3 ms·

Someone called me a boomer a few months ago and I was deeply offended. I’m gen x. The person was gen z. I was like dude do you not know what a boomer is? They h

by le-mark 11mo ago

Someone called me a boomer a few months ago and I was deeply offended. I’m gen x. The person was gen z. I was like dude do you not know what a boomer is? They had no idea that baby boomers were the generation born after world war 2. To them “boomer” was a slur applied to anyone older than them. I agree that actual boomers tend toward some unfortunate beliefs and characteristics, but “boomer” has become an ageist slur. As a 50+ year old in tech maybe I’m overly sensitive to this?

samrus 11mo ago
Theyre just frustrated by the ageism flung against them for being birn in a shittier environment by people who had the silent and greatest generations leave them an amazing economy
- al_borland 11mo ago
  A person will experience many different economic periods throughout their life. The younger generation also has a lot of advantages today that the baby boomers didn’t have, they built them. Like the devices and protocols we’re communicating with, which have also made investing in the economy more accessible than at any other point in human history. And then Gen X made social media for them, when was reduced the barrier to entry for starting a business to next to nothing. The world is as good or as bad as you want to see it.
fortran77 11mo ago
I’m an actual boomer. I don’t get offended when I hear it. I just know the person who called me a boomer is an idiot.
- AtlasBarfed 11mo ago
  [flagged]
  - dragonwriter 11mo ago
    The biggest increase in Trump support between 2020 and 2024, was in the 30-49 age bracket; the decisive swing wasn’t among Boomers.
    - AtlasBarfed 11mo ago
      Who would you consider to be the core of Donald Trump's voters? Hint they watch Fox News. And they're old.
  - fortran77 11mo ago
    You are an awful, intolerant, narrow-minded person.
    - AtlasBarfed 11mo ago
      Are boomers the new most sacred class of humans? Who made that up? Gee, I wonder if Fortran77 is a boomer?
singpolyma3 11mo ago
This is what boomer means now yes. Language changes over time
- nmcfarl 11mo ago
  My sixth grader has classmates who call 20-year-olds boomers, at least when the 20-year-olds are doing things they don’t like. It really just means someone I don’t like who’s older than me.
eloisant 11mo ago
Yeah, unfortunately that's what the word "boomer" has become. Also everyone talks about boomers, millenials, gen z, apparently people forgot there was a generation between boomers and millenials. Anyway: it doesn't really matter because this "generations" split is bullshit. The cut-off dates are arbitrary, and there are all kind of people in all generations.
- the__alchemist 11mo ago
  That caught me with the article! I'm younger than the author, and assumed millenials were people younger than me. (That's how it was used at the time), and that people who are 34-45 right now don't have a named gen.
  - yencabulator 11mo ago
    34-45 now = born 1980-1991 = millennial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials
- eesmith 11mo ago
  For what it's worth, I don't think the author quite has it right other. The philippic leads with a clip of Sophia Petrillo, from the TV show Golden Girls. According to the show, she was born in 1905 or 1905. The actor who portrayed her, Estelle Getty, was born in 1923. Either date makes her a member of the so-called Greatest Generation, after which is the Silent Generation, and only then reaching the Baby Boomers.
trashface 11mo ago
Yes for younger people boomer is generic for "old person"
projectazorian 11mo ago
"Boomer" is an insult that directly references a protected characteristic, as such it's not only insensitive to use in the workplace, it's illegal. You'd be well within your rights to report this to HR, though I wouldn't recommend that in most cases. At the very least it's worth bringing this up to your manager if it happens repeatedly, phrase it as wanting to protect the company. Maybe note in writing somewhere that this happened in case you get laid off and need some negotiating leverage to get a better severance. Email to yourself can work well, then it's discoverable.
- eesmith 11mo ago
  It isn't illegal, in the sense that no one will be arrested for saying it. As I recall, it's a bit more subtle. If the workplace continues to allow discrimination based on a protected characteristic then it will be considered a hostile workplace, which is illegal. Age is only a protected characteristic for people 40 years old or older, which is every member of Gen X. This presumes that le-mark's account took place in a workplace. On Twitter, about 6 years ago, a millennial wrote “Ok Boomer” to William Shatner, who replied “Sweetheart, that’s a compliment for me”, as Shatner, born in 1931, would have been in the Silent Generation. That millennial did nothing illegal.

