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<blockquote data-quote="tarchon" data-source="post: 1776937" data-attributes="member: 5990">Well, of those four links I listed only the second one is from a genealogy source, and it's quoting from a demographic study, even if it is on a genealogy board.&nbsp; This isn't a concept limited to the little old ladies down at the LDS library.I also have to say that I'm not entirely ignorant of historiography, and this is the first time I've ever heard any one say that there was a fixed standard definition for the length of a &quot;generation&quot; as a cohort.&nbsp; My impression is that they are more typically defined according to demographic trends and influential conditions that persist in a society during the childhood of the particular cohort, the &quot;Baby Boom&quot; for example.&nbsp; It would be ridiculous to define a &quot;Depression&quot; generation and arbitrarily cut it off at, say, 1949 just because that's 20 years after the Depression.&nbsp; Ok, maybe on the History Channel, but I'm not talking about histotainment.&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I note also <a href="http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/generation" target="_blank">http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/generation</a>&quot;4. A single step or stage in the succession of natural&nbsp;&nbsp; descent; a rank or remove in genealogy. Hence: The body of&nbsp;&nbsp; those who are of the same genealogical rank or remove from&nbsp;&nbsp; an ancestor; the mass of beings living at one period;&nbsp;&nbsp; also, the average lifetime of man, or the ordinary period&nbsp;&nbsp; of time at which one rank follows another, or father is&nbsp;&nbsp; succeeded by child, usually assumed to be one third of a&nbsp;&nbsp; century; an age.&quot; - Websters, 1913.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="tarchon, post: 1776937, member: 5990"] Well, of those four links I listed only the second one is from a genealogy source, and it's quoting from a demographic study, even if it is on a genealogy board. This isn't a concept limited to the little old ladies down at the LDS library. I also have to say that I'm not entirely ignorant of historiography, and this is the first time I've ever heard any one say that there was a fixed standard definition for the length of a "generation" as a cohort. My impression is that they are more typically defined according to demographic trends and influential conditions that persist in a society during the childhood of the particular cohort, the "Baby Boom" for example. It would be ridiculous to define a "Depression" generation and arbitrarily cut it off at, say, 1949 just because that's 20 years after the Depression. Ok, maybe on the History Channel, but I'm not talking about histotainment. :) I note also [url]http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/generation[/url] "4. A single step or stage in the succession of natural descent; a rank or remove in genealogy. Hence: The body of those who are of the same genealogical rank or remove from an ancestor; the mass of beings living at one period; also, the average lifetime of man, or the ordinary period of time at which one rank follows another, or father is succeeded by child, usually assumed to be [b]one third of a century[/b]; an age." - Websters, 1913. [/QUOTE]

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