phrase requests - A word that means "nostalgia for an experience that I did not have."



I've occasionally had "nostalgia" for events and times I did not experience, e.g. WWII or The Summer of Love.


Is there a word (or phrase) for that?



Answer



There may not be a single word that denotes nostalgia specifically for events and times one did not experience, but there is a phrase: collective nostalgia.


From the source linked above:



Collective nostalgia refers to the nostalgia originated from emotional attachment to collective cultural identities without earlier personal participation experience.



In slightly plainer words, "collective nostalgia" is nostalgia for events or experiences that you can "remember secondhand" as part of your cultural background but that you couldn't directly experience because you were in the wrong place or the wrong time (or both).


[Source: "An Exploratory Study of Collective Nostalgia" by Faye Kao]


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