-
Donate to FET fund
-
The Groups
You know you are old when…
Actually I don’t logically think that I am old, but sometimes I hear something and I think, “holy shit! That was 20 years ago.” I know very well that 32 is not geezer level living. However there are at least 2 generations below me and I feel miles away from them.
I am totally a child of the 80’s. Yes I had a birthday party at a roller rink. Yes I wore ribbons in my hair. I had zippers AND Velcro on my shoes, slept on Sesame Street sheets, I begged for nail polish that could be peeled off, I freaked out about pop rocks, I saved my babysitting money for plastic charms like miniature toilets, I perfected the art of paint pens, lived in my keds, and thought Richard Marx was so fucking dreamy (shut up).
And the generations below me have their own rooted base of pop culture that will bond and unite them with their peers in a dorm room a galaxy far, far away. These kids will bond over the internet and tivo, cell phones and avatars.
But there is something that I keep hearing about the kids today and while it is vaguely a concept (is it a concept??) I can grasp I really don’t understand it. It gets referenced over and over again and I have nodded like I understood for too long to be able to ask out loud.
So I will ask you guys: Please tell me what it means to be emo.
Quick! In 5 words describe your 3rd grade self to me. I will save you a seat at the lunch table.
Comments
39 Responses to “You know you are old when…”
Got something to say?
-
Great Hosting By:
ha. emo is short for emotional. mournful lyrics with periods of shouting into the microphone, bangs in the eyes, skinny black jeans, man-eyeliner, etc.
ha. emo is short for emotional. mournful lyrics with periods of shouting into the microphone, bangs in the eyes, skinny black jeans, man-eyeliner, etc.
Think Breakfast club, Judd Nelson - that was our “emo.” Then it was goth, i think. now? “Emo.”
um, yeah, i meant Alley Sheedy.
Cali,
I have no earthly idea either!
J
Hi Cali,
I have a 26 year old brother, so I know what emo means! Emo is a pop culture term used to describe a type of musical genre. Bands like Panic at the Disco, Fall out Boy, All American Rejects & Dashboard Confessional are a few. In short, these bands are made up of guys who wear tight pants, eyeliner, & punkish hair. Be real, do what you feel and express yourself is kinda their motto.
Others have covered emo, and I definitely think they are a 21st century, more mainstream, less dark goth.
Now that you know all things emo, check out this joke:
Joke: How many emo kids does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: None. They just sit in the dark and cry.
It makes me laugh anyway.
3rd grade self - bowl cut, sticker-mad, jelly shoes (I broke the 5 word rule, sorry)
pigtails, bookworm, unrequited teacher love
My third grade self:
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/coveryourears/3rdgrade.jpg[/IMG]
If that image code doesn’t work…then just delete my little comment.
My 3rd grade self was full of pink and pig tails. It was also the year I earned my first pair of glasses. I was the teacher’s pet, and now that I am a teacher, I can think back and realize that I was probably very annoying.
black nailpolish, eyeliner; nobody understands.
5 words.
I’m with you, generationally, but I’m also the oldest grandchild on all sides, the youngest of whom is 5, so I’ve had more than ample exposure. People above have given great examples, and yeah, Alley Sheedy from Breakfast Club is a great example of how it hasn’t changed; they’ve just given it a name. The only thing that’s happened is it’s definitely a lot more… extroverted than introverted anymore, if that makes sense, and for a while, it was hip to be emo.
Is it still? I don’t know…
I’m 34 and I have no idea what it means. I think they are sad, maybe?
Third grade self? Dorky, Laura Ingalls Wilder wannabe.
Thank you for asking this! I couldn’t figure out emo myself. I mean, sure, I’ve seen it referenced enough times to be able to pick an emo kid out of a lineup, but I didn’t know what it really MEANT.
Desperate for breasts to appear!
As has been said, emo is short of emotional. Basically a group of kids who feel like the world is unfair and against them so they are throwing a huge pity party. Fun times.
My 3rd grade self: Tomboy, kickball champion.
I had no idea what emo was, so I’m glad someone else knew now I can act like, “Oh, yeah i know what emo is” hahaha
My 3rd grade self—Very thin stringy hair, buck teeth, odd looking, dorky, talkative
Ok so that was more then five words, sorry. - kristine
Third grade self: Taught by legally blind man.
And I think that somewhere, I still have all of my plastic charms. And yes, I had the toilet. Tell me again why we thought those were cool?
Chubby, plastic glasses, always filthy
My 3rd grade self:
Neck brace, acne, bad perm, braces. How I survived I have no idea.
third grade self: shy, dorky, uncool, muppet fan
Third grade self: tiny, permed bangs, Monkees fan.
3rd Grade:
bad hair day, every day.
(also, trying to learn the moonwalk JUST LIKE my 3rd grade teacher)
(oh, and being one of the only 3rd graders in choir)
Looking forward to lunch with you=)
Jams-wearing, neon-socks, big hair, awkward, noticing-boys (does that count? ) :0)
I still wear Keds.
Bad hair & teeth, shy, dorky.
Why don’t you come to me with questions like this, woman??
Emo started in the early/mid nineties. Nada surf is emo. It is kind of a joke to be emo but it suits you when you are in high school.
My BF was an emo kid and so was Hillary (it all centers around the music you listen to) - but they are both six years younger than me…lots of striped shirts, I think…
Oh my….third grade was a bad year for me. Dorothy Hamill haircut, glasses, nerdy The 80s were interesting - but you couldn’t pay me to re-live it.
