Very old times

Very old times
 

I realized I don't know an American phrase to talk about ancient times. I know the British and Commonwealth expression "donkey's years" which I learn from Count Arthur Strong season 1 episode 2 (you may watch the bit containing it here and have a good laugh). Yet, this time reference is not "old" enough.

I will use examples in Spanish to illustrate what I'm looking for. For instance to refer to someone very old we say "es más viejo que Matusalén". For things or uses from old times, it is used in Spain "es del tiempo de María Castaña". In Argentina we use "es del tiempo de Ñaupa".

The last one, ñaupa, is not a name but a word in Kechua meaning "from ancient times/from the times mythical stories are told about". I was surprised to learn recently that in Micah 5:2 "But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days." the Biblical Hebrew word translated in English as "from of old" means almost exactly and have similar semantic range as ñaupa.

We don't value native American cultures enough, but that is a topic "más viejo que la injusticia"

Any suggestions about this kind of expresiones both in English and Spanish?

American English has several to choose from.

A small sampling:
... older than (as old as) Adam.
... older than (as old as) man itself.
... been around since (when) dinosaurs roamed the earth.
... older than (as old as) dirt (and twice as dusty).
... older than (as old as) Methuselah.
... older than the hills (and twice as dusty).
... as old as time.

I use as old as the hills.

Thank you, Rusty and poli! That's a whole collection of "older than/as old as" examples, most of which have (almost) exact matches in Spanish

más viejo que Matusalén
más viejo que la injusticia
viejo como el tiempo mismo
más viejo que Adán
más viejo que las piedras
más viejo que el mar
es del tiempo cuando los dinosaurios rondaban la Tierra
es de cuando las catedrales eran blancas.

and the endless list of jokes

si le piden una identificación/el documento (de identidad)/el pasaporte muestra una piedra tallada/cincelada

es tan vieja que fue la nodriza del General San Martín/del Cura Hidalgo/de Jorge Washington

What about naming those old times, as in the case of del tiempo de Ñaupa?

We often refer to the past as back in the day.

example: Back in the day you needed to buy film for a camera.

En esos tiempos no había fotocopiadora y había que usar el mimeógrafo o la gelatina [hectográfica].

Mimeografiar, ese sí que es un verbo del año del jopo (quiff). Y el hectógrafo y el daguerrotipo son del año de la escarapela (cockade)

del tiempo de la cascarilla (cocoa husk to make tea)
del tiempo de la cocoa
del tiempo de la farola (street gas light)

del año del pedo [caution with pedo] = From the times when the first dude got plastered.

From the times the first spirits become widely available (caña -similar to rhum, 18th century)

del tiempo del miriñaque (crinoline, similar to a hoop skirt but much more unwieldy and cumbersome)

Cultural note:

"del año del jopo" comes from the hair style developed in the 20's that lasted until de 50's and was made posible from the invention of

Gomina Brancato (Argentina, 1914, popularized in post-war France)
Glostora (USA, 1921)
Brylcreem (UK, 1928)

It started in Buenos Aires and, although it locally regain popularity with the Fonzi lookalikes of the 50's it was felt here as demodé (out of fashion) hence "del año del jopo" talking of long-gone times already in 1970.

AleCcowaN,

We also say that soimething is "old fashion". There was a song that used it nicely:

"It's just an old fashion love song, coming down in two-part harmony".

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We also say " in the olden days". In this way: "In the olden days, people were friendlier".

Silopanna/Dean