# Inspired by the "WWII wasn't that long ago" thread. Your age in the past **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 15, 2014, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583 "2014-09-15T19:10:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583/1 "2014-09-15T19:10:09Z")
I’m 36, born in '78. That means 36 years before I was born, WWII was still raging. What about you? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583/2 "2014-09-15T20:36:06Z")
I’m 52, born in 1961. Fifty-two years before I was born the first world war was still five years in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583/3 "2014-09-15T20:40:30Z")
The Eighteenth Amendment had been in effect for two years. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583/4 "2014-09-15T21:01:26Z")
I was born in 1967. 47 years before I was born Babe Ruth was one month into his first year as a Yankee. ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Capt\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583/5 "2014-09-15T21:10:25Z")
Wow born in 70, 44 years old that makes 1926 Too much to leave here but wiki has a whole slew of stuff for most years quite a read. **Capt** ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583/6 "2014-09-15T21:20:53Z")
I was born in 1951, so 7 years before I was born WWII was still raging, and my father was in Europe fighting. Even worse we are going through the 50th anniversary of lots of things I remember very well. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583/7 "2014-09-15T21:26:50Z")
You know, lately, I’ve been thinking the opposite. Just a few years ago, the last few surviving veterans of World War 1 all died. And now? Well, even a 17 year old who saw a LITTLE bit of action in the Pacific at the end of World War 2 would be 86 years old. In a tad over 20 years, there won’t be any WW2 vets left alive. Anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583/8 "2014-09-15T21:30:43Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I was born in 1967. 47 years before I was born Babe Ruth was one month into his first year as a Yankee. I’m a few months younger than you. When I was born, Prohibition had been in effect for a bit more than half a year. Women did not yet have the right to vote in the US (one more state still needed to ratify the 19th Amendment), and the world was still a couple weeks (or a few months, depending on who you believe) away from the first commercial radio broadcast. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583/9 "2014-09-15T21:47:42Z")
I was born one year before Sputnik and the Space Age. The [Inaja Fire](http://voiceofsandiego.org/2013/07/02/how-one-sd-tragedy-changed-firefighting/), and the second Arab-Israeli war, occurred the year I was born. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583/10 "2014-09-15T21:53:01Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Well, even a 17 year old who saw a LITTLE bit of action in the Pacific at the end of World War 2 would be 86 years old. And a 17 year old who saw action in the Pacific at the start of the war will be 90 soon. If the cancers don’t do him in first. Thanks, Dad. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583/11 "2014-09-15T21:55:24Z")
I was born in 1940; WW2 was raging. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583/12 "2014-09-15T22:07:58Z")
I was also born in 1978. In 1942, besides all the WWII goings on, _Casablanca_ premiered. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583/13 "2014-09-15T22:37:24Z")
I was born in 1952. Reverse that and it would be 1890. And in 1890, my grandfather was 8 years old. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583/14 "2014-09-15T23:27:04Z")
I’m 76. When I was born, people aged 76 could remember the Civil War. ---
**Author:** ![txtumbleweed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@txtumbleweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txtumbleweed)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583/15 "2014-09-15T23:27:51Z")
I was born 1968, reverse that to get 1922, the leaders of World War II are just starting to rise as both Mussolini and Stalin come to power. Oh, cool, CV-1 USS Langley, the first US aircraft carrier was commissioned (or recommissioned, she had originally been a collier, the USS Jupiter). My grandmother is still around. She’ll be 96 this year so trying this with her, we get all the way back to 1822. The US was only on its 5th president, James Monroe. Florida had been ceded to the US from Spain just 3 years earlier. Stephen F Austin was moving the first Anglo settlers into Mexican Texas. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583/16 "2014-09-15T23:41:43Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I was born in 1951, so 7 years before I was born WWII was still raging, and my father was in Europe fighting. > > Even worse we are going through the 50th anniversary of lots of things I remember very well. The year I was going for would be 1888. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583/17 "2014-09-15T23:43:31Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > I was born in 1940; WW2 was raging. That would bring us back to 1866, 1st year of Reconstruction. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583/18 "2014-09-15T23:46:29Z")
Since I’m a big fan of the Julian Day concept and since that method allows for precision in calculating to the day (even fractions thereof) by way of an easy-to-use converter program available at [http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/JulianDate.php](http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/JulianDate.php) I know that I was born Julian day 2430333 Today is JD 2456915 Meaning I was born 26,582 days ago. And 26,582 days before that would have been JD 2403751, which was 1869 February 22 and one notable event two days earlier had been (according to [Historical Events in February 1869 - On This Day](http://www.historyorb.com/events/date/1869/february) ) > [@](#): > > 20th - Tennessee Governor W C Brownlow declares martial law in Ku Klux Klan crisis I can’t say I have heard of that particular crisis, but there you go… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583/19 "2014-09-15T23:50:04Z")
Coca Cola was first sold in glass bottles in 1894. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583/20 "2014-09-15T23:58:25Z")
Born in 1950. 63 years before that was 1887. People who were 63 in 1887 may have been too old to fight in the Civil War. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-wwii-wasnt-that-long-ago-thread-your-age-in-the-past/698583.md?page=2)