It's always 2000

[Josquius]

I was watching the news just an hour or so ago. The woman was talking about a recent food trend in Japan for what is basically steak tartare....and an outbreak of e-coli from one particular restaurant specialising in this dish, advertising itself as the cheapest steak tartare going. Who would have thought eating raw meat would be dangerous?
Anyway. She then mentions the public being worried about this, there was another e-coli outbreak 16 years ago which caused quite the panic, cue: archive picture of a guy spraying a class room.

Now...16 years ago...instantly into my head popped 'sometime in the 80s right?'.....err.... 'no wait....its 2011.....it would be the 90s....'
This isn't the only time it has happened. Somehow, its just stuck in my head that it is permanently the early noughties, I think of stuff made in the late 90s as quite recent and the 80s as being just a bit over 10 years ago.

Does anyone else get this?
Is it an inevitable part of growing old?
Or just a sad indictment of how boring my life gets that I've cut out several years?

[Eddie Teach]

Sounds like something you should make a tweet about. 

[Brazen]

It feels ooky when they show historical dramas on TV set in the 90s.

[Grey Fox]

I'm always surprised to realise that the 80s were atleast 20 years ago.

[Syt]

I have that when I watch VH-1 and see a video I saw a lot when it was new, only to realize that it's 15, 20 years old. Or with some tv-shows from the 90s (like X-Files, Frasier or some Star Trek).

I recall an MTV special from a couple of years ago commemorating the 10th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's suicide and I was, "Has it reall been *that* long already?"

Shit, 9/11 seems pretty much like yesterday and was almost 10 years ago.

[The Larch]

Years ago there was a longish late night TV infomercial that sold a huge cd set of "Classic hits of the 80s!" that I enjoyed to watch when I came back home after going out. Nothing like watching cheesy 80s hits to finish the night.

Then one night I got home after going out, turned on the TV to check if I could catch this infomercial and the songs were different. I started thinking "Oh, they must have made a second edition". And then in a split second the announcer started going on about "Classic hits of the 90s!" and in my half-asleep stupor I slightly freaked out, as they were songs that I remembered when they came out, and they were already billing them as "classics". I didn't go to sleep in such a good mood that night.

[dps]

Years ago there was a longish late night TV infomercial that sold a huge cd set of "Classic hits of the 80s!" that I enjoyed to watch when I came back home after going out. Nothing like watching cheesy 80s hits to finish the night.

Then one night I got home after going out, turned on the TV to check if I could catch this infomercial and the songs were different. I started thinking "Oh, they must have made a second edition". And then in a split second the announcer started going on about "Classic hits of the 90s!" and in my half-asleep stupor I slightly freaked out, as they were songs that I remembered when they came out, and they were already billing them as "classics". I didn't go to sleep in such a good mood that night.

You can't really go by that.  Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)" was a big hit in late 1979/early 1980, but I heard it played as an oldie just 8 years later.

In general, though, yeah, I would say that things in one's own past, whether cultural/historical touch points or more personal moments, almost always seem nearer in time than they really are once a decade or so have passed, unless maybe they were events of your childhood.  For example, I was an adult by the time it came on the air, and if someone were to ask me what years Star Trek:  The Next Generation ran, I would probably guess that it ran from 1991 or so until about 1999, and that it doesn't seem like it was that long ago.  But in fact, it was even longer ago than that--it ran from 1987 to 1994. 

[Syt]

For this thread:
Meat Loaf - Objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are

[Brazen]

I'm always surprised to realise that the 80s were atleast 20 years ago.

At least 22 I work with people born in the the 90s!

[Maximus]

I'm always surprised that people born in the 90's are old enough to talk.

[Grey Fox]

I'm always surprised to realise that the 80s were atleast 20 years ago.

At least 22 I work with people born in the the 90s!

I hang out with people born in the 90s! I talk about NES games & they don't know what it is!

[Josquius]

I'm always surprised when I meet someone hot who was born in the 90s. Its like...'shit...younger than my sister....and....I would....'

[The Larch]

My god-daughter was born in 1990, I have pictures of me holding her as a newborn. At 14 she started using thongs and I felt old. When she entered uni I felt ancient. Now she's about to graduate and I guess I'll feel antediluvian by then.

[Ed Anger]

My god-daughter was born in 1990, I have pictures of me holding her as a newborn. At 14 she started using thongs and I felt old. When she entered uni I felt ancient. Now she's about to graduate and I guess I'll feel antediluvian by then.

Dude. Eww.

[The Larch]

My god-daughter was born in 1990, I have pictures of me holding her as a newborn. At 14 she started using thongs and I felt old. When she entered uni I felt ancient. Now she's about to graduate and I guess I'll feel antediluvian by then.

Dude. Eww.

Not unheard of over here amongst today's youth, apparently. My granny was the one who found out and went on on a nice tirade about "young kids these days" and so on.