11 Outdated Things Gen X Still Says Even Though They Don't Make Sense Anymore
Life moves pretty fast, alright, but Gen X refuses to give up certain phrases.
Karen Dole / Shutterstock Gen X may be getting a bit older, but most of this generation is handling it well. It’s a generation of graceful agers, so to speak. However, given how nostalgic they tend to be, there are still moments when something they say doesn’t seem to make sense in the modern world.
Gen X loves to say "outdated" things even though they don't make sense anymore because thinking about their youth makes them happy. So if you find yourself saying any of these things, don’t worry if Gen Z doesn't get it. One day, they'll be a little out of touch themselves.
These are 11 outdated things Gen X still says even though they don't make sense anymore
1. ‘Call me (while making a phone hand signal)’
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Remember seeing that gesture? That “hang ten” gesture that always looked like an old school phone? It was a staple of the 80s, and it still gets used today, most often by people who desperately want to get someone’s attention.
Given the fact that no one has a phone with a handle that looks like that anymore, it's a pretty outdated way to talk about someone calling you.
2. ‘Roll down the window’
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Back in the 80s, car windows weren’t able to be lowered with the push of a button. You actually had to use a handle to roll down the window. And it did not happen quickly.
Power windows didn't become a standard feature until the 1980s and 1990s, and by 2008 or 2009, few cars with crank windows still existed. But while manual roll-down windows were considered extinct as of 2024, they came back, as most things do, just this April. So Gen Z and Gen Alpha may want to learn this one after all.
3. ‘Hand me the clicker’
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Remote controls these days have gummy buttons that don’t make a sound. However, that wasn’t always the case.
Back in the 80s, remotes used to make a bit of a clicky sound whenever you’d press a button. Old school folks still call remotes “clickers” for that reason.
4. ‘Hang up the phone’
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Phones were not always these easy-to-carry bricks we hold. They used to be rotary phones that you had to hold to your ear. When they weren’t being used, you’d have to hang them on their bases.
Hanging up the phone meant to, well, hang it up. Quit the conversation. Kaput.
5. ‘You sound like a broken record’
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Unless you’re a DJ or a hipster, chances are high that you’ve never held a vinyl record in your hands. Here’s the scoop: when records are heavily scratched, the needle that helps produce the sound can’t find where it’s supposed to go. So, it starts to skip back to the last portion of the song that was playing prior to the break.
Sounding like a broken record means you’re repeating yourself, over and over and over and over and over and over and… (Oops. We broke that record.)
6. ‘Did you get directions?’
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Right after maps, but right before the advent of GPS, there was a brief time when every new journey included researching directions to the address from a site named MapQuest. Since the directions couldn’t be emailed to a phone like they are now, you had to print out the directions.
GPS made life a lot easier, and not just because of printing. Should you get lost with MapQuest, you were pretty much donezo. GPS just reroutes you.
7. ‘Send me a postcard’
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Postcards are still a definite favorite among long-term travelers, primarily because they are works of art. They are also keepsakes that just feel memorable. Even so, they were far more popular back in the day.
While most major tourist attractions still stock postcards, it's now easy to text your friends and family from anywhere in the world. Buying a postcard, filling it out, and waiting for it to make it to your loved one doesn't usually feel worthwhile anymore.
8. ‘Give me the joystick’
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For the most part, game systems no longer have joysticks — those big stick controllers that would force people to shuffle around the stick in an awkward way.
For most of us, the era of the joystick is over. Unless you’re a hardcore gamer, saying this just means you’re dealing with outdated memories of what arcade games were like back in the day.
9. ‘[Repeats phone number twice when leaving voice mail]’
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Today, getting a missed call is pretty easy to handle. You just look at the missed call list. Before Caller ID was a normalized thing, you would have to listen to your messages in order to get the number to call back.
Most people don’t repeat the phone number twice anymore because it’s a given. If you’re still prone to repeating your number, chances are you’re Gen X or older.
10. ‘Dial this number’
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Did you know that phone number dialing didn’t always mean pushing buttons? Rotary phones had a dial that you actually had to pull back on in order to use. Dialing a number meant actually making the dial turn and twist to the number you had in mind.
Dialing somehow felt like it was more important back in the day.
11. ‘Pick up the phone'
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So, this one still makes sense because you still have to pick up a cellphone in order to answer it. However, it actually meant things a little differently back in the day. You actually had a corded phone that had a hook it was hung up on.
Picking up the phone meant that you had to physically lift the phone off the hook. Because, you know, it’s old school.
Ossiana Tepfenhart is a writer whose work has been featured in Yahoo, BRIDES, Your Daily Dish, Newtheory Magazine, and others.
