When I first remember hearing the term, 1991 or so, it was for folks older than me. "Reality Bites" slackers will into their 20s by that point. Then, by 2001, somehow the label had become revised to include my age bracket, too. I don't know who decided that, or how it happened. Gen X was the generation after the "blank generation," which was folks who were in their 20s in the 1970s, 30s in the 1980s. Or so I thought.
As for "Generation Y," Reverend Horton Heat had a song about that called "Generation Why" -- in 1996. On the _Martini Time_ LP of that year. Was he singing about 12 year olds? No.
I think by the time these pop sociology terms gain currency and stick, the folks they were originally meant to define have already aged.
Also: The weirdest Gen X moment was a 1996 Simpsons episode, "Homerpalooza," where Homer wanders into a music store to deal with stereotypically apathetic and cynical Gen X clerks, and he inadvertantly shows his age by asking for -- vinyl! The writers were told that vinyl was actually getting popular again, so don't use it in the gag. They changed it to Homer making a reference to Apple Computer,, and the Gen X hipster says something like "Apple Computer, what the hell is that?" You now, because, like vinyl, young kids don't know what Apple is.......... *cough*
-B.
Mr. WD wrote:
"Gen Y is also apparently far more susceptible to advertising, too. Being born in 1979 and the oldest of 23 cousins on my dad's side, I can attest to a lot of these Gen X/Y differences -- which I would have dismissed as stupid pop sociology were they not in line with my own experience."