Since when did people seem to think/talk/behave like they do now? (war, 1980s)
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I'm talking about the way they speak (intonation, accent), the words they use, the slang, the mannerisms, the things they talk about (I know swearing is probably as old as language, for instance, but when did the common swear words catch on)...
When did people sort of begin to 'think' pretty much as modern folk do? I know a lot hasn't changed since the dawn of humanity, but when did they seem to have the same values, attitudes towards things (e.g. racism, sexism)?
And as for behaviour, when did they seem to behave in the 'modern manner?'
I would say broadly speaking from as early as the 1950s we began to act like modern human beings, although in terms of being modern modern, as late as the mid 1980s or so. For instance, the way people spoke prior to 1990 or so seems different, not as ditzy, intonated, excitable, more 'flat', thoughtful, intellectual. Women, for instance, seemed a bit more matter-of-fact, less ditzy and shallow, and better able to hold an actual conversation. People actually seemed more intelligent and educated as a whole, and a lot classier.
..... People actually seemed more intelligent and educated as a whole, and a lot classier.
Amen, classier is the word - and its got nothing to do with social class. That aspect of people in American society was clearly dying in the Seventies, and scarcer than the proverbial hen's teeth by the Eighties and virtually absent from American society by the Nineties.
It has been replaced with the celebrity ideal. And the new proverbial "fifteen minutes of fame" that we are supposed to all deserve.
If you watch movies from the early 40s and older, some of the actors sounded like they had a diluted British accent. But I think part of it is the natural evolution of speech. Try reading the original text of Beowulf or the Canterbury Tales. They're both written in English but they look and sound like a totally different language. Shakespeare is nearly a foreign language compared to today's English.
I grew up in a coastal California town in the 60s and 70s. Seems to me the rest of the country has been evolving toward that over these past few decades. For good or bad, we California boomers pretty much invented the current culture. More and more of you dress, speak, and eat the way we did there back then.
I grew up in a coastal California town in the 60s and 70s. Seems to me the rest of the country has been evolving toward that over these past few decades. For good or bad, we California boomers pretty much invented the current culture. More and more of you dress, speak, and eat the way we did there back then.
I'm talking about the way they speak (intonation, accent), the words they use, the slang, the mannerisms, the things they talk about (I know swearing is probably as old as language, for instance, but when did the common swear words catch on)...
Any decent dictionary will point out the origin and date of first appearance for a word.
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When did people sort of begin to 'think' pretty much as modern folk do?
Define "modern folk" or at least give us a specific time period and example.
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I know a lot hasn't changed since the dawn of humanity, but when did they seem to have the same values, attitudes towards things (e.g. racism, sexism)?
Again the topic is so broad as to defy any attempt to answer it. It boggles my mind trying to think of how one would even begin to explain the evolution of specific cognitive values of the myriad of cultures that have or do exist within the human family. Hell, it would take volumes just to cover the mere 200 plus years of American culture.
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I would say broadly speaking from as early as the 1950s we began to act like modern human beings, although in terms of being modern modern, as late as the mid 1980s or so. For instance, the way people spoke prior to 1990 or so seems different, not as ditzy, intonated, excitable, more 'flat', thoughtful, intellectual. Women, for instance, seemed a bit more matter-of-fact, less ditzy and shallow, and better able to hold an actual conversation. People actually seemed more intelligent and educated as a whole, and a lot classier.
I have been having conversations, listening to radio. TV and movies for almost 60 years which covers every decade from the 50's to today and by in large, I have no idea as to what you are writing about because outside of the sing-song way that young women use in conjunction with the word like (as if it were an article) I cannot detect any significant changes in human speech. Yes new words and phrases have entered the lexicon but just as many have fallen out of use. So, I am at a lose to specifically answer your question.
Women, for instance, seemed a bit more matter-of-fact, less ditzy and shallow, and better able to hold an actual conversation. .
While men have advanced to the point that every paper written by a man is Nobel-worthy, they've found a cure for cancer, war is a thing of the past, no man wants a cool car to impress his friends and just speaking with a random man on the street reveals the meaning of life?
Last edited by DewDropInn; 07-08-2012 at 01:37 PM..
While men have advanced to the point that every paper written by a man is Nobel-worthy, they've found a cure for cancer, war is a thing of the past, no man wants a cool car to impress his friends and just speaking with a random man on the street reveals the meaning of life?
Like, I know what you mean, like, you know? Like, it's just all about men, y'know like he said "OMG!" and I said "inorite" and he said "IDK!" and I was all like "whatever" and I was like really he's all so like five minutes ago lolololol
Or maybe, we have come so far, that we have reverted back into prehistoric man.
Sorry. I'm just not seeing this lofty increase in intelligence, in men or women. Once upon a time, philosophers were revered and supported by society. Now, they have to work at Target just to pay the cell phone bill. I don't think that's progress in speech or intelligent thought at all. I think it's just the opposite.
It's kind of interesting to listen to TV/film announcers/narrators from the 50s compared to the present day...in particular present news anchors all seem to have the kind of "tone of voice" that nobody else uses...don't know what the term is, but they all seem to speak a certain "broadcasting" tone of voice.
Definitely by the early 2000s, probably even in a basic sense by 1980.
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