before times

before times pl (plural only)

1. (sometimes humorous) The period of time before a defining, often apocalyptic event, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
   • 1884, James McQuade, The cruise of the Montauk to Bermuda, the West Indies and Florida, page 331:

     The planters refer mournfully to the "before times," by which they describe the old slave days, and contrast them with the hard lines of the present. It is possible that the condition of the negroes has been improved by emancipation, but the state of the owners has greatly deteriorated.

   • 2002 February 19, Kerrie Murphy, “Defrag”, in The Australian, Canberra, page C.10:

     Defrag remembers a time when a new Star Wars movie was cause for excitement and rejoicing. We even remember going to the cinemas at midnight just to catch the Special Edition re-releases at the earliest possible moment. But those were happier times, more innocent times — the Before Times. Before the release of Episode I The Phantom Menace.

   • 2013, Nicholas P. Oakley, The Watcher, See Sharp Press, →ISBN:

     Priash looked away and added, “I also found books that describe the before times in a completely different way. I'm not even sure we're living in the same place. I think we must have traveled a long way from there, across the oceans perhaps.

   • 2020 August 31, “Everything Wrong With Phineas and Ferb "Dude, We're Getting The Band Back Together!"” (01:42 from the start), in TV Sins‎, spoken by the narrator (Aaron Dicer), TVSins:

     When you tell your kids someday about the ancient art of "concerts" in the before times, please make the chair standers the villains of your story.

   • 2020 December 14, Tala Schlossberg, “An Ode to the Before Times”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     We all want to be taken back to the “before times,” where you could blow spitballs from the bushes or share an ice cream cone with a stranger […]