Discussion » Questions » History » What is something you remember from your childhood that a younger generation has probably never seen?

What is something you remember from your childhood that a younger generation has probably never seen?

Posted - June 22, 2022

Responses


  • 11160
    A three colored plastic sheet that you put over your TV screen to make it seem like you had a color TV. Cheers! 
      June 22, 2022 6:12 PM MDT
    4

  • 11105
    Did it work? I also remember ads for a magnifying screen that could make the picture appear larger.. 
      June 22, 2022 9:38 PM MDT
    3

  • 11160

    The plastic sheet had a blue section at the top a orange section in the middle and a green section at the bottom so it kind of worked. Cheers! 

      June 23, 2022 6:44 AM MDT
    2

  • 10052
    Black & white TV. 


      June 22, 2022 6:23 PM MDT
    7

  • 53526

     

      TV channels, especially the local ones, that signed off for the evening until the next business day. As part of their sign-off, they played the National Anthem. (For those who know nothing of this, television channels did not used to broadcast nonstop; they would shut down for a few hours every single night.

      Television news was only available at extremely limited set and specific times throughout the day or night, there was no 24-hour news.

      Any news you did not get via television or radio, you had the option of relying on newspapers.

      Reruns were the only way you could or would ever see old episodes of television shows. There was no on-demand or ordering them or buying box sets, etc.

      Not all cars had seat belts.

      Bench-style seats in the front instead of bucket seats in cars.

      That triangular window on cars’ drivers doors and front passenger doors.

      Stick shift (manual or standard transmission instead of automatic transmission).

      Manual steering. 

      Metal dashboards.

      Car registration was located on the steering column or driver’s side visor.

      The stand-up jack for cars.

      Split-level windshields on cars. 

      Windshield wipers that were both anchored on the left and right sides and arced inward, as opposed to both moving in the same direction. 

      S&H Green Stamps.

      Postcards.

      Milk delivery. (Included all dairy products.)

     Drinking from the water hose.

      Girls and women wore dresses and skirts more often than they do today. Some young women and girls I know these days say they have never owned or never worn a dress or a skirt.

      Boys and men wore neckties and/or suits more often than they do today. Some young men and boys I know these days say they have never owned or never worn a necktie or a suit.

      Dress codes, either written or unspoken (expected).  For instance, it used to be practically unheard of to go to a bank or a courtroom or attend some shows or to board an airliner unless you were dressed for business.

      Bifocals.

      Professional athletes earned much more money than the average workers, sure, but not anywhere near the comparative multi-million dollar figures they do today.

      Professional athletes had grooming standards and had to adhere to dress codes off of the field of play.

      When I was growing up, no family nor any household I knew of had two (or more) cars. That was reserved for the filthy rich. A few  families I knew of had no car at all, either temp or permanently. Public transportation was used by many more everyday people than use it today.

      There was a telephone number you could call to hear a recording of the time and temperature.

      Telephone operators were living persons who answered and interacted with you.

      Fast food was an occasional treat; in my family, maybe once or twice in the span of every couple of months. Not only that, when I was very young, I remember my parents would buy only one soda, which the four of us shared. One straw, take a sip and pass it on.

     Credit cards were not used for everyday expenditures.

      The average lower middle class person didn’t have credit cards, only rich people did.

      Cashiers could ask to see your check register prior to accepting your check for proof that there was money in your checking account.

      Nudity or even partial nudity meant the immediate end of a career for mainstream movie stars. 

    ~

      June 22, 2022 7:02 PM MDT
    7

  • 11105
    I guess you're older than I  thought. Your point on dress codes reminded me that both men and women usually wore hats, and not just to church.
      June 22, 2022 9:42 PM MDT
    5

  • 53526

     

     

     

      June 22, 2022 9:48 PM MDT
    1

  • 7795
    Yes, I read all of that!
      June 22, 2022 9:44 PM MDT
    5

  • 53526
      June 22, 2022 9:50 PM MDT
    2

  • 16838
    My daughter's car has manual transmission (as does mine) and my granddaughter is wearing a dress right now. I also bought my first pair of bifocals a couple of months ago. There is a TV antenna on the roof of the house I live in, there wasