# Is the late 1940s ignored in American pop-culture history? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 30, 2023, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-late-1940s-ignored-in-american-pop-culture-history/992283 "2023-10-30T01:57:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2024, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-late-1940s-ignored-in-american-pop-culture-history/992283/101 "2024-04-07T13:45:46Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > It occurs to me that one reason that the late forties might be less discussed in American popculture is that they are too early for boomers to remember but too recent for boomers to have studied in history class. I remember that in the late 1960s high school American history textbooks still sometimes ended with World War II. The years after the war were too unresolved to be able to say much clear about. The world hadn’t changed into something like what was predicted in George Orwell’s _1984_, split into three dictatorships that didn’t communicate with each other and randomly changed between being friends and enemies. What’s happened is much more confused than that. ---
**Author:** ![gnarator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gnarator/32/8266_2.png) [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2024, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-late-1940s-ignored-in-american-pop-culture-history/992283/102 "2024-04-07T15:55:49Z")
No doubt he’s with Amelia Earhart. ---
**Author:** ![Jamasta1976](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@Jamasta1976](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamasta1976)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2024, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-late-1940s-ignored-in-american-pop-culture-history/992283/103 "2024-04-15T05:25:22Z")
I think the 1940s are a possible exception to what I see as the tendancy to “remember” the later part of the decade as its defining period. When most people speak of “the fifties” - they probably have 1957-1959 in mind more than 1952…likewise, for many, “the sixties” are weighed heavily to that late phase of the decade. Yet World War II overwhelms “the forties.” Just my take… ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2024, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-late-1940s-ignored-in-american-pop-culture-history/992283/104 "2024-04-15T13:36:48Z")
Indeed, the significance of WWII extends far beyond the years 1939 to 1945. It stands as one of the most profound events in human history. Beyond shaping new historical paths and rearranging geopolitical dynamics, WWII catalyzed scientific and technological advancements, transformed human rights and international law, and revitalized post-war economies. It also left an indelible mark on culture, influencing music, fashion, and pop culture. ---
**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:** [April 16, 2024, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-late-1940s-ignored-in-american-pop-culture-history/992283/105 "2024-04-16T13:14:18Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > My understanding from listening to Andrew Hickey (The History of Rock in 500 Songs) is that the tradition of hit Christmas songs every year persists in the UK. In the US it mostly ended by the mid-1960s. At least one station – [_Christmas FM_ in Ireland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_FM) – has been holding an annual contest for new Christmas music since 2009. The winner of which gets into regular rotation the following year. ---
**Author:** ![Jay\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2024, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-late-1940s-ignored-in-american-pop-culture-history/992283/106 "2024-04-16T18:53:57Z")
> [@Jamasta1976](#): > > I think the 1940s are a possible exception to what I see as the tendancy to “remember” the later part of the decade as its defining period. ? Don’t know that I agree with this. 1920s, Prohibition, already in place when the decade started. 1930s, Depression. Stock market crashed in 1929. So it was already underway. You could say that the market crash defined the 1920s, but that kind of ignores what the actual 1920s were all about. 1970s, you had the mellow shag carpeting early part, and the Frampton Comes Alive disco later part. Despite a lot of the disco and pop culture being huge sellers in ways we’d never seen before (or since, Bird/Magic still top rated college basketball game of all time) the early image is probably more remembered than the disco stuff. 1980s Reaganism probably peaked with his second election and declined from there. 1990s is the grunge decade. Even though the popsters like Britney Spears were dominant by the end of the decade. 2000s is 9-11 and the wars, again stuff that was more dramatic at the beginning of the decade. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2024, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-late-1940s-ignored-in-american-pop-culture-history/992283/107 "2024-04-16T19:04:23Z")
I’ve seen references to teenagers as “teens” in the newspaper archives as early as 1846. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2024, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-late-1940s-ignored-in-american-pop-culture-history/992283/108 "2024-04-16T19:57:19Z")
_Miss in Her Teens, Or the Medley of Lovers_ was a two-act play by the famed actor David Garrick. The first performance appears to be 1747. No question that “teens” was occasionally used in British and American English for centuries. As this [ngram](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=teen%2Cteenage%2Cteenager&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3) shows, however, teen was not really a common term until after WWII and teenage and teenager were practically unknown before that. [Pluralizing](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=teens%2Cteenage%2Cteenagers&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3) for teens and teenagers shows a more gradual buildup for teens in the 20th century but still a huge rise later on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-late-1940s-ignored-in-american-pop-culture-history/992283.md?page=5)