by le-mark 11mo ago

samrus 11mo ago

Theyre just frustrated by the ageism flung against them for being birn in a shittier environment by people who had the silent and greatest generations leave them an amazing economy

al_borland 11mo ago
A person will experience many different economic periods throughout their life. The younger generation also has a lot of advantages today that the baby boomers didn’t have, they built them. Like the devices and protocols we’re communicating with, which have also made investing in the economy more accessible than at any other point in human history. And then Gen X made social media for them, when was reduced the barrier to entry for starting a business to next to nothing. The world is as good or as bad as you want to see it.

fortran77 11mo ago

I’m an actual boomer. I don’t get offended when I hear it. I just know the person who called me a boomer is an idiot.

AtlasBarfed 11mo ago
[flagged]
- dragonwriter 11mo ago
  The biggest increase in Trump support between 2020 and 2024, was in the 30-49 age bracket; the decisive swing wasn’t among Boomers.
  - AtlasBarfed 11mo ago
    Who would you consider to be the core of Donald Trump's voters? Hint they watch Fox News. And they're old.
- fortran77 11mo ago
  You are an awful, intolerant, narrow-minded person.
  - AtlasBarfed 11mo ago
    Are boomers the new most sacred class of humans? Who made that up? Gee, I wonder if Fortran77 is a boomer?

singpolyma3 11mo ago

This is what boomer means now yes. Language changes over time

nmcfarl 11mo ago
My sixth grader has classmates who call 20-year-olds boomers, at least when the 20-year-olds are doing things they don’t like. It really just means someone I don’t like who’s older than me.

eloisant 11mo ago

Yeah, unfortunately that's what the word "boomer" has become. Also everyone talks about boomers, millenials, gen z, apparently people forgot there was a generation between boomers and millenials. Anyway: it doesn't really matter because this "generations" split is bullshit. The cut-off dates are arbitrary, and there are all kind of people in all generations.

the__alchemist 11mo ago
That caught me with the article! I'm younger than the author, and assumed millenials were people younger than me. (That's how it was used at the time), and that people who are 34-45 right now don't have a named gen.
- yencabulator 11mo ago
  34-45 now = born 1980-1991 = millennial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials
eesmith 11mo ago
For what it's worth, I don't think the author quite has it right other. The philippic leads with a clip of Sophia Petrillo, from the TV show Golden Girls. According to the show, she was born in 1905 or 1905. The actor who portrayed her, Estelle Getty, was born in 1923. Either date makes her a member of the so-called Greatest Generation, after which is the Silent Generation, and only then reaching the Baby Boomers.

trashface 11mo ago

Yes for younger people boomer is generic for "old person"

projectazorian 11mo ago

"Boomer" is an insult that directly references a protected characteristic, as such it's not only insensitive to use in the workplace, it's illegal. You'd be well within your rights to report this to HR, though I wouldn't recommend that in most cases. At the very least it's worth bringing this up to your manager if it happens repeatedly, phrase it as wanting to protect the company. Maybe note in writing somewhere that this happened in case you get laid off and need some negotiating leverage to get a better severance. Email to yourself can work well, then it's discoverable.

eesmith 11mo ago
It isn't illegal, in the sense that no one will be arrested for saying it. As I recall, it's a bit more subtle. If the workplace continues to allow discrimination based on a protected characteristic then it will be considered a hostile workplace, which is illegal. Age is only a protected characteristic for people 40 years old or older, which is every member of Gen X. This presumes that le-mark's account took place in a workplace. On Twitter, about 6 years ago, a millennial wrote “Ok Boomer” to William Shatner, who replied “Sweetheart, that’s a compliment for me”, as Shatner, born in 1931, would have been in the Silent Generation. That millennial did nothing illegal.