# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/41 "2024-08-19T14:07:35Z")
Born in '68, the phrase was common amongst my grandparents and great uncles and aunts. I knew it was a comic strip, but never read it until GoComics started re-running the strips. ---
**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 19, 2024, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/42 "2024-08-19T15:17:34Z")
Thanks for the link. I’m kind of surprised they were ever published in color, but I suppose those were Sunday strips. > [@chela](#): > > What’s a tinhorn? For $100 Alex. A cheap gambler or a pretentious person or a petty braggart. Seems kind of a mean description for those two. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/43 "2024-08-19T15:31:58Z")
Never heard of it. After a search, I think I may have seen those characters before, but I didn’t know their names. I was born in the 80s. ---
**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, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/44 "2024-08-19T15:51:09Z")
> [@chela](#): > > But Mutt was the tall and lanky one while Jeff was shorter Huh, so he was. That makes my old boss’s reference make even less sense aside from one of us being named Jeff. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/45 "2024-08-19T17:19:29Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > As my parents told the story, when my dad started dating my mom, there was an article stating: “(father’s name) got a new girlfriend. They look like Mutt and Jeff walking down the street”. Which of course referred to their height- he was about 6’-4" and she was about 5’-4") My dad, born during WWII, uses the expression quite often to refer to himself and my mom, who are of similar heights as your parents. Seems my 1970 birth year puts me firmly in the group that understands the reference, but I have never seen the original. At least I don’t remember seeing it. Looking at it, it reminds me of Li’l Abner, which is another of my dad’s favorite comic strips. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/46 "2024-08-19T18:33:07Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > 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. I’m within one year of your age, and had the exact same response. Although I did have a vague memory of hearing someone _else_ reference it and not getting it but not caring enough to look it up at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/47 "2024-08-19T18:57:43Z")
Bart Simpson is [not a fan](https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/f0e199f7-5b94-4e54-92ce-b174438acef5). > **[Mutt and Jeff](https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/Mutt_and_Jeff)** > > Mutt and Jeff was a long-popular American comic created by Bud Fisher. When the Simpson family was on a reality TV show called The 1895 Challenge, where they must live like a family from 1895, Mutt and Jeff was the only comic they could read. Bart... ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/48 "2024-08-19T21:19:18Z")
I’d heard the expression but didn’t know what it was referring to. If this was a multiple choice quiz and “very old comic strip with humor based on the size difference” was an answer, I think i would have selected it. Like my brain made very tenuous connections but I wouldn’t bet a lot of money if it was my Jeopardy Daily Double ---
**Author:** ![Strenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@Strenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strenger)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2024, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/49 "2024-08-20T01:51:02Z")
Sure, I’ve heard the expression IRL. Figured it was from an ancient comic strip, like the Katzenjammer Kids, and such, but there was never any doubt what the idea was. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2024, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/50 "2024-08-20T01:53:53Z")
I knew it only because my father once referred to a couple as _‘a regular Mutt and Jeff,’_ and — when I clearly didn’t know what the heck he was talking about — he explained that, well, the thing about Mutt and Jeff was, one of ‘em was really tall, while the other was really short. _“Which one was the tall one,”_ I asked. _“…I don’t know,”_ he replied. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2024, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/51 "2024-08-21T17:52:46Z")
[![](https://d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/n_iv/600/826793.jpg) ](https://d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/n_iv/600/826793.jpg) ---
**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 21, 2024, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/52 "2024-08-21T19:19:28Z")
Ten cents? I’m going to guess that dates it from the 50’s (from what I remember about comic books when I was of an age to want to buy them). ---
**Author:** ![Jihi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jihi/32/17768_2.png) [@Jihi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jihi)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/53 "2024-08-22T10:09:10Z")
Born in 81, which I gather places me on the very young end of millennials. I’ve always kind of thought that I straddle the line a little bit between Gen X and millennials. For the poll I chose “yes”. As someone who has an interest in comic strips and humor, as well as comic books, I do know who Mutt and Jeff are. I can even conjure an image in my head of the two characters, and describe the art style a little bit maybe. That would be the extent of my knowledge though. I have no idea about their relative personalities or even what the strip was actually about. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/54 "2024-08-22T12:37:08Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Ten cents? I’m going to guess that dates it from the 50’s (from what I remember about comic books when I was of an age to want to buy them). That’s issue #104, October 1958. (Thanks goes to Google Lens.) ---
**Author:** ![ThisOneGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@ThisOneGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisOneGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2024, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/55 "2024-08-24T14:44:32Z")
Had heard of them, but never seen an image before. Knew one was tall and the other short because my grandmother referred to my wife and myself as “Mutt and Jeff” referring to the height difference. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891/56 "2024-08-26T13:23:47Z")
Young-ish Gen Xer here. I’d never seen the original, but have understood the reference to mean a late-sixties, early-seventies, mild-mannered Beavis & Butthead sort of scenario. But I’ve been on a plane all night and might be misremembering. Tripler You can keep all the hyphens too . . . I have more if you need 'em. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-generation-x-or-younger/1005891.md?page=2)