I was really disappointed that the trading example on page 16 didn't have the right resources for me to make that joke.
It's been ages since I last played Catan, but I still regularly see it on the table at board game meetups.
You're not old.
I was around when Cosmic Encounter came out.
That one upset me at the time because it lured my fellow heavy wargamers to the light (weight) side.
I played the game once while at an acquaintance's place. He and one of my friends were familiar with the game, but the rest of us had no clue what we were doing. I remember having barely any points at the end. I got pretty decent at Globopolis, though. Don't remember much about it other than Namibia, though.
When I play Catan these days, I usually run in to groups that don't trade (unless it's overwhelmingly to their advantage). So it's not fun for me anymore - I like to do lots of trades where the other player may gain a bigger advantage than I do, but I "make up for it in volume."