Generation X or E or Bof

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I am a GenX’er… born in December 1971… which makes me 35 yrs old. According to Wikipedia, anyone born in North America between 1961 and 1981 is a part of Generation X, so I literally split it right down the middle. That makes anyone in North America between the ages of 26 and 46 an unofficial member of the X Generation.

I find it interesting that the term “GenX” really only applies to North Americans… I’d never thought of it that way. Originally, I wrote the above paragraph without the words “North America”… I later went back to edit it.

Not that other countries don’t categorize different generations, they do, they just call them by different names. Our Genx’ers are referred to in Europe as Generation E or in France as Generation Bof, with Bof being a French word for “whatever.” In Iran they are called the Burnt Generation and the list goes on and on with most descriptions being less than flattering.

If you clicked on the Wiki link above, be sure to read the section titled “Generation X in the United States”… pretty heavy stuff, a not so optimistic view of a generation… especially the quote from Time magazine. I started this post harmlessly looking for another way to describe my age group, my demographic, my fellow trigenerians and I’m ending it with a bit of a complex.

Not to worry… somehow I refuse to believe most of that rubbish, many of my contemporaries are some of the most talented, resourceful and thoughtful people I know…

Tags: Random Musings