Generation D

[Jesse Sheidlower]

Arnold Zwicky wrote:
>
> not in RHHDAS.  both "generation X" (attributed to coupland) and
> "generation Y" are in AHD4, though. "generation X" is even in the

We didn't consider the expression to be slang.

> most recent chambers (1998), where it has this (to me) extraordinary
> definition:
>   those sections of society that are sceptical about traditionally
>   held beliefs and values, eg relating to work and the family
> is it really true that in britain this expression has cut free
> entirely from its origin as the name of an actual generation, and
> now conveys only the attitudes (once) associated with that generation?
> (metonymy rules!)

To clarify a bit the muddle of my previous post, the term was used in
Britain for forty years referring to the attitudes, before it got
attached to one particular generation.

Jesse Sheidlower