1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910461119303321

Autore

Metcalf Allan A.

Titolo

From skedaddle to selfie : words of the generations / / Allan Metcalf

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York : , : Oxford University Press, , [2016]

©2016

ISBN

0-19-026346-6

0-19-992713-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (233 p.)

Disciplina

427/.973

Soggetti

English language - United States - New words

English language - United States - Lexicology

English language - Social aspects - United States

Language and culture - United States

English language - New words

Americanisms

Lexicology

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di contenuto

Machine generated contents note: -- 1. Introduction: Speaking of the Generations -- 2. The Republican Generation - (born 1742-1766) -- 3. The Compromise Generation - (born 1767-1791) -- 4. The Transcendental Generation - (born 1792-1821) -- 5. The Gilded Generation - (born 1822-1842) -- 6. The Progressive Generation - (born 1843-1859) -- 7. The Missionary Generation - (born 1860-1882) -- 8. The Lost Generation - (born 1883-1900) -- 9. The G.I. Generation - (born 1901-1924) -- 10. The Silent Generation - (born 1925-1942) -- 11. The Boom Generation - (born 1943-1960) -- 12. The Thirteenth Generation, or Generation X - (born 1961-1981) -- 13. The Millennial Generation, or Generation Y - (born 1982-2004) -- 14. The Homeland Generation - (born 2005-current).

Sommario/riassunto

"From baby boomers with 'groovy' and 'yuppie,' to Generation X with 'whatever' and 'like,' each generation inevitably comes to use certain



words that are particular to its unique time in history. Those words not only tell us a great deal about the people in those generations, but highlight their differences with other generations. In this entertaining compilation, Allan Metcalf, author of OK: The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word, shows that each generation--those born within the same roughly 20-year time period--can be identified and characterized by its key words. Metcalf tells the story of the history and usage of these words, starting with the American Revolution and ending with the post-Millennial Homeland generation. With special attention to the differences in vocabulary among today's generations--the sometimes awkward Millennials, the grunge music of Generation X, hippies among the Boomers, and bobbysoxers among the Silents--From Skeddadle to Selfie compiles dozens of words we thought we knew, and tells the unheard stories of each and how they accompanied its generation through its time"--