Timeline for Is there a word or phrase for nostalgia for an era in which one didn't live?
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| Jun 15, 2020 at 7:40 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Mar 21, 2019 at 2:47 | comment | added | ab2 | We agree that one can be nostalgic about an era that one hasn't experienced; I just think it is better to say one is nostalgic about a feature or feature of such an era. For example, I might be nostalgic about the pure environment, the uncrowdedness of the Paleolithic, and the closeness to animals, but not about the bathing and excreting arrangements. And I cannot see pining for nostalgia. It is like being nostalgic for having stopped feeling nostalgic. | |
| Mar 21, 2019 at 2:40 | comment | added | Jason Bassford | @ab2 And if people can be nostalgic about the '80s—why not be nostalgic about (or want to be nostalgic about) the Victorian era? Both are just periods in time. | |
| Mar 21, 2019 at 2:39 | comment | added | Jason Bassford | @ab2 A man might say, I wish I knew what it felt like to be pregnant. So, it's certainly possible to say that you wish you felt something—even though you don't have direct knowledge of what that feeling is. With nostalgia, you could wish that you were able to miss something because you had experienced it. I know what it feels like to be nostalgic about things I have experienced, so I don't see why I couldn't want to feel nostalgic about things I haven't experienced—even though I know I actually can't, because I haven't experienced them . . . | |
| Mar 21, 2019 at 0:00 | comment | added | ab2 | It would make more sense if someone said that they were "nostalgic for the [name some aspect] of the Victorian era." rather than saying they were nostalgic for the VE. And, I don't see how one can pine for nostalgia. One can pine for some lost aspect of the Victoria Era or of the Roman Republic or even of the Upper Paleolithic era. One doesn't have to have direct experience of any lost era to know what one pines for or feels nostalgic about, as long as one has read enough. I'm going to say +1, but this answer can be improved. | |
| Mar 20, 2019 at 23:36 | history | answered | Jason Bassford | CC BY-SA 4.0 |