Older Parent: Has American culture and language changed?

12 comments

1. American culture and language are always changing. HTH

2. 1) yes. B) yes. And thirdly, yes.

   Culture always be changing, yo. Kids find whatever way they can to speak and act differently than their parents. They find whatever way they can to mess with our norms. It’s their job.

3. >Nobody talked like this where I grew up so I am wondering: a) is that how the kids talk now (damn I sound old) and b) is it regional?

   Yes, language changes over time and varies between regions and demographics.

   >I noticed there are a ton of demons/devils or brief references to them in kids shows now. Again TT, references in PM, Cuphead, etc. Did it get popular at some point?

   I don’t know about kid’s shows in particular, but I feel like occult stuff has always been fairly popular. Wasn’t Buffy the Vampire Slayer huge in the late 1990s/early 2000s? It makes sense that people who work in creative media would throw in references to stuff they liked or was popular from their own youth.

4. Yes, it has changed. This isn’t uncommon though and generations will have their own subculture and language (accent and tonal) changes as trends change.

   >One is how people speak. Things like use of “yo” and “son” and “that be”. See it with JJ on Pinky Malinky and the Beast Boy character on Teen Titans. Nobody talked like this where I grew up so I am wondering: a) is that how the kids talk now (damn I sound old) and b) is it regional?

   Back when those shows were on, people did speak like that in my community. All accent, slang and dialects are regional for those, it would be as well.

5. Dude, I’m a millennial and already don’t know what kids are saying half of the time.

6. Yes because healthy cultures evolve, decadent cultures stagnate.

7. 14M from California here: The culture has become far more nonwhite now. Mainstream American culture, at least in the cities, is a mix of 1980s-90s black inner city culture, Hollywood culture, and like snippets of Japanese and Korean culture mixed in with the preexisting suburban white culture

8. I don’t think it’s changed much, but I’m a young millennial. I work in a high school now, I’m about 10 years older than the kids now. I communicate with them just fine and use the same language as them. I have yet to hear anything I don’t understand. Is it different than the culture of like boomers? Sure, but so is mine and that’s not at all unusual.

   Edit: the one thing I will say I’ve noticed the biggest change in is music. Like the popular genres are the same, but music now is so slow and depressing. When I was growing up there was definitely more of like a party atmosphere to it, everything was upbeat, faster, and just more exciting. The shit they listen to now is so slow and terrible. But that always changes with time too, probably faster than culture and language as a whole.

9. Regarding language, have you ever noticed that older generations spoke in very particular ways? Think of how Johnny Carson talked, or Andy Griffith, or Peter Falk. I’m talking different accents, different vocabulary, different slang, even little grammatical differences that pile up over the ages.

   The changes that happened from their generation to yours are a lot like the changes that happened between your generation and the kids today. It just looks different from the other side.

10. I work with some early 20s kids and I hear a lot of “bruh” and “bet”. I told them I come from the time of “bro” and it’s interesting how it has evolved. It’s more like things kind of phase out – I feel like they don’t say “cool” as much anymore. Something can be cool, but the exclamation of “oh cool!” I don’t hear so much.

11. Bro I’m Gen Z and 22-years old and don’t even know much of the slang anymore. It’s all changed so much in the last few years. I don’t even know. A lot of it’s driven by internet pop culture and tik tok, and I don’t keep up with that stuff.

    So yes option a is mostly correct but there might be some regional differences too.

    Edit: as far as the demon/evil stuff I don’t know. Maybe shows like Supernatural and American Horror Story started that trend, not sure.

12. > Second, demons. I noticed there are a ton of demons/devils or brief references to them in kids shows now. Again TT, references in PM, Cuphead, etc. Did it get popular at some point?

    Arguably, most people realized fear of “the occult” was idiotic lunacy after the “satanic panic” of the 80s/early 90s(?) died out. (not suggesting you have said fear).

    Further examples:

    – Your generation grew up on heavy metal and all the “demonic” references within – and doesn’t generally see that topic as all that edgy at this point. For one example, Iron Maiden’s *Number of the Beast* was ’82. If you were 16 then, you’re 56 now.

    – Similarly, it’s outright a joke now that people used to be concerned about kids playing things like D&D.

    – Harry Potter first came out in ’97 and is full of “the occult” – and while there were mild controversies at the time most people were fine with it then. So I’ll argue that it hasn’t exactly been shocking to be in children’s media for at least 25 years.

    – Hocus Pocus was ’93, Sabrina the Teenage Witch was ’96, Buffy (movie) was ’92 and the TV series was ’97-03, etc. Witchcraft, magic, and the like has been pretty normal for at least that long.

    – The general decline of religiosity in the country over the past few decades is pretty significant and if you’re not religious there’s nothing special about the “demonic” or “the devil” as antagonist, at least unless you choose to define them in a more “adult” way than just generic evil tropes.

    – Anime/Manga/Games and the like coming over from Japan have had a fairly big cultural impact/rise to prominence over the past few decades and often feature some of that.