What is the difference between the words "Homesick" and "Nostalgia"?

1. 62

   Kevin Peterposted 11 years ago

   What is the difference between the words "Homesick" and "Nostalgia"?
   
   Don't they both have the same meaning?

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2. 80

   Souther29posted 11 years ago

   They both have a different meaning.
   
   Homesick is a feeling you get when you are away from your place of birth/home/family and you miss the people or the location. Being Homesick has negative connotations because you miss something/someone.
   
   Nostalgia is slightly different. Nostalgia is often used when you look back on something with fondness and a lot of the time it is used for a specific time period or relates to something that occured or was in existence when you were younger. You could be nostalgic about an old toy, school or even a holiday you went on but the key difference is nostalgia is remembering the happiness or joy you experienced. Being nostalgic can make you smile.
   
   Personally whenever I hear 90s dance music it makes me feel nostalgic about good times I used to have with friends. When I lived in Paris I missed my family and was a little homesick.
   
   Hope that makes it a little clearer for you:-)

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   1. 75

      alancaster149posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You took the words out of my 'mouth'. Similar sentiments tied up together, but not the same thing, although in the 'nostalgia market' collectors buy memorabilia at auction for silly money, that they couldn't possibly have previous knowledge of.

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3. 81

   Joseph Frankinaposted 11 years ago

   Hi alancaster149,
   
   In your response to Souther, you remark that collectors buy nostalgic items of which they probably could never feel nostalgic. In the use of the term "nostalgic memorabilia", the idea does not necessarily relate to the purchaser or owner of the item.
   
   Many nostalgic items are more iconic items of an era gone by. They are usually representative of a previous generation in terms of style, art, manufacturing, packaging, or what have you depending on the item. And as they say, they just don't make 'me like that anymore.
   
   Since these items are no longer being produced or are in different ways, the nostalgia refers to the people of that era. Many of these items would bring about some sort of nostalgia to someone of their generation upon seeing them.
   
   Show a 12-year-old boy a picture of Rosie the Riveter. You will not get much of a response. Show it to any woman who that poster represented, and you will find quite a different response. That is why it is a nostalgic item.

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4. 61

   benisan85745posted 11 years ago

   "Homesick", is pretty much self explanatory. You no longer have the facilities of home that you are use to having, and your new regime is hard to get used to. Perhaps there was someone there that always made sure you were on time, or knowing you had a close friend around the corner, but "Nostalgia" is far more powerful than memory alone. Consider it as a form of time-travel, if you will. It takes you to a place where we ache to go again. It allows you to "travel" the way a child would travel, around and around; then back home again...to the place where we know we were once loved and happy.
   its why we smile to ourselves when we see or are reminded of something from our past.

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5. 90

   RachaelLeflerposted 7 years ago

   As someone else said, mainly it's that "homesick" is about missing a place, and "nostalgia" is about missing a time.
   Like I can be nostalgic for my high school years, or a time when my grandmother was alive, etc. But being homesick would mean being sad over wanting to return home while far away from home. Those aren't really the same thing.

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