What was going on when I was born?

A common sight in the corridors and lounges here is of an impeccably dressed Communist diplomat speaking perfect English who moves from group to group, clasping hands, smiling, joking and shaking his head in what appears to be good-humored despair about the latest foreign policy pronouncement of the United States. The diplomat is Oleg A. Troyanovsky of the Soviet Union, by most accounts, one of the most skillful and knowledgable delegates in the 158-nation world body. Mr. Troyanovsky, who went to high school in Washington when his father was the first Soviet Ambassador there, heads the largest mission to the United Nations and, by common consent, one of the most successful. 'Cultivate the Third World' The Soviet Union, weak and isolated in the first decade or so of the United Nations' existence, has over the years made adept use of the organization, becoming perhaps its single most powerful and influential member.

News Analysis When analysts plot economic growth strategies for New York City, they often think of Manhattan, of office towers and of increasingly technical white-collar jobs. They don't think of fish. But for three years, planners at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have done a lot of thinking about fish, and the result, disclosed recently, has been one of the more unusual economic development initiatives to be charted for the city. Under the plan, which would cost about $30 million, several all-butabandoned piers in Brooklyn's Erie Basin would be converted into a ''fishport'' - a nesting ground for what the authority hopes would be a new commercial-fishing industry in the metropolitan area.

In unusually strong language, Yuri V. Andropov has chastised his countrymen for creating economic bottlenecks, making extensive planning errors and failing to meet such longstanding targets as increased output of consumer goods. Mr. Andropov, who is both head of state and of the Communist Party, was absent from today's opening of the winter session of the Supreme Soviet. The absence marked the third time in little more than seven weeks that the Soviet leader has missed a major political event. (Page A8.)

A dispatch from Washington by The Associated Press yesterday about the Energy Department's delay on a burial site for nuclear waste incorrectly listed the states under consideration. They are Mississippi, Nevada, Louisiana, Washington, Utah and Texas.

J. Hugh Liedtke, chairman of the Pennzoil Company, said yesterday that Gordon P. Getty, head of a trust that controls 40 percent of the Getty Oil Company's stock, had agreed to meet with him soon to discuss a ''restructuring'' of Getty Oil. Such a meeting, implying at least a willingness by Mr. Getty to listen, would come on the heels of Pennzoil's surprise offer Tuesday evening to pay $100 a share in cash for 16 million Getty shares, enough to give the big natural resources company 20 percent of Getty at a cost of $1.6 billion. The offer put Pennzoil in the middle of a legal dispute between the management of Getty Oil on one side and the Sarah C. Getty Trust and the J. Paul Getty Museum that together control 52 percent of the stock on the other. Moses Lasky, Mr. Getty's lawyer, said he had received a ''courtesy call'' from Pennzoil telling him Mr. Liedtke would call his client. ''Mr. Getty,'' he said, ''is conscious of his fiduciary obligation as a Getty director and a trustee to keep his eyes and ears open to anything that's for the benefit of the stockholders and the beneficiaries.'' He declined to comment further.

They drive hours to attend a flea market. They scour obscure antiques shops and never snub a tag sale. Yet these collectors are not simply looking for another bargain or an interesting antique. They're devotees of tramp art - an American folk art dating from around the turn of the century that few people know about and others dismiss as downright ugly. Indeed, the ornately carved wood picture frames and odd pyramid- shaped boxes that are the most common forms of tramp art do not compel the average collector in the same way as, say, a Queen Anne tea table or a Tiffany lamp. But that's part of the appeal. The whimsical, even somewhat garish quality of the pieces is what has attracted a small but growing number of collectors. All contend they had no idea what they were buying when they made their first purchase.

''The commander can delegate some or all of his authority to his subordinates, but he cannot delegate his responsibility for the performance of any of the forces he commands.

A dispatch from Chicago Sunday about the sale of The Sun-Times misstated that newspaper's circulation. Weekday circulation is 639,134; Sunday's is 669,426. The article also misidentified the business entity sold by Marshall and Frederick Field. It is in fact The Sun-Times.

Wall Street's perennial election- year rally, a decidedly bullish stock market prodded by a well-stimulated economy, seems likely to offer a new twist in 1984. A number of money managers and analysts are saying, yes, stocks will climb and even set record highs as Ronald Reagan heads for re-election. But they warn that even though in the last five Presidential election years, the market has peaked between late September and mid-December, this time around, the best and brightest gains may come before July. And the year's second half, according to experts, could see prices falling rather sharply in contrast to most election years, which have shown a fairly consistent upward bias. 'Euphoria by Summertime' ''The Dow Jones industrial average should reach a new peak somewhere between 1,400 and 1,500 in either the first or second quarter of 1984, but that process is likely to create euphoria by summertime,'' said John M. McCarthy, managing partner of Lord, Abbett & Company. ''So then you've got to get ready to get hit by a two-by-four. I think we'll wake up at at the end of 1984 and see that it was a very tough year. Meanwhile, I can envisage the market correction of 1984 carrying the Dow back to 1,250 or, at the maximum, the 1,200 level.''

When Robert Else 3d took over his father's bus company, King Coal Trailways, five years ago, it was a small line serving only Northumberland County here. It had one passenger bus, which carried a total of 5,000 people that year, and 24 school buses. Revenue came to $360,000. Now Mr. Else has a fleet of 13 passenger buses and expects revenue of about $2 million from 53,000 passengers. He also has the authority to operate in 48 states if he wants to.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing to charge Paul N. Thayer, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, with illegally passing along insider information to others in 1982, when he was chairman of the LTV Corporation and a director of several other companies, according to industry and Government officials. The Justice Department has also begun a criminal investigation into whether Mr. Thayer passed along insider information, a Department official familiar with the case confirmed tonight. The investigation, which was begun when the S.E.C. referred the case to the Justice Department before Christmas, is being conducted in New York under United States Attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani and in Washington under United States Attorney Joseph diGenova, the official said. The S.E.C. charges, the industry and Government officials said, are expected to be filed by early next week. They added that Mr. Thayer was aware of the S.E.C.'s intentions and was considering whether to fight the charges or resign from his position.

Major oil refiners yesterday announced increases in wholesale heating oil prices ranging from one-half cent a gallon to 3.5 cents a gallon. The companies attributed the increases to recent sharp rises in heating oil prices on the spot and futures markets as bitterly cold weather has brought a surge in demand. Analysts said the increases would have little long-term effect on consumer prices, which are expected to remain stable through the winter. William Kenny 3d, president of the Meenan Oil Company, said consumers in the New York area would likely see a gradual increase of about 2 cents to 3 cents a gallon on their bills because of the rise in wholesale prices.