Gen X on the forum

[Amor Vincit Omnia]

There was indeed a two shilling coin (two-Bob piece) which morphed into the 10p coin before being reduced in size. After decimalisation pence (plural of penny) were referred to as New Pence.

The sign for shilling was commonly /- (4 shillings… 4/-)

Four shillings and sixpence were written as 4/6 or 4/6d. Pronounced “four-and-six”.

£4, 19s and 11d could be written £4/19/11 (for some reason you would get a penny change from a £5 note). Pronounced “four pound nineteen and eleven”.

Just to add further confusion it could equally be written as 99/11.

The use of “d” to mean penny is a throwback to the Roman coin, the denarius.

£ for pound refers to “librum”, literally a pound weight in Latin, which gives us variously Libra, equilibrium and lira (which still survives in Türkiye, the Italians having adopted the Euro in 1992).

[scooter]

For the first 8 years of my life farthings were still legal tender.

There were 960 in a pound.

scooter

[magicman]

Gen X here.
I'm just glad I'm old enough to remember Tottenham Hotspur win the FA Cup....a few times.
Not the League though.

Regards Steve

[ajax87]

^^^ These last few posts have me feeling like I stumbled into the foreign language section of the forum. Except for pounds, I do know what that is because I weigh at least 100 of them.

Maybe I'm just too "millennial" for this topic!

[missF]

I just did a quick online search to find out what are the common characteristics of gen x’ers. Apparently we’re good at DIY???? . I didn’t get too much further - it seems that generations are the new horoscope

[0uatiOW]

Gen X & proud here (only just, according the diagram).

I remember the days when phones were phones and cameras were cameras. I remember telephone dial locks, which you could get past by pressing the pins which sit under the receiver, and sitting on the stairs while on the phone because the cord was too short to get to the sitting room (Millennials: “What’s a cord?”).

I remember buying records (45s & 33s), bashing typewriters, even using a pen & paper.

I’m sure there are many other things I remember, but I can’t recall many of them right now….. Ooooh, Clarks Commandos….

[jkbarnes]

This thread has developed wonderfully and in some unusual directions. So much to respond to! Rather than directly reference particular comments and forum members, I’m simply going “all in” on one big post.

Concerning demographic cohorts, I’ve always been fascinated by them. Bookending the cohorts is hardly an exact science, with the cohorts blurring at those points. But it’s still a fascinating way to look at and think about demographic groupings. My parents think of themselves as Baby Boomers despite being born in the last two years of the previous cohort, what demographers call the Silent Generation.

As I push into my 50s, I’ve been thinking more and more about what it means to be a member of Generation X and the attributes that define my generation - dual income households and being latch-key kids perhaps some of the biggest. To look back on the defining events of my generation is to finally feel old. I’m not 18 anymore, not anywhere close to that, and there’s no getting around that anymore.

With the rate of technological change nowadays, I wonder if demographers will find themselves squeezing cohorts into smaller and more numerous groupings?

Cheers to the discussion on £/S/D! I’ve always been fascinated by this system, not so much for it being British, but because of the much broader and historical basis of the system. This system has been used in one form or another across Europe from the early Middle Ages/late Roman period, with the names for the various currencies all deriving from similar origins, as described by @Amor Vincit Omnia. I also make a point of discussing this system in class when talking about the influence of Charlemagne.

[Amor Vincit Omnia]

I wonder whether this generation thing is somehow subtly linked to the plethora of coloured dials currently on the market?

GX and Millennials seem keener than I am.

Or perhaps I'm just a boring old git?

[RichM]

I've just seen over on Instagram rather than using age, one should say "I'm level 50". That beats GenX for me!

I like very much @jkbarnes report of the thread too.

[exHowfener]

wonder whether this generation thing is somehow subtly linked to the plethora of coloured dials currently on the market?

Possibly age related. My late Mother in Law was very fond of bright colours. The decor in her house was like a wacky warehouse.

Then she had her cataracts operated on and calmed down a lot.

[Thegreyman]

Gen X & proud here (only just, according the diagram).

I remember the days when phones were phones and cameras were cameras. I remember telephone dial locks, which you could get past by pressing the pins which sit under the receiver, and sitting on the stairs while on the phone because the cord was too short to get to the sitting room (Millennials: “What’s a cord?”).

I remember buying records (45s & 33s), bashing typewriters, even using a pen & paper.

I’m sure there are many other things I remember, but I can’t recall many of them right now….. Ooooh, Clarks Commandos….

Gen X man myself, I can remember all of the above, fixing cassettes with a pencil etc. Happy days!

[jkbarnes]

I think the greatest skill set of Generation X that other generations simply won’t understand is the art of the mix tape! It’s truly a lost art.

And related to that, who remembers trying to hit play and record at precisely the right moment to not get the DJ’s voice when recording songs off the radio?

[stefs]

Missed being gen x by two months and so a boomer
God I feel old

[jkbarnes]

Missed being gen x by two months and so a boomer
God I feel old

It’s not an exact science. If you feel like a gen Xer, you are a gen Xer!

[Bident]

I think the greatest skill set of Generation X that other generations simply won’t understand is the art of the mix tape! It’s truly a lost art.

And related to that, who remembers trying to hit play and record at precisely the right moment to not get the DJ’s voice when recording songs off the radio?

That would be me!

Sorry Drew, I had replied to this thread early on but must not have clicked the Submit button, or something. Anyway, I am a GenXer, born 1967, but my sister (b.1961) and older brother (b.1964) being boomers heavily influenced the music, TV shows, pop culture, etc. that my twin brother and I consumed. So as a result, I feel like I have one foot in the Boomer culture and the other in the GenX side.

Thanks for this thread!