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What is an interjection/expression to use to express nostalgia?
I was listening to a song which reminded me of my adolescent days, feeling nostalgic for those times. Are there kinds of nostalgia? What interjection/expression can be used for expressing nostalgia in different contexts?
Those were the days fits for all contexts.
Usually with "Ah" in the beginning of the expression. Sometimes, "Man" is used in the beginning also.
something you say that means life was better at the time in the past that you are talking about:
We were young and madly in love. Ah, those were the days!
By way of allusion to Proust's Remembrance of Things Past.
'Fings ain't wot they used ter be!'
Preferably with the incumbent dance steps as shown here. See from:0:48
A 'glorious revival' is how this production is nostalgically itself described. Stratford Theatre is in London's East End, which is a Cockney area, as you can hear in the accents.
It's another way of saying 'everything's changed!'
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/time-travelling-apollo/201606/the-two-faces-nostalgia
Types of nostalgia:
- Restorative nostalgia, as Boym describes it, “puts emphasis on nostos (returning home) and proposes to rebuild the lost home and patch up the memory gaps.”
Restorative nostalgia, involving a desire to “rebuild the lost home,” views the past with an eye toward recreating it—a desire to relive those special moments. It is what spurs us to pull out our phone at 1 a. m. and call up an old boyfriend or girlfriend because we just heard “our song” on the radio.
- Reflective nostalgia, on the other hand, “dwells in algia (aching), in longing and loss, the imperfect process of remembrance.”
Reflective nostalgia, on the other hand, accepts the fact that the past is, in fact, past, and rather than trying to recreate a special past experience, savors the emotions evoked by its recollection.
https://didyouknowfacts.com/facts/there-are-two-different-types-of-nostalgia-2/
There are two different types of nostalgia. Restorative nostalgia is when you feel like things used to be better and you long to relive the past, and reflective nostalgia is when you feel wistful about how different things used to be, but you maintain a sense of amused acceptance.
Oof! The song summoned such vivid recollections of the past that I was momentarily stunned by the sweet force of them.
I got faced with the same question when I tried to translate the following phrase from Afrikaans into English:
"Ja nee wat, dit was darm lekker ou dae daardie." "Yes no what, it was though nice old days that". (word by word translation)
In Afrikaans, "ja nee", " ja nê" and "nee wat" are all possible interjections to express nostalgia (but can also be used in many other contexts), and in my example above, stands completely separate from the actual words expressing a longing to the dreamy good old days of the distant past.
My best suggestions for expressing nostalgia (in the context of the above) would be a sighful: "Yeah" or "Ah"
Closest translation that still carries the sentiment:
After Jacob recounted some wild childhood adventures they had and all thing things they got away with, Pat nostalgically replied "Yeah! You are right! No, I agree! Those were the good old days!"
A conversation:
The phrase "I wish" (or wordy "I wish it were true") may signify nostalgia or else feelings still like nostalgic.
However, "you'd wish" would be much less so, it'd rather mean distrust or it may even be sarcastic.
