# A poll for Generation X or younger **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 18, 2024, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891 "2024-08-18T23:21:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/1 "2024-08-18T23:21:35Z")
I know lots of people my age will know this reference, I want to find out if it had legs past its original life, hence I am asking folks in the younger age brackets. Question: would you understand a reference to “Mutt and Jeff?” _Poll ([view on site](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/1))_ Context: in order for someone I have not met to recognize my husband and myself in a crowded venue, I considered saying “we are an older Mutt and Jeff couple.” But since they are considerably younger than me, I was afraid they would not understand what I was getting at (one of us is quite a bit taller than the other). ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/2 "2024-08-18T23:27:09Z")
I am Gen-X but near the top end and I am the youngest in my family (of that generation) by a fair bit so I got exposed to a lot of “older” stuff most people my age didn’t. That said, I probably haven’t seen or thought of it in 40 years. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/3 "2024-08-18T23:27:30Z")
I’m not sure what the relevant answer is for me. I recognize the names as being a pair of comic-strip characters, but I couldn’t tell you any relevant information about either of the characters, including their relative heights. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/4 "2024-08-18T23:29:06Z")
I went with Yes, But. It’s an old timey comic but that’s all I recall. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/5 "2024-08-18T23:29:13Z")
I’m with @Chronos, although I clicked “Yes, I understand the reference, but I have not seen the original” before I finished reading the OP. Upon reflection, “No, I do not understand the reference” would have been a better answer. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/6 "2024-08-18T23:30:24Z")
I’m at the very oldest end of Gen X; I recognize the names, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen an example of the strip itself, and I know nothing about it other than the names. I also didn’t know, until looking it up now, that “Mutt and Jeff” is a term for a pair of people, one short and one tall. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/7 "2024-08-18T23:30:59Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I am Gen-X but near the top end and I am the youngest in my family (of that generation) by a fair bit so I got exposed to a lot of “older” stuff most people my age didn’t. That said, I probably haven’t seen or thought of it in 40 years. This is almost exactly me, I’m Gen X but my siblings are boomers 11 and 12 years older. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/8 "2024-08-18T23:32:16Z")
I clicked “yes” but will have to go back and change—I was thinking AKBAR and Jeff, which is, I suspect, subtly riffing on Mutt and Jeff, but an entirely different dynamic! I was aware of Mutt and Jeff but never really spent much time on them. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/9 "2024-08-18T23:59:38Z")
Early returns indicate my instincts about this reference being too old were correct. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/10 "2024-08-19T00:01:18Z")
It started in 1907 and I can’t remember the last time I even _saw_ someone reading a paper. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/11 "2024-08-19T00:07:42Z")
I read the daily newspaper – particularly the comics page – pretty much every day from around age 8 (1973) until I left home for college (1983). The Wikipedia article on the strip indicates that it ran until 1983, but as far as I can remember, it wasn’t being carried in the papers I was reading (Chicago Tribune, Green Bay Press-Gazette). ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/12 "2024-08-19T00:14:32Z")
I was born in 1987 and I’ve never heard of this. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/13 "2024-08-19T00:15:52Z")
I used to have a boss who would say “Hey, if it isn’t Mutt & Jeff” when I’d come in with a coworker. My name is Jeff so I think that was more a catalyst than our relative heights (though I was tall and thin, he wasn’t especially short). If not for him, I probably wouldn’t have gotten the reference. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/14 "2024-08-19T01:18:02Z")
I’m Gen-X by age, but grew up on the other side of the world when the world was big, so not surprising I had no idea. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/15 "2024-08-19T01:52:04Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > My name is Jeff so I think that was more a catalyst than our relative heights Same, being named Jeff I have heard it many times from older folks when they know or learn my name. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/16 "2024-08-19T01:55:10Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > My name is Jeff so I think that was more a catalyst… > [@pirviii](#): > > Same, being named Jeff I have heard it many times from older folks… Also a Jeff. Same thing here when I was young. No one says it anymore and haven’t for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/17 "2024-08-19T01:55:40Z")
Gen X here, I recall hearing about Mutt & Jeff but didn’t know who they were. The names sounded familiar, but i had to answer that I had no idea who they were. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/18 "2024-08-19T02:12:02Z")
Born early 1970s. Wasn’t sure how to answer. I’ve _heard of_ “Mutt and Jeff”. Fairly sure it was a newspaper comic strip – unsure if there was every any _notable_ spin-off media like television. However, I’ve never actually _seen_ Mutt & Jeff – no idea what the characters look like. For comparison, other before-my-time characters like Mr. Magoo, Pogo, and even Little Nemo are far more familiar to me – all instantly recognizable. EDIT: I second exactly what **Chronos** wrote. I don’t think “_Mutt & Jeff are completely different heights!_” is anywhere near common knowledge anymore. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/19 "2024-08-19T02:16:51Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > It started in 1907 and I can’t remember the last time I even _saw_ someone reading a paper . That’s much older than I figured it was – I though M&J was something big in the 1950s or thereabouts. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/20 "2024-08-19T02:18:55Z")
Born in 1975. I have no clue what you’re talking about. ETA: Looked it up. Doesn’t look the least bit familiar to me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891.md?page=2)