# What Generation Do I Belong To? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 1, 2020, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-generation-do-i-belong-to/853006 "2020-05-01T23:02:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2020, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-generation-do-i-belong-to/853006/42 "2020-05-10T03:27:16Z")
So… > [@Bullitt](#): > > 1883 - 1900 — **The Lost Generation** 18 years > [@](#): > > 1901 - 1927 — **The Greatest Generation** 27 years > [@](#): > > 1928 - 1945 — **The Silent Generation** 18 years > [@](#): > > 1946 - 1964 — **Baby Boomers** 19 years > [@](#): > > 1965 - 1980† — **Generation X** 16 years > [@](#): > > 1981 - 1996 — **Millennials** 16 years > [@](#): > > 1997 - 2012 — **Generation Z** 16 years Average: 18.6 years Looks like the Greatest Generation was stretched to take in more—am I wrong in guessing that its 27 years represents the age spread of World War II soldiers?—while the last three are strangely compressed. A 16-year generation? Really? This is really playing with the traditional definition of a generation being the interval between a person’s birth and their child’s birth. How many 16-year-olds are becoming parents really? ---
**Author:** ![road\_lobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@road\_lobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/road_lobo)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2020, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-generation-do-i-belong-to/853006/43 "2020-05-10T12:40:55Z")
It’s as dumb as racism and as accurate as astrology. But we gotta sell shoes, people! How can I exploit this cohort’s insecurities to move widgets? All women are fat and ugly! You need this Lysol brand douche. You’ve come a long way, baby. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2020, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-generation-do-i-belong-to/853006/44 "2020-05-10T21:59:25Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Baby boomers, though, may apply to other countries because of the end of WWII and, well, the “boom” of babies after people returned home. Except that many combatants had not much in the way of “home” to return to. War-ravaged, devastated Europe didn’t “boom” but rebuilt via the Marshall Plan. Millions were displaced as refugees or deportees in eastern Europe, then later as India and Pakistan fissioned - ethnic cleansing on a horrific scale. Did east Asian nations “boom” with the end of Japanese occupation? Latin America saw few returnees so no boomers there. Named generations are sales targets. Search on [generations marketing campaigns](https://www.google.com/search?q=generations+marketing+campaigns) for more. I’ve seen arguments that the “hippy” movement was a plot by music and clothing firms to sell grooviness to boomers. It worked, too. The “New Age” (rhymes with sewage) movement suffered yet more corporate input - and woo-woo lingo infiltrated corporate speech. Yawn… I think I resist sales pitches aimed at me by age. I yam wot I yam. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-generation-do-i-belong-to/853006.md?page=2)