For the over 50 crowd...remember these?

[Gin]

Tom Dodge is the sage of Midlothian. I have enjoyed
>>his public-radio
>>commentaries for years.
>>
>>The other day I picked up a copy of his essay
>>collection, "Tom Dodge Talks
>>About Texas."
>>
>>Well, one of those little pieces sent me off on a
>>reverie almost immediately.
>>It was about Big Jim Tidwell of Whitney - "The
>>Fender Skirt King of Texas."
>>
>>And I thought, "Fender skirts!" What a great blast
>>from the
>>past! I hadn't thought about fender skirts in years.
>>When I was a kid, I
>>considered it such a funny term. Made me think of a
>>car in a dress.
>>
>>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."
>>
>>Since I'd been thinking of cars, my mind naturally
>>went that direction first.
>>
>>You 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."
>>
>>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
>>"worldwide" for granted. This floors
>>me.
>>
>>On a smaller scale, "wall-to-wall" was once a
>>magical term
>>in our homes. In the '50s, everyone covered their
>>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
>>a 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 a family way" or
>>simply "expecting."
>>
>>Apparently "brassiere" is a word no longer in usage.
>>I said
>>it the other day and my daughter cackled. I guess
>>it's just "bra" now.
>>"Unmentionables" probably wouldn't be understood at
>>all.
>>
>>It's hard to recall that this word was once said in
>>a whisper -
>>"divorce." And no one is called a "divorcee"
>>anymore.
>>Certainly not a "gay divorcee." Come to think of it,
>>"confirmed bachelors"
>>and "career girls" are long gone, too.
>>
>>Most of these words go back to the '50s, but here's
>>a pure-'60s 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?
>>"Coffeemaker." 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 "DynaFlow" and
>>"ElectraLuxe." Introducing the
>>1963 Admiral TV, now with "SpectraVision!"
>>
>>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 their kids with castor oil
>>anymore.
>>
>>Some words aren't gone, but are definitely on the
>>endangered list. The one
>>that grieves me most - "supper."
>>
>>Save a great word. Invite someone to supper. Discuss
>>fender skirts.
>>
>
>
>

[Speck Tater]

1. Speaking of lumbago...

... it seems like both sciatica and chilblains vanished sometime in the the 1940's or 1950's.

Hmmm. that's about the time that Ipana toothpaste disappeared. Maybe there was something in Ipana that was causing those old-time diseases.

[Another Bill C.]

2. How about Guffers Knobs?

Instead of steering knobs. You'd catch them in the sleeve of your jacket and the ride got really wild.

Wing vent deflectors were popular before AC.
Spinners were hub caps with a bar welded on in the center.

[Rowdyboy]

3. Ladies once got the "vapors" when they felt faint

And I remember women who were "peegee" rather than pregnant.

[CBHagman]

4. I remember some of those, and I haven't reached 50 yet.

"Store-bought," "gay" (in the cheerful or celebratory sense), "coast to coast" and the like.

Thanks for the memories.

[Unperson 309]

5. Remember Traveling Route 66 With

the evaporative cooler clamped to the car window?

Remember the old burlap bags filled with water to drink from, but you had to save some for the radiator?

Remember

Vinyl carseats (or worse on hot days: Naugahyde?!)

Wind Wings?

Stuckeys Pecan Logs?

Those gigantic tin arrows next to the metal teepees?

Chrome?

Neon lit motels with swamp coolers?

How you begged and begged to stop at a motel with TV and a swimming pool?

Drinking a Fanta Orange or a Grapette or even a Nehi in the back seat of the car?

Those wierd "candy rocks"

Those little pennies sealed into tiny glass bottles you couldn't figure how they got IN there?

Plastic boxes of polished rocks you HAD to have (and then spilled all over the car)?

License Plate Bingo?

Indian Trading Posts?

"Are we THERE yet?!"

Wishing that Route 66 would actually go OVER the Grand Canyon instead of PAST the turnoff to it?

Airstream trailors?

The days when you could bounce all over the back seat (no safety belts).

Wondering what that roadkill you saw back there was originally?

Radiators that boiled over and Dad had to oepn it with his shirt wrapped around his hand?

Remember when a hard drive was the stretch between Needles and Barstow?

That HUGE gas station around there that had the BIG overhead wings you parked under to get gas?

A&W stands?

*sigh*....

309

[Gin]

7. Unperson....do we know each other? I traveled across country on Route

66 from California to Pittsburgh with a husband, 3 kids and an evaporative cooler clamped to the car window!

It was on my side and every time I pulled the string it drenched me and my hairdo. Everyone thought it was a riot..but me!

Remember "Burma Shave?"

[Unperson 309]

8. Listen Birds,

.
.
.
.

These signs cost money...
.
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.
.
So roost a while...
.
.
.
.

But don't get funny!
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.
.
Burma Shave!

"My man won't shave!"
.
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.
Says Hazel Huz...
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.
"But that's OK,"...
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.
"Dora's does!"
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.
.
Burma Shave!

309

[Steven_S]

6. They used to call me Whitey....

It was common around here in the Bronx for a kid with light blond hair to be called Whitey. Like Whitey Ford or that kid Whitey from the Dead End Kids, or Bowery Boys maybe.

I don't think anyone is going to call me Whitey anymore.