Since this stuff is so common around here, I figured I'd ask how you distinguish. I think there's three types of ways to refer to something in the past. "Retro" seems to imply it was either before you were born or can actually remember firsthand. "Old-school" appears to be used to describe a time that's noticeably in the past that you have decent memories of. Lastly, "dated" is like in the very recent past, just with minute differences to the present.

So, for me, it would roughly work like this:

Retro - The time the earth cooled to just about the turn from 1984 into 1985
Old-school - mid 1985 through c. 1996
Dated - 1997+ and more specifically 2002+ (the Internet age)

I generally take retro to mean something that was fashionable in the past and is fashionable again

I've always thought retro was more like a fad that, like Karen said, was fashionable in the past and fashionable again. I've always just thought of old school as eighties' rap. Everything else, I just consider nostalgic or horrible... depending on how you feel about it.

Since this stuff is so common around here, I figured I'd ask how you distinguish. I think there's three types of ways to refer to something in the past. "Retro" seems to imply it was either before you were born or can actually remember firsthand. "Old-school" appears to be used to describe a time that's noticeably in the past that you have decent memories of. Lastly, "dated" is like in the very recent past, just with minute differences to the present.

So, for me, it would roughly work like this:

Retro - The time the earth cooled to just about the turn from 1984 into 1985
Old-school - mid 1985 through c. 1996
Dated - 1997+ and more specifically 2002+ (the Internet age)
Spot on.

Retro to me is 50's stuff for example that was around before I was born.

Old School is stuff from my childhood or teens.

Retro to me is a way to describe fashion and decor. 

To me, Old School is more of a way of thinking and acting (it can also include the fashion and decor).

Retro to me is a way to describe fashion and decor. 

To me, Old School is more of a way of thinking and acting (it can also include the fashion and decor).

I agree with you on your description of retro. That's always the way I've thought of it.

I think they're basically the same thing.  ???

I guess we're all roughly in agreement. Condusive to any time, I guess dated is about 3+ years; the old-school line is about 10, and retro is over 20 years. When something passes "the parents' time", that really oldifies it to a different level, probably. Kind of the way anything before The Beatles is now.

To me, I prefer the word "retro" over the word "old school". The reason for this is because I've seen/heard so many very young people (little teenagers and such) totally going gaga over retro stuff...and they always seem to word it "old school". EX....I love that Izod Lacoste shirt...it's SOO old school. I think that phrase is SO overused. ::)

That's weird lol, usually it seems to be the other way around. Like I know whenever I say it, I mean it in a complimentary way. Like, I always refer to the VH1 of 1991/'92 as "old school" (sorry if I bring that up all the time, but I really miss it). ;)

That's weird lol, usually it seems to be the other way around. Like I know whenever I say it, I mean it in a complimentary way. Like, I always refer to the VH1 of 1991/'92 as "old school" (sorry if I bring that up all the time, but I really miss it). ;)



nah, it doesn't seem to bother me whenever it's mentioned on the boards here...but in real life...I hear these kids use this phrase all the time...it's just kind of a pet peeve, I suppose. :D

nah, it doesn't seem to bother me whenever it's mentioned on the boards here...but in real life...I hear these kids use this phrase all the time...it's just kind of a pet peeve, I suppose. :D

That's cool (I actually meant me being annoying by talking about early '90s VH1 all the time - I guess I just like to remember it).

Do you hear people overusing the phrase perhaps? I guess anything can get worn out after awhile, lol. I think it also can depend to what relation something is. For instance, I would maybe call a 2003 computer old-school, but a 1991 car still would only seem like it was from "a little while ago". That was generally the first year the rounded models started coming out, but that's another story. ;)

That's cool (I actually meant me being annoying by talking about early '90s VH1 all the time - I guess I just like to remember it).

Do you hear people overusing the phrase perhaps? I guess anything can get worn out after awhile, lol. I think it also can depend to what relation something is. For instance, I would maybe call a 2003 computer old-school, but a 1991 car still would only seem like it was from "a little while ago". That was generally the first year the rounded models started coming out, but that's another story. ;)


I think it's the fact that they are like 13 years old, and they are all, "ya...that was so old school"....and in reality, they know nothing really about it, only that it has made a comeback in the present years. Ya know what I mean? For example..stuff like Izod Lacoste shirts, trends like Strawberry shortcake and Care Bears...stuff that they generally sell at stores like Hot Topic and Claire's Boutique.

