On our drive up to San Francisco, my husband and I stopped to have lunch in the college town San Luis Obispo. Three college students were sitting at the table next to us, and one of them asked the others, “What are you going to wear to the ‘90s party this weekend?”A ‘90s party! Already! College towns make me feel old as it is; hearing that college students planned to dress up in clothes that I actually wore (you know, for reals) when I was in college gave me spontaneous lower back pain and cataracts.
Is Pearl Jam considered classic rock? Are flannels considered vintage clothing? These and other such questions had been plaguing me until yesterday when I had this epiphany: those students weren’t talking about having a 1990s party; they were talking about having a 1390s party.
I don’t know why I didn’t make the connection sooner. You see, one of the hottest new fads is writing “nowadays” as “now a days.” My students do it all the time, so I figure it’s most likely a nationwide college phenomenon. Today, the correct form is “nowadays,” but in Middle English (from 1100-1500), it was written “now a days."
Obviously, some crazy English major got hold of a copy of Canterbury Tales and started this whole 1390s craze.
So when discussing what to wear to the '90s party, they weren't talking about choosing between these two looks:
They were clearly talking about these ones:
References:
"Nowadays" or "Now a Days." Grammar Girl: Quick and Dirty Tips. 31 Jan 2011. Web. 1 June 2011.
18 comments:
What an interesting idea for a party. :) Sounds like fun, though!
It's become one word because you say it as one word! A pox on these young medievalists!
14-0-0 party over, it's outta time! Of course, the difference between our missed apocalypse of 2000 and theirs back then was that ours would have likely involved a ball of fire or a computer glitch, and theirs a black plague.
Haha fantastic! I actually went to a 1990's party last year. My inspiration was the hit movie "The Craft" solely because I thought Skeet Uhlrich was totally hot in that movie...when I saw it in the theaters...in high school.
I nearly had a breakdown at the liquor store the other day when I realized that someone born in 1990 could buy alcohol. Legally. I almost threw out my back and might have been heard to yell piteously, "I've fallen and I can't get up!" And it only would've been funny to us old people.
I wonder if anyone cut their hair into the Rachel cut for the 90's party.... (yes, I had the Rachel cut in the 90's and my third grade student recognized it immediately and wrote in his morning journal how Rachel came to teach that day. :))
Great idea! I think the clothes back in 1399 were the height of practicality! :)
Jeffrey Beesler makes an excellent point!
Also, I looked up this Middle Ages era & discovered that in 1400 the golf ball was invented!
you're in my neck of the woods (scary, i know)
even now, we realize that the '90s were a period in music and culture that we'll never have again, it was awesomeness of the highest scale that we can only remember fondly now
oh, can i have that top pic? i'll need it to keep me company and have a laugh with when i become a monk...
A 90's party, how depressing for anyone over 30!
My brother was born in 1990. He will be 21 this year. That alone is enough to freak me out.
Man that 90210 guy was smokin' back in the day! Now a days he must look back on those times and wonder where his beauty and denim jacket ran off to.
As do I. As do I. Mine was stone wash. Or is it stonewash? Stonewashed?
that was a special theme haha!
Wish I were going to the '90s party. I love men in tights.
Want to feel old? Watch the Brady Bunch movie, which is making fun of the late 60s/early 70s through the lens of grunge and flannel, which now looks so dated that we can make fun of it.
LOL, I saw a policeman wearing a nappy (diaper) the other day. I swear I did! ;0 Love the post and party idea. Of course it was 1390, 1990 is still present day--isn't it?
1990s were a time when life was simpler, and the butt, smaller.
I MISS those years!
I'd MUCH rather go to a 90s party! Actually, I'm wondering where all the 90s nostalgia was. 80s music nights started popping up on radio stations around the mid-90s. Why no 90s nights yet?
See, I have friends who actually WOULD have a 1390's party. But that's why I <3 them. :P
It does weird me out that 90's is now retro. I don't like feeling old enough to be weirded out by that!
Are you sure it was the 1390s they were talking about? It could easily have been the 1590s. I mean, who could forget Pope Leo X threatening to excommunicate Martin Luther?
>.>
And, uh, yeah. I refuse to believe that Pearl Jam's Ten is classic rock now.
Why does my back hurt?
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