How Long Before "Old" is "New" Again?

When I was a kid, my mother would play a trick on us-she would pack up our toys and comic books in a box, and hide them away for 4-6 months…then bring them out again. Of course, by that time we had forgotten all about them, and they were (magically) new to us again.
So, would this work with adults as well? Has anyone studied this phenomenon?

With adults, this only works with girlfriends.

And fashion.

Obligatory link:

http://www.metrolyrics.com/everything-old-is-new-again-lyrics-peter-allen.html

My mother-in-law, quoting a wise aphorism from her own mother, used to say that if you pack out-of-date clothes into a barrel*, when the barrel is full you can cap it, turn it over, and open up the former bottom of the barrel. The clothes now at the top will be in fashion.

*Yeah, a barrel. That’s what they used before cardboard boxes, I guess. Considering that my grandmother-in-law was born in the 19-teens, that’s probably how far back the saying goes.

It is certainly the case that adults can enjoy re-watching a movie or re-reading a book that they read a some time ago, which is pretty much the same thing you are describing. In terms of how long it takes I would guess it would be the length of time it takes to forget the details of the movie or book. For me its probably about 2-3 years.

It all depends on which cycle you refer to. For a nice list of possibilities check out List of cycles to see that things can return to a previous state in as little as a few seconds to as much as millions of years.

In the case of human beings, it would appear that one shot is all you get! (Rumors and religions to the contrary.) :slight_smile:

No it doesn’t. When it did, there was a Lot More involved. As men, we only learned that they came back to try to rub our nose in it or because there was A Lot More There on her side too.
Not that she’d ever say it.