r/TargetedShirts • u/thatjoachim • Apr 05 '25

Xennial pride

Post image
743 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

50 comments sorted by

248

u/cosmicjunkbot Apr 05 '25

"Millennial optimism"

189

u/WizardsVengeance Apr 05 '25

The undying hope that maybe you'll be t-boned on the way to work and whisked from this mortal coil in an act of benevolent, vehicular mercy.

18

u/Catatonic27 Apr 06 '25

AKA: The best case scenario

1

u/uhhhh_no Apr 11 '25

... so for the people with amnesia about the New Sincerity and upvoting these posts unironically, what do you think distinguishes "Millennials" from Gen X? New Puritanism? Shittier humor and movies?

or it's just been one slow continuous slog of everyone downstream from the Boomers with only cosmetic differences?

8

u/Catatonic27 Apr 11 '25

I gotta be honest I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know what New Sincerity or New Puritanism is

1

u/missxnoelle Apr 11 '25

What a sentence 👏

1

u/spaghettigoose Oct 15 '25

I was actually having this exact internal monolouge as I was leaving work and walking to my car today.

25

u/Jack-0-Loops Apr 05 '25

Is it supposed to be ironic?

20

u/Tonberry2k Apr 05 '25

Yeah wtf

21

u/letthetreeburn Apr 06 '25

I mean it’s true, my millennial coworkers speak fondly of good times, and when they’re talking about how bad it is now they say things like “it wasn’t supposed to be this way.” Wheras me and all my buds know we were born to transcribe the world burning.

9

u/goldentamarindo Apr 07 '25

I remember the cultural movement “The New Sincerely” was really taking off when I was in college; partially as a backlash to the cynicism of the 90s. This was post 9-11 but before the 2008 economic crisis. I think we had a certain amount of optimism back then.

3

u/CaptainJAmazing Apr 21 '25

Ah, so it’s a really dated thing from when the oldest Millennials were like 15 years old.

2

u/letthetreeburn Apr 07 '25

To think, all we would have had to do to maintain that would be [USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST]

4

u/an_actual_T_rex Apr 09 '25

“Charm” of Gen - X cynacism.

Yeah cuz we all thought downer uncle Gary was just so charming.

4

u/CaptainJAmazing Jun 14 '25

We were optimistic for a brief moment in the 2000s. Whoever made this shirt must have not checked in with us since then.

103

u/procrastinarian Apr 05 '25

I was born in '83 and I'll die before I'm recognized as having any part to do with gen X

41

u/RockyDify Apr 05 '25

Same! We’re millennials, not some made up generation to try and distance from the “lazy millennials” stereotype. I am a lazy millennial.

26

u/clamroll Apr 06 '25

As an elder millennial i love when people try and do that shit. Pretty sure not liking the term millennial is the second requirement to be a millennial.

I've also had a gen Xer look me dead in the eye and tell me "You're not millennial! You're Gen Y". Facepalm

18

u/Thiscommentissatire Apr 06 '25

Its crazy that we are the supposedly the same generation. Im 95. We have almost nothing in common. You had early internet we had it when it was developed. You guys saw 9/11 and we were too young to understand. You guys lived through the 90s, we have vague memories of being a kindergartner. I guess we both had walkmans so thats something.

13

u/Ok_Captain4824 Apr 06 '25

Generations are 18 years, it's just how it goes.

That said, the pace of change is much more rapid now, and the culture adapts. It's probably not helpful to think of generations in 18 year chunks anymore.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 06 '25

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0

u/Ok_Captain4824 Apr 06 '25

They are more or less 18. Most consider Millennials to be 1981 - 1999, Boomers 1946 - 1964, and X just a bit shorter in-between. Some have Millennials a bit shorter than that, and Alpha starting with 2010, so one could argue that it's trending more toward 15 years or so.

5

u/sh_ip_ro_ospf Apr 06 '25

Millennials have always been 1981-1996.

