Vietnam flashback

English

Noun

Vietnam flashback (plural Vietnam flashbacks)

1. (slang) A flashback; a vivid mental image of a past trauma.
   • 2007, Rodney Carrington, Coming Clean, Center Street, page 15:

     I lived in the kind of place where your neighbors are always having Vietnam flashbacks. And they’d never even been to Vietnam.

   • 2012, Maria Semple, Where'd You Go, Bernadette, Thorndike Press, page 65:

     Walking through the halls, Mom is always, like, having a Vietnam flashback. We’ll pass some random piece of art hanging on the wall and she’ll grab onto a chair and say, Oh, God, that Milton Avery poster. Or, gulping a big breath, That ficus tree had origami cranes hanging on it that awful Christmas. And then she’ll close her eyes while everyone just stands there, and Dad hugs her really tight, tears flooding his eyes, too.

   • 2015, Juho Kuorikoski, translated by Matti Isotalo, Finnish Video Games: A History and Catalog, McFarland & Company, page 284:

     Millions of voices screamed and were suddenly silenced by the record-breakingly embarrassing ending of Episode III. Star Wars fans across the globe cried in their showers, trying to unsee the sacrilege.
     Then came Rovio and the Vietnam flashbacks from the movies returned.
     The first Angry Bird Star Wars was a clever combination of two brands, with Star Wars characters transferred to the bird galaxy. The game relied heavily on nostalgia and the humor it spawned. The game was like a big inside joke thanks to the original films.

   • 2024 February 22, Keegan Kelly, “Will Rick’s CHUD Son Ever Return to ‘Rick and Morty’ After His Disastrous First Appearance?”, in Cracked‎, archived from the original on 2024-07-212:

     The Rick and Morty Season Five episode is so infamous among the show’s vibrant and active online following that the phrase “giant incest baby” is enough to send many stans into Vietnam flashbacks or Battle of Blood Ridge thousand-yard stares.

   • 2024 June 20, James Harvey, “The Exorcism review: Russell Crowe gets back in the cassock”, in Film Stories‎, archived from the original on 2024-07-212:

     Could these demons be some kind of metaphor? They could! Anthony has all sorts of them – he’s a lapsed Catholic with a dead wife, estranged daughter (Ryan Simpkins) and a drinking problem. He’s one Vietnam flashback from a full house of horrors.