I was born in the middle of the 20th century and when I was growing up, there were still people around - grandparents, other relatives and neighbors - who were born in the 1880’s and 90’s. I think I acquired a feeling that the 1800’s weren’t all that long ago.
I know that we are now in the 21st century, but I nonetheless find myself saying things like, “In the last century, when Queen Victoria sat on the British throne …” or, “In the last century, when women wore bustles …”
Older Dopers, do you ever do this? Or do I need a dementia check-up?
I’m 46. When I watch A Christmas Story I see a lot of stuff that is vaguely familiar. We lived in an older house with knob & tube wiring, a primitive bathroom that was obviously an afterthought, and we had really big lights on the Christmas tree. Teachers were respected and feared, and most kids had a BB gun (really cool kids had 5mm pellet guns), none of this airsoft crap. It dawned on me a couple years ago that, if we can figure that movie was set in approximately 1940, I was only 37 years removed from that when I was born. I am now 46 years removed from my birth. In other words, WWII is more relevant to my childhood than today is. 8 year-old me was closer, temporally & culturally, to Ralphie than to an 8 year-old today. This makes sense to me on some level, and binds me firmly in the 20th century. So much so that my instinctive perception of a 2000 model year car is that it’s pretty new, and my wife’s 2005 is practically fresh off the showroom floor.
I was born in the Summer of Love, and while I don’t recall ever knowing any living relatives who were around pre-1900, many of them had parents who were from that era. My wife’s grandparents had still-used farm equipment from back then (they had modern stuff too, but why throw out a perfectly usable post-holer or whatever?). So it’s felt pretty natural to think of “last century” as ending in 1900.
But it’s been shifting quite a bit in the past few years. I put in a little effort to correct my thinking (like I have to do when writing checks in the new year), but mostly it’s been just happening. I think seeing your question was the first time I’ve really thought about it and realized I don’t do that anymore.
Is there anyone on the board not born after 1900? I’m tending to think no, since this wikisays there are only 15 people alive not born after 1900. However, there have been a lot of undead Dopers around lately, so maybe there are.
Sometimes. I think of “the turn of the century” as being 1900, and it kind of radiates from that into other, technically erroneous, thoughts about which century was which.
Mind you, I still get confused with “17th Century is the 1600s” kind of situations.
Aloha