Han Solo is wasted on the young

Classes are well underway, and things are pretty much back to the usual routine by now. However, my students have found a new way to make me feel old.

In one of my lessons, the book introduces the question "Who is your favorite actor?" This is one of those standard questions that all English teachers cover at some point here. I recall when I taught in Niigata, this was one that came up a lot. I always said "Harrison Ford," because he was a big name actor who didn't have the "trendy" factor that plagues younger actors. (That was back when all of Japan was raving over Titanic, to give you some idea of what I mean.)

Anyway, I was pleased to see that Harrison Ford was actually one of the examples in the textbook. That led to the following conversation...

Student: Who's Harrison Ford?

Me: He was in Star Wars.

Student: No, he wasn't.

Me: Yes, he was.

Student: Oh yeah? Who did he play?

Me: Han Solo.

Student: ...Who's Han Solo?

Me: O_O