Friday Five 15-April-2022 #2

[elusivek]

thefridayfive The Generation Gap – That moment when we suddenly realize we aren’t quite as instead with another generation as we’d like

1. Have you ever felt a generation gap with your friends?
Most of my friends are still from Primary/Secondary school, within my age group, so if there's any type of gap, it's not really a generation gap thing, more of a cultural gap thing. Say, I may be knowledgeable about local culture/custom, but I wouldn't know the why. Then they have a laugh. Or, say like these few days, my bestie (the one with the cake shop) wanted to post a promotional message yesterday (Good Friday) and wrote "Happy Easter!"... well, I suppose as a (commercial) marketing message, it works, but technically "Good Friday" is when Jesus dies, so it's supposed to be a sad day so the "Happy Easter" message isn't quite right.

That led to a funny conversation exchange where I was trying to convey there's something called the Farmer's Almanec and I was trying to draw parallels of it to the Chinese Lunar Calendar and then, apparently, what we in English say "Chinese Lunar Calendar", in Chinese it's called "Farmer's Calendar" (that's something I didn't know) so it is probable that the western Farmer's Almanec is the same or similar to the Chinese Lunar Calendar.

2. At what point in life does the generation gap seem to be the largest?
I dunno. I guess now? There's a whole new list of "cool" words that i have no idea about. But again it's not so much a "generation" gap, it's more of a "cultural" gap. These "cool", "new", "hip" words are imported words from Mandarin Chinese... so many of them make no sense to me even after someone explains them.

3. What role, if any does music play in generation gaps?
Well. With Apple Music, I now just let play music randomly. I'm usually quiet. Then maybe some 90s J-drama or anime theme songs play out and that's the only time that I have any sort of reaction, and once someone actually commented "I didn't know you were of the generation that listened to this!"....... Okay...????

4. Despite your attempts, have you become your parents?
I suppose yes. My mom comes out of my mouth sometimes.

5. Do you think your generation's fight is similar to your parents generations fight?
It's very different. In my parents' time, as long as you were willing to work, you'd get a job. You are Portuguese, or spoke Portuguese, or know someone of Portuguese background, then you'd easily get a job. Or easily gotten a raise. It's not like this anymore, and it's the other way around: what you need is Mandarin Chinese now, and you gotta know the big shots from those China groups. It's a whole different game.

Comments

[jo]

I sometimes find the biggest "generation gap" I have is with people my own age, because I'm not in the same place that most of them are. I'm in my late 50s (59 next week), and while I am married, I married late (at 40), so no kids, don't own a home, etc. Most people my age will talk about things like their kids being at university now/graduating uni, getting married, them becoming grandparents, doing home repairs, etc. and I just think "weird", because it's so far removed from my reality.

[elusivek]

I can see that happening to me in a few years too… well, at least so far not with my close friends… we all seem to be decided single up to now (entering our 40s next year). My acquaintances and work colleagues though, those of my age group are starting their families, so I suppose I’m… “lucky” is not the word I’m looking for, but, yeah, I have the comfort knowing that for now, amongst my close friends, there’s no such gaps yet. (Never know what’s going to happen in the future!)