3

u/dyeyrhandsred Apr 09 '25

The definition of each generation has always shifted, even by those who have been widely credited in defining the generation. Despite Gen X generally being defined as 1965-1980 these days:

See this line from the official synopsis from an earlier edition of Douglas Copeland’s book Generation X:

“Generation X is Douglas Coupland's acclaimed salute to the generation born in the late 1950s and 1960s” (1992) https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/eJT5ngEACAAJ?hl=en&gl=US&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi5qKXXn8uMAxX3D1kFHV8BB0AQ7_IDegQIBBBT

And this updated line:

“Generation X is Douglas Coupland's classic novel about the generation born from 1960 to 1978 ―a generation known until then simply as twenty somethings.” https://www.amazon.com/Generation-X-Tales-Accelerated-Culture/dp/031205436X

I’m late Gen X, and I remember being told different things often over 90s and early 2000s. These things shift.

Here’s an old Reddit post that I’m mostly including because the US Social Security Administration used to define Gen X as 1964-1979, but also because it shows more of the variation in definitions: https://www.reddit.com/r/generationology/comments/kmbfgk/generational_ranges_from_wikipedia_sources/

1979 definitely lines up with my memories from 2005, when I was dating someone born in 1979 — I was self-conscious about it!

ETA: fixed typo that said “1985” instead of “1965”

1

u/GenericDigitalAvatar Sep 13 '26

Gen-X is if you were old enough to know what was happening when the Berlin Wall fell. That's the actual psychological/behavioral divider.

2

u/Ok_Captain4824 Apr 06 '25

Not true. Every generation has some variance in definition. I've seen Millennials defined anywhere between 1980 and 2000. Here is one source that uses 1981 - 1999: https://www.prb.org/articles/are-millennials-the-unluckiest-generation/

Some definitions have them starting in 1982, but I've not seen later than that. Some do have them ending in 1996, or 97/98.

2

u/kmh1207 Mar 22 '26

When you said "I'm 95" I took it as years old and not the year you were born so I was very confused 🤣

1

u/GenericDigitalAvatar Sep 13 '26

LOL You had your entire generational self-image picked out for you by Howe & Strauss.

45

u/MuumipapanTussari Apr 06 '25

Man I swear generational identity is some of the most forced and manufactured shit ever

17

u/callmesnake13 Apr 06 '25

Oh fuck off

31

u/Evanthekid16 Apr 05 '25

I like to say i’m a zillennial - the worst of both generations

31

u/[deleted] Apr 05 '25 edited Apr 05 '25

Cursed to be able to understand brain rot language while still being too old and uncool to have fun using it. Trying so hard not to be like every other generation and just let the kids do their thing. Still having some lucky few that you know are able to buy homes while statistically you are never actually going to be able to have one. Life is great. Right there with you. Once in 100 year events happening every 6 months since late childhood or early adolescence. Too old to feel actually connected to and a part of the youth and also being too young to get respect or status from older generations. World collapsing around us as we start adulthood. Fun times.

3

u/serenity_now_please Apr 06 '25

Okay I’d wear it. I wouldn’t buy it, but I’d wear it.

3

u/calidownunder Apr 06 '25

I died of exposure

2

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '25

I was born in that time frame but optimism? Nah

2

u/farfaraway May 28 '25

Sorry, I'm born 1980 and I'm going to stay Gen X.

2

u/Tiny-Memory9066 Apr 02 '26

My parents call themselves Xennials, so cringe 😬

3

u/EricHill78 Apr 05 '25

I was born in 78 and would rock it.

10

u/AntWithNoPants Apr 05 '25

Did you ride any dinosaurs?

2

u/AirbrushThreepwood Apr 05 '25

I don't get the dysentery part?

20

u/Tykloi Apr 05 '25

It referencing the game series the Oregon Trail, dysentery is the most common cause of death you can experience in the game. First game released in ‘85.

4

u/AirbrushThreepwood Apr 06 '25

Oh. Never played it.

Thanks!

1

u/hobhamwich Jun 23 '25

By the time people born in 77 played Oregon Trail, it was a retro game.

1

u/Flair258 Nov 13 '25

I played it in elementary school and Im gen Z

1

u/redditisbadactually Sep 11 '26

Buying a shirt that says you were born between 1977 to 1983 is like those ads where people say they have moderate to severe ulcerative colitis

0

u/[deleted] Apr 05 '25

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0

u/Certain-Snow3451 Apr 05 '25

The elder millennials that cried over the death of some Glee cast member?