A stroll down memory lane (for some of us)

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Cathlete
To those of us who remember...

FENDER SKIRTS: I came across this phrase yesterday "FENDER SKIRTS". A term I haven't heard in a long time and thinking about "fender skirts" started me thinking about other words that quietly disappear from our language with hardly a notice like "curb feelers" And "steering knobs." (A.K.A.) suicide knob, (A.K.A.) necking knob. Since I'd been thinking of cars, my mind naturally went that direction first. Any kids will probably have to find some elderly person over 50 to explain some of these terms to you. Remember "Continental kits?" They were rear bumper extenders and spare tire covers that were supposed to make any car as cool as a Lincoln Continental. When did we quit calling them "emergency brakes?" At some point "parking brake" became the proper term. But I miss the hint of drama that went with "emergency brake." I'm sad, too, that almost all the old folks are gone who would call the accelerator the "foot feed." Didn't you ever wait at the street for your daddy to come home, so you could ride the "running board" up to the house? Here's a phrase I heard all the time in my youth but never anymore - "store-bought." Of course, just about everything is store-bought these days. But once it was bragging material to have a store-bought dress or a store-bought bag of candy. "Coast to Coast" is a phrase that once held all sorts of excitement and now means almost nothing. Now we take the term "world wide" for granted This floors me. On a smaller scale, "wall-to-wall" was once a magical term in our homes. In the '50's, everyone covered his or her hardwood floors with, wow, wall-to-wall carpeting! Today, everyone replaces their wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors. Go figure. When's the last time you heard the quaint phrase "in the family way?" It's hard to imagine that the word "pregnant" was once considered a little too graphic, a little too clinical for use in polite company. So we had all that talk about stork visits and "being in the family way" or simply"expecting." Apparently "brassiere" is a word no longer in usage. I said it the other day and my daughter cracked up. I guess it's just "bra" now. "Unmentionables" probably wouldn't be understood at all. I always loved going to the "picture show," but I considered "movie" an affectation. Most of these words go back to the '50s, but here's a pure-'60's word I came across the other day - "rat fink." Ooh, what a nasty put-down! Here's a word I miss - "percolator." That was just a fun word to say. And what was it replaced with? "Coffee maker." How dull. Mr. Coffee, I blame you for this. I miss those made-up marketing words that were meant to sound so modern and now sound so retro. Words like "Dyna Flow" and "Electrolux." Introducing the 1963 Admiral TV, now with "Spectra Vision!" Food for thought - Was there a telethon that wiped out lumbago? Nobody complains of that anymore. Maybe that's what castor oil cured, because I never hear mothers threatening kids with castor oil anymore. Some words aren't gone, but are definitely on the endangered list. The one that grieves me most "supper." Now everybody says "dinner." Save a great word. Invite someone to supper. Discuss fender skirts.

Kilroy was here.........
 
WOW!! Thanks for sharing this with us Bill!!! I am 32 years old, I wonder what words will disappear by the time my children become adults!!! I also think this way about the cars during the 70's when I was a kid, they were so cool, big pieces of metal, that had lots of dings from fender benders , it was much harder to total one of those back then than to total a car made today. I was just having a conversation with a friend the other day about riding in the back of my grandad's truck when we were kids, I know that is not safe now, but it was so cool when we were kids.:) :)
 
Whenever my MIL visits, she always asks my girls if they ate all their "supper," as opposed to "dinner." Not only the word supper, but asking them if they ate all of it, is definitely a generation thing, cuz it's always "dinner" around here, and nobody asks if you ate all of it!

And, as far as technology goes, can't tell you how many times my DD has helped me on this computer!!
 
Bill,

Thanks for posting this. Boy that does bring back memories. I haven't heard "foot feed" in a long time. I learned how to drive in an old '55 Chevy pickup, three-speed, with a starter in the floor (next to the foot feed). Takes dexterity to do that. We lived about 80 miles from Kansas City and everyone called it "the City." As in, "We're going to the City next week." Like it was the only one. And, yes we ate "supper," not dinner. TV was limited to the big three channels, and if the President was on, forget it! You weren't gonna get to see anything else. And who could forget "Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!" I don't remember when pop-tops on cans and twist-offs on bottles came into the picture, but I do remember before they did, and you had to have a church key to open them. Our telephone lines were party lines that were shared with several other homes and you often had to wait for Mrs. Smith down the road to finish her conversation b/f you could make your call. And we wrote our "lessons" on our Chiefs pad with a No. 2 pencil. :p :p

MissL

Correction: That was a Big Chief Tablet, not a Chiefs pad (it was red with a big Indian Chief on the front) :+
 
luvmylabs, Your children and grandchildren will laugh at the puffy bangs girls had when you were a teen. That was funny.

MissL, I remember as a young boy showing how strong I was to be able to bend a Coke can in half with one hand. Now you sneeze and the cans bends. Remember the prime time shows on TV all in Black and White. That was ok, because we didn't have a color TV until I was 10, and we were the first in the neighborhood with one.
 
>luvmylabs, Your children and grandchildren will laugh at the
>puffy bangs girls had when you were a teen. That was funny.
>
>That is way too funny!!! well if bell bottoms and turtle necks can make a come back, maybe bangs and flybacks can come back too.
:7 :7
 
I never thought bell bottoms would ever, ever come back--although I loved them when they were in. For years I had a box of platform shoes stored away in my basement. My stepson laughed and laughed when he found that box and said he couldn't believe I ever wore those shoes. I got rid of them when we moved about 8 or 9 years ago--right b/f they came back in style. I had some really cool ones, too.

So don't assume your puffy bangs and flybacks won't be back in style someday. :)

MissL
 
Hip huggers are now called low risers.

Gay meant happy. That is my middle name.

Fender benders were accidents.

Inside those pee chee folders were times table, measure of units....all kinds of things you could look up on tests.

We used aluminum foil around our TV antenna to get a better reception. Sometimes it worked if someone was holding the darn thing.

In-between busy signals on the phones, you could talk to people.

Janie

The idea is to die young as late as possible.

www.picturetrail.com/janiejoey
 
Bill...love the Pee Chee Folder!!! On the outside somewhere was my name and my boyfriends name in a heart...:)
 
My dad worked for Chevy and knows every make and model of domestic cars from the beginning of time through the 70s and 80s.

I'm from a somewhat later era, but tell my kids about the monstrous console color TV in our living room, having to wait for it to warm up, with its two knobs and rabbit ears (with the de rigeur tinfoil balls on top). And of course, no remote. Actually, if I recall, us kids were the remote.

Dial phones. Kids would die of impatience nowadays if they had to operate one of those.

I also remember the advent of the microwave. Oooh! :)
 
My kids laughed at me the other day when I said something about the chalkboard at school. Apparently teachers quit using them before my kids even started school! And my oldest is a sophmore - they had a good laugh at me:p
 
This was great!! Some of it predates me a little, but still. I remember getting milk in glass bottles, from the milk man!! Rotary dial phones. My little black and white 13' tv that I thought was so cool to have in my bedroom. Before microwaves, computers, i-pods and cell phones. Sometimes I wish we could go back in time. Modern technology certainly has it's advantages, but it comes at a price, I'm afraid.
 
"My little black and white 13' tv that I thought was so cool"
And the TV Tube was round, not squar and for sure not rectangular.

They came out with a what we thought was great screen that would fit over the Black and white TV that made it look kind of like color.

The TV Guide would let you know if the TV show was in Color, now they let you know it's in Black and White.
 
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