blatman posted:

I just installed several large salt licks around my home

Unrelated but does anyone have any advice on how to stop the local deer from breaking in and licking my salt

um excuse me posted:

One of my co-workers is 62, he salts his beer.

RC and Moon Pie posted:

My mother almost had a breakdown in a freaking Panera because she was overwhelmed by the menu.

Nazzadan posted:

Catching up in the r/relationships thread and a goon posted a phrase that eminates powerful boomer energy, "scream sneeze." My boomer grandpa is a master of the art of scream sneezing and I hate it.

Ghost Leviathan posted:

What's a scream sneeze? I know about really loud sneezes that go off without warning at usually the most quiet moment possible, because I do that just often enough to surprise everyone in the room and disorient myself.

RC and Moon Pie posted:

My mother almost had a breakdown in a freaking Panera because she was overwhelmed by the menu.

um excuse me posted:

Now I'm wondering if I have any archaic habits.

Nazzadan posted:

"scream sneeze."

pooch516 posted:

I'm not owned, I'm not owned!

pooch516 posted:

Edit: Looks like that was posted already, but I think it should just be reposted on every page for us to make fun of.

Heath posted:

Someone copy paste it here so they don't get ad revenue for this nonsense

Tyler Cowen on Bloomberg posted:

OK Kids. This Boomer Has Had Enough.

Those who use ‘OK Boomer’ reveal more about themselves than those they use it against.


As a baby boomer myself, I have mixed feelings about the latest linguistic weapon of generational warfare being deployed against us. Am I OK with “OK Boomer,” the flippant yet passive retort from millennials or members of Generation Z whenever anyone of my generation decries the dangers of e-scooters or overreactions to climate change?

I realize that whether I’m OK isn’t really the question. Still, I would characterize my reaction as irritated, put off and maybe a bit flattered.

On the positive side, my generation is being treated as a force of nature, a generation so strong and influential that it must be addressed by name. In so many debates today, being insulted is seen as a mark of importance. (For what it is worth, I don’t go around talking about “millennials” or “Generation X” or “Generation Z” very much — this column excepted, I suppose.) Furthermore, as an economist I see the word “boom” as having a generally positive connotation.

On the negative side, I worry that those who deploy “OK Boomer” are putting themselves down and signaling their own impotence. I am not arguing for “[Expletive Deleted] Boomer,” even though it would have a vitality and rebellious spirit very much reminiscent of the 1960s or 1970s (which of course were quintessential boomer eras). But when I read or hear “OK Boomer,” I start to think there might be something special about baby boomers after all. We boomers may not be different in kind from other generations, but we do seem to inspire rhetorical creativity in our critics.

The closest earlier analog to “OK Boomer” is probably “OK, Chief,” a slightly sardonic response to a bossy or persistent request. So the phrase “OK Boomer” is itself an implicit and indeed somewhat passive admission as to who is really in charge. Members of Gen Z are subtly demonstrating that the clichés about them may have a grain of truth.

As I said I am a baby boomer, born in 1962, and I do a lot of public speaking about such topics as the absence of free lunches in this world. Yet I have never heard anyone say “OK Boomer” back to me. Instead I see the phrase on social media — another sign of the essentially passive nature of the response. (And wearing an “OK Boomer” hoodie or buying other such merchandise doesn’t seem like a major sign of rebellion, either.)

If there is any native medium for the “OK Boomer” meme, in fact, it is short TikTok videos, one of the more evanescent forms of social media. That the site seems plagued by Chinese censorship is just another state of affairs that boomers find more offensive than does Generation Z.

My biggest worry about “OK Boomer” is the generational stereotyping it embodies. It wouldn’t be acceptable to baldly criticize older people simply for being old. So why is it OK to use a circumlocution that does the same thing? “You old fogeys don’t have a clue” is perhaps a more direct translation of the phrase, and I am not sure that the ostensibly greater politeness of “OK Boomer” is a virtue. Would we think much of any boomer wearing a T-shirt proclaiming, “Not Impressed, Kid,” “Sure, Kiddo” or “Nice Try, Kid”?

I am greatly pleased that the post-boomer generations are by all appearances less racist and sexist than their predecessors. Still, prejudices are part of human nature. There is always a danger that they will re-emerge, redirected at other targets — defined by their age, their political views, their wealth, the size of their carbon footprint, or some other salient variable. Prejudice doesn’t become acceptable simply because it is not directed at someone’s race, ethnicity or gender.

I don’t wish to use this column to proclaim myself or to ask for anyone else’s “OK,” sarcastically or otherwise. I’ll simply note in closing that the growing age segregation of American society is a great tragedy and a foregone opportunity. If younger generations are looking for yet another good cause, that would be a very good one to embrace.

Dameius posted:

quote:

Would we think much of any boomer wearing a T-shirt proclaiming, “Not Impressed, Kid,” “Sure, Kiddo” or “Nice Try, Kid”?

Framboise posted:

quote:

Would we think much of any boomer wearing a T-shirt proclaiming, “Not Impressed, Kid,” “Sure, Kiddo” or “Nice Try, Kid”?

Framboise posted:

No, because we're not thin-skinned narcissists who think their opinion matters. Besides, "Not impressed" and "sure, kiddo" is basically the entire narrative boomers have put on us since the second we left the womb, so it's hard to care.

Heath posted:

It would be in the same category as

STAY BACK
This Man is a FORKLIFT OPERATOR
RULES:
1) If you see him running, FOLLOW
2) If he looks pissed, don't even try it
3) Stay OUT of his man cave

OR ELSE!!

(an eagle carrying an American flag soars over a skull with the Dodge logo)

Beachcomber posted:

Boomer adjacent, but I've always felt that having a 'man cave' is a tacit admission that you have no voice in the appearance of the rest of your house.

A Wizard of Goatse posted:

have you seen the garbage that gets marketed as for "man caves"

they shouldn't

Dameius posted:

quote:

I am not arguing for “[Expletive Deleted] Boomer,” even though it would have a vitality and rebellious spirit very much reminiscent of the 1960s or 1970s (which of course were quintessential boomer eras).

A Wizard of Goatse posted:

have you seen the garbage that gets marketed as for "man caves"

they shouldn't

Bonzo posted:

This is making the rounds on Facebook