Speaking My Language

So it happened again last night. There I was, innocently watching a YouTube livestream about countering creationism, and argon halos came up. What argon halos are isn’t strictly relevant to this conversation, but they’re a known issue that precludes Young Earth Creationism. So they come up every now and again. And whenever it’s explained what they are, someone explains that argon is a noble gas. And my brain, being chock-full of pop culture references like the good Magpie I am, prompts me with, “You are beautiful and angular and if you were a gas, you would be inert.” Which I type in chat and which no one gets.

Oh, part of the problem is that I’m solidly Gen-X, which makes me exactly the wrong age in a lot of online spaces. When I was younger and hanging out in conspiracism-debunking circles, it was full of people who’d been using computers so long you’d get stories about using punch cards. These days, I’m older and surrounded by Millennials at the oldest. My children are Alpha, and I’ve had to explain to my son why his generation is called that and why we’re still X. Either way, it means that my pop culture references are missed a lot of the time.

One of the other Gen-X people thanked me this morning for getting a M*A*S*H reference. This is because there’s something comforting about someone getting your references. I know that BJ Hunnicutt is named after his mother, Bea Hunnicutt, and his father, Jay Hunnicutt. And I know enough to throw out a response about e.e. cummings. And to think that the same exchange between people my age would probably add K.D. Lang to the people being discussed. And my thinking all this made someone feel a little more connected.

That we communicate in pop culture isn’t new; I’m quite sure people were making Gilgamesh references in their conversation thousands of years ago. I think we have more of those references to make even than my mom’s generation did, but that also means that a lot of our references are more universal. There’s less local programming now than there was when I was a kid, and there was less when I was a kid than there was when my mom was a kid. The media landscape has shifted dramatically in the last few generations, but that also means that a hyper-specific reference means more to us.

A Gen-X Angeleno and I will talk happily about Cal Worthington and his dog Spot. But any Gen-Xer will be able to share Wayne’s World quotes with me, and we’ll both feel a little less alone when we do. You know. You get it. And maybe someone else will understand the connection between today’s article image and the quote that lives in my head not being remembered by anyone else. And you’ll mention it and I’ll feel a little less alone.