• ferrule@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    That is my one GenX/Millenial complaint. We used to have a common literary background up until just into 2000, at least in the US. We all read Shakespeare and Chaucer. Beowulf, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird. We all had a similar base to start from.

    Then I saw a short on YouTube where a 40 something man said to his wife “No, sir. I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir.” So many comments of people being totally lost as his statement seemed out of nowhere and when people read explanations they still didn’t get it. It perfectly fit the situation AND it was not scripted as the wife was trying to show him being an ass (in a teasing way).

    Do you know what a Catch-22 is? If not then you are missing common phrases you would have learned in english class had you attended up to the year 2000.

    • Kernal64@sh.itjust.works
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      1 day ago

      I work with a 35 year old woman who keeps saying “catch one two” instead of “catch twenty two” despite numerous corrections from multiple people. 😞