# Apparently around half of American Millennials haven’t heard of The Hindenburg **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 13, 2024, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225 "2024-09-13T18:59:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [September 14, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225/61 "2024-09-14T20:14:45Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > One I’d wager most older adults think was far worse than it actually was (I did, just from impressions). Yeah, I had no idea that only 35 people died. When 90% of your brain is taken up with old newsreels about nazi air crashes and quoting movies from the last century, I guess you don’t have any room left over for current events. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225/62 "2024-09-14T20:22:56Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Not quite Hindenburg level, but a few years ago I was eating lunch with 9 or 10 co-workers. I referenced Johnny Carson in the conversation and not a single one of them had a clue who he was. That’s nothing. I was at lunch with coworkers where the discussion turned to TV detectives and I referred to Jim Rockford to blank faces. “You know; James Garner? _The Great Escape_? _Gran Prix_? _The Americanization of Emily_? _Maverick_?” “Oh, you mean that old film with Mel Gibson?” I weep for a generation whose only conception of _Magnum, p.i._ is Jay Hernandez and a fawning Perdita Weeks as Higgins. Fortunately, at least we have _Archer_ Season 7: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Q7PEZMCHmxA/hqdefault.jpg "Archer P I") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7PEZMCHmxA) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225/63 "2024-09-14T20:40:09Z")
You don’t need to know that “oh, the humanity” was coined to describe the Hindenburg to be familiar with the saying. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225/64 "2024-09-14T20:48:40Z")
I’m 64, and I’ve never heard of that. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225/65 "2024-09-14T21:24:38Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Not quite Hindenburg level, but a few years ago I was eating lunch with 9 or 10 co-workers. I referenced Johnny Carson in the conversation and not a single one of them had a clue who he was. I met him while working Security at the studio. Not a friendly guy, but also not stuck up. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225/66 "2024-09-14T21:34:24Z")
Kid Cheesesteak (16, Zoomer) knew what it was, that it was on a Led Zeppelin album, and got real annoyed that I asked. I could hear his eyes rolling over the phone. Next up… Johnny Carson. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225/67 "2024-09-15T00:14:01Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > But the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse is still relevant to engineers. And I saw a film of the collapse in my “Physics for Dummies” class. Hey, you need to have something for us poor Humanities majors to look at if you want us to pay attention to physics. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225/68 "2024-09-15T00:32:07Z")
Yeah, I’ve seen that film at least two times. I suspect it’s still shown, as it’s a very dramatic demonstration of physics ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225/69 "2024-09-15T00:52:25Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > I weep for a generation whose only conception of _Magnum, p.i._ is Jay Hernandez and a fawning Perdita Weeks as Higgins. They’re not getting past the age quiz in _Leisure Suit Larry,_ that’s for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225/70 "2024-09-15T02:09:35Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > But the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse is still relevant to engineers. Why, yes, they showed it in one or two of my engineering classes. If nothing else, it’s a powerful, humbling, cautionary rite of passage. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225/71 "2024-09-15T02:36:04Z")
It always struck me that he didn’t just sit there filming everything and enjoying the show. He went for the dog. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225/72 "2024-09-15T15:46:36Z")
@puzzlegal “Simple Harmonic Motion.” I remember that, and the poor fool trying to drive a car across the bridge right before it collapses. He finally decides to get out of the car and run like hell until the movement of the bridge overcomes him so he falls, then he crawls the rest of the way. Little stuff like that help make the film clip quite memorable. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225/73 "2024-09-15T15:52:09Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > They’re not getting past the age quiz in _Leisure Suit Larry,_ that’s for sure. This is getting very meta as knowledge of that is also an age quiz. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225/74 "2024-09-15T17:59:51Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Little stuff like that help make the film clip quite memorable. Yes. It’s not just an “exercise” to analyze. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225/75 "2024-09-15T18:12:29Z")
My father died ten years ago on Sept 12. I tend to remember it as “the day after 9/11” Maybe in seventy or eighty years the sound of those four syllables, 9/11, won’t automatically mean to people what it does now. ---
**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:** [September 15, 2024, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225/76 "2024-09-15T18:30:03Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > They’re not getting past the age quiz in _Leisure Suit Larry,_ that’s for sure. That might be another name the yutes of America don’t recognize. I’ll never forget an older guy who was angry a lot of people my age didn’t know who James Cagney was. This was shorty after I graduated from high school, so the mid-1990s, and by then Cagney had been dead for almost 10 years, his biggest movies were made decades before I was born, his last theatrical role was before I was born, and the only reason I knew about him was from Looney Tunes or others doing bad impressions of him. “You dirty rat!” ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225/77 "2024-09-15T19:00:56Z")
I’m 62 and I’m pretty sure the only reason I know about the Hindenburg is because of references in movies and TV shows. I might have learned about it way back in 7th or 8th grade. Maybe. I’m actually surprised that half of the Millennials polled have heard of it - people often think that “common knowledge” is what they know but many facts aren’t really common knowledge as they will be different for everyone. People talk about what it was like to fly before 9/11 and expect me to understand because it’s “common knowledge”. I’m old enough to have flown before 9/11 and I did fly a few times before 9/11 but only once under normal circumstances \*. I’ve been told airline tickets could be used by anyone , not just the person they were bought for and that you could go to the gate without a ticket but I only learned that once people started talking about “what flying was like pre 9/11” which I guess started around 10 -15 years ago. If asked 100 people my age about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire , I bet half of them wouldn’t know what it was. And 146 people died in that. Doesn’t mean they have a hole in their knowledge- just means I’ve had a different life than they did. \* Every flight pre-9/11 except one was work-related. And even pre-9/11 flying for my job involved interacting with security/police depending on the airport so I had no idea what it was like for normal people. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225/78 "2024-09-15T19:38:22Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > > [@DPRK](#): > > > > They’re not getting past the age quiz in _Leisure Suit Larry,_ that’s for sure. > > That might be another name the yutes of America don’t recognize. I recognise the name (video game, right?) but have no idea what the reference means. An I am not a yute. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225/79 "2024-09-15T19:59:07Z")
It’s just a computer game— we can get into the background and context— but when you start to play, it asks you a number of… I suppose mostly American pop-culture questions, the idea being that little kids would not be able to answer them correctly, or whatever. It may be amusing to peruse the collection of questions: [LSL1 Age Quiz - Al Lowe's Humor Site](https://allowe.com/games/larry/tips-manuals/lsl1-age-quiz.html) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225/80 "2024-09-15T20:37:17Z")
There are far more egregious examples of ignorance of history. Ms. J. was working as a university reference librarian when the following exchange occurred: Graduate student in Communications: “Are you a history buff?” Mrs. J. “I used to be.” Grad student: “What war was going on in 1942?” Note: this conversation occurred in the 1980s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-around-half-of-american-millennials-haven-t-heard-of-the-hindenburg/1007225.md?page=5)