Generational Marker
by wjw on November 5, 2010
It occurs to me that a market of my generation— the people who grew up reading Peanuts before Snoopy took over the strip— is that we say the word “Sigh” instead of actually sighing.
Do people who grew up reading Cathy say “Ack!”?
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I say “Ack!” but I thought I picked it up from Bloom County.
I’m sure that people growing up with the Simpsons will say Doh! forevermore.
Yes. Beyond the faintest shadow of a doubt. Cathy always struck me as being like Dilbert — about a million miles away from real cartooning, just desk doodles writ large for a sympathetic audience, “she drops string on the floor and xeroxes it,” you know the routine — but ‘Ack?’ Those huge globs of mucus-thick sweat she’d ejaculate from her head? I perceive life as taking place during periods of recovery from an ongoing series of Acks!
That’s it, dude. That’s the central issue. I’m too young to be a boomer, too old for Gen X.
My problem is that I’m a product of Generation Ack!
I hated Cathy’s “Ack” but I loved it in Bloom County. Do you suppose that is because Cathy’s “Ack” reliably appeared whenever she spoke to her mother or tried on clothing? It was a boring cartoon.
I’m happy to be at the tail end of generation Sigh.
Like Shash, I got my Ack! from Bloom County. And in certain circumstances, I’m known to pull out an “Oop. Ack.”
I got my “Ack!”–or, rather, my “Ack! Phtp!”–from “Bloom County’s” Bill the Cat. Do not miss the complete Bloom County in 5 handsome volumes (vol. 3 out now!).
Something you may not know about Peanuts: if memory serves, when one of the Peanuts TV specials was released in France, the dubbing and incidental music were handled by cult singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, who translated Charlie Brown’s “Good Grief!” by “Merde!”.
Stunning, innit?
Jean-Daniel
And people who grew up on Li’l Abner say “sob.”
Isn’t that more properly *sob*?
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