^Like they might not know the original incarnations and think it's a strictly "mid '00s" thing? Or do they call things from just a year or two ago old-school? The latter I might see as kind of weird and unsettling, lol.

Here's basically the way it worked for me. Like in 1991, 1987 might have been "classic" to me (like a personal experience or a song which came out then), but I wouldn't have viewed it as old. Even as a kid, I was smart enough to know that was absolutely nothing in relation to people's lives and all that. I guess some kids don't think the way I did.

^Like they might not know the original incarnations and think it's a strictly "mid '00s" thing? Or do they call things from just a year or two ago old-school? The latter I might see as kind of weird and unsettling, lol.

Here's basically the way it worked for me. Like in 1991, 1987 might have been "classic" to me (like a personal experience or a song which came out then), but I wouldn't have viewed it as old. Even as a kid, I was smart enough to know that was absolutely nothing in relation to people's lives and all that. I guess some kids don't think the way I did.


no, they seem to realize that it was popular back in the 80's, or whatever decade the particular item was popular...but now that it has resurfaced into the 00's...they overuse the term "old school", whenever they talk about the particular item.

^ Oh I get it. So it's like they're talking about the '80s as if it were in the same boat as the '60s or something, lol.

^ Oh I get it. So it's like they're talking about the '80s as if it were in the same boat as the '60s or something, lol.


yes basically. I mean...I have no problem with someone liking eras gone by (I am a big fan of yester years)....but when they know absolutely nothing about it, and they go around calling it "old school"...that's when it becomes a bit annoying. :D

I always liked some things from before my actual time (i.e. I've told you before about how my parents played Beatles albums and stuff, so I came to like that along with the actual current music as well), but I don't think it was until the early '90s or probably about 1994 that I got a pretty good grip on what those times were actually like.

For instance, I got into the Pink Panther movies c. 1993/'94, and I recalled actually thinking how wild it was that, if it were real, the characters would be way older and in different situations then. I mean, 1979 was 15 years ago in 1994 and I remembered thinking it was almost a little sad since my "take" on the movies was current. Because they were new to me then. Does that make sense?

To me, I prefer the word "retro" over the word "old school". The reason for this is because I've seen/heard so many very young people (little teenagers and such) totally going gaga over retro stuff...and they always seem to word it "old school". EX....I love that Izod Lacoste shirt...it's SOO old school. I think that phrase is SO overused. ::)


I know what you mean.  The young ones today I don't think really know what Old School means.  The other day when I was at the mall, I heard some emo kids talking about how Eminem is old school ::)

I always liked some things from before my actual time (i.e. I've told you before about how my parents played Beatles albums and stuff, so I came to like that along with the actual current music as well), but I don't think it was until the early '90s or probably about 1994 that I got a pretty good grip on what those times were actually like.

For instance, I got into the Pink Panther movies c. 1993/'94, and I recalled actually thinking how wild it was that, if it were real, the characters would be way older and in different situations then. I mean, 1979 was 15 years ago in 1994 and I remembered thinking it was almost a little sad since my "take" on the movies was current. Because they were new to me then. Does that make sense?


Yes, that makes total sense. That's like when I watch certain TV shows on DVD...I sometimes forget that they were back in the 70's or 80's.....and I forget that these people are a lot older, and some of them deceased now.

Since we're on the issue, just for the heck of it, this would be like a culmination of "old school" for me personally:

Doc and Marty do a movie about taking a DeLorean back to 1991, get Weird Al to perform songs for the soundtrack. And while they're there, they stop to play some Nintendo games, and Jerry Springer uses that as a topic on his show. While VH1 broadcasts the whole thing.

Yeah, it's safe to say I would watch that. ;D

I always thought retro and old school meant pretty much the same thing. For some reason, though, I never liked to refer to anything from the past as retro or old school; depending on the time period, I just refer to it as 70's, 80's, 90's, etc.... :-\\