
When they were young, the world celebrated the new millennium, quickly followed by 9/11 and the war on terror. They tend to be a mixture of optimistic and cynical. The vast majority of them are shocked to find out that they are in their 30’s, and have a hard time accepting that there are 2 generations after them. They like to think of themselves as being on the “cutting edge” but can’t fathom that they are no where near it anymore. They often ask for help by saying that they want to help you out, but in reality, they don’t know where to start or how to ask.
Gen Z (1995-2009)
Web browsers, Instant Messaging, text, and video chat, have existed their entire lives. The oldest of Gen Z was 12 when the iPhone was first released, and have become accustomed to keyboard-less devices since then. They tend to dislike using physical keyboards, preferring to use on-screen touch keyboards when typing, and a mouse instead of keyboard shortcuts. Many have GenX parents, and therefore has picked up their casual use of sarcasm. Since they grew up in the post “stranger danger” America, they are used to communicating primarily with each other, so they can find it difficult to interpret meanings given by other generations, especially when it directly contradicts their own usage. Like cop-disliker69 said, they can take punctuation queues like quotes and ellipses, to indicate sarcasm or passive-aggressive undertones. They prefer SMS/Text and dislike email. If they have to login to something, for class or work, then notifications should be there, not in another system like email. They really don’t like email.
Most of their lives has been spent with the US involved in a war somewhere in the Middle East until just recently, so they have seen the US spending enormous sums of money on military hardware and wars, while completely ignoring social issues like clean water in Flint, MI, or the impending environmental disaster of climate change. They can tend to be more angry and cynical about things. It is very hard for them to ask for help, as they consider themselves to be masters of all things tech, but have normally worked within walled gardens of software, and don’t have a lot of experience trouble-shooting things.
Alpha (2010-present)
The oldest of these are about to turn 12. There has always been an iPhone, but they have pretty much no idea of who Steve Jobs was.
140 character tweets and tiktoks less than 1min will seem quaint to them.