Glad that others knew what emo was. I had some vague idea, but other than hoping it doesn’t invade my house, no real clue here.
Hmmm– my third grade self was Cabbage-Patch/Rainbow Bright/Care Bear loving, nerdy, and hard-working (I did a report on both the Brontosaurus and New Mexico that year). Also, I loved terrariums.
Thanks for clarifying what emo is..I just figured it was this generation’s “grunge” LOL.
Now my 3rd grade self: tomboy, braids, skinny, toothless, yankee (we had moved from NJ to GA and we were the “yankees” on the block. A lot of kids weren’t permitted to play with us)
i cant envision my 3rd grade self. maybe because that is the year my parents split. so that was a lot of heart-aching tearfulness. every. day.
but. my 4th grade self. aaaah. her, i can see in my mind perfectly.
(this is from my memory of 4th grade pictures)
~ dorothy hamill haircut (mom would STILL have me in this cut as the age of 36)
~ glasses which had tortoise-shell frames called “powder puffs” (NOT)
~ missing one of my front teeth (still. after my mom wrenched the baby tooth out of my mouth when i was about 6 as she thought it was loose enough to pull - it was not. hence the lifelong severe dental phobia)
~ a hunter green polyester ballet leotard (no i did not do ballet, but had one anyways, this aparently is how deep back my love of dark green goes.)
~ i know i wore some kind of courderoy kullots (sp?) (shame, not shown in the photo)
~ BONUS: i think we should all set a date (say…early june) for posting out 3rd or 4th grade selves on our blog. whadaya think? i will hunt down that photo if i have to.
I asked my third grade self (she was re-arranging her collection of Lisa Frank stickers and moping because she doesn’t have a pony like her friend, Martha.) She said emo is when you’re sad all the time and you cut yourself. Also, emo boys wear eyeliner and black nail polish and have plastic barrettes in their hair. In addition, she says emo is also a type of music that she doesn’t like. As far as my third grade self is concerned there is no finer song than Madonna’s “Holiday.”
Salome… wanna trade stickers? *my 4th grade self hauling two photoalbums FULL of stickers* i agree with you on the Madonna song. tho i am sorely undecided which gets top billing: Holiday -or- Lucky Star
we really had the best music.
(stickers, courtesy of granny who worked in a Hall.Mark store for many years…)
Think Nine Inch Nails and a little cutting. (By cutting I mean making cuts on your flesh with razors and such, not cutting class.) My kid was Emo for Halloween this past year. Yes, totally his idea. He bought REALLY tight girl jeans, a tight, small black Tshirt, painted his nails black, dyed his hair darker, wore black eyeliner, we put fake blood on his arms to look like he was cutting and he wore a mournful expression for the evening. It was hilarious-my 11-year old poking fun at Emo kids. Let me know if you want a picture for the full effect.
dorky, pencil-thin baton twirler and tomboy
I haven’t even heard the term “emo” before, so you’re one step ahead of me!
I had to have emo explained to me a couple years ago. *sigh*
Oh, the 80’s! You totally do them justice….
3rd grade. Ummmm - I had those barrettes that were woven with ribbons in a herringbone pattern, but they never stayed in my hair, which was ratty as fuck by about 9 am, even though my mama would do it in 2 braids that were long enough for me to sit on. I was short, yo. On of my friends told me I should grow up and shave my leg. I had a blue corduroy blazer and wanted one of those turtlenecks with the little whales on it sooo bad. And yes, we all had sticker books. I just found mine in my parents’ attic and gave it to my 8 year old cousin who is beside herself with joy. I bet she’ll trade you for any of the fuzzy ones you might still have.
Shit. We were only supposed to use 5 words. Fail.
does anyone remember The Shirt Tales? (i have a Pammy the Panda stuffed animal, with a shirt on that says “Smart Cookie”) i know i had some stickers (ohhh. starrhillgirl. do you remember the *puffy* ones? and the *googley eye* ones? those were primo!!!) i still have a few of the smurfs figures that i simply can. not. part. with. and also a smurf coffee mug that says “smile” in rainbow-ish colors.
oh boy. the 80s were fun.
amazing we all werent blinded by the neon!!!
Hey! I learned what Emo is! Thanks!
Me in 3rd Grade: Re-enacting Little Women, Grubby, Smartiepants
Ok I realize I am a few days late on this one but I’m joining in anyway. Someone said they thought that “emo” was this generations version of grunge… it’s more like this generations version of Smiths fans and Nick Cave and Jesus and Mary Chain. Fortunately for us our music was much much exponentially better than Fall Out Boy. I would cut myself too if I listened to that swill all the time.
Unfortunately I don’t remember much about my 3rd grade self, I don’t think. I know I was riding my bike in drainage culverts alot, stalking the 8th grader that lived down the street and played Theodore Chipmunk in our schools Chrismas pageant. I also hid in my closet and read alot and mixed “potions” with the fungus that grew on our firewood pile. I was painfully skinny and terrified of any sport that involved balls (ummmm, so every sport). I had huge buck teeth prompting my step-mother to frequently make fun of me and call me bugs bunny. But my momma always told me I was beautiful. And I played my records on my Fisher Price record player like tomorrow would never come. Madonna, Wham, Tears for Fears, Cyndi Lauper, Hall and Oates… come to think of it I still smile when any of these come on the radio. Love you bunches and thanks for the forced memories…. eeegads.
I’m so behind on blogs but I just had to comment and then play along.
I regularly say, “A few years ago,” and then realize no it was morre like 15 years ago. Eeeep
Third grade Jenny= too smart, shy, depressed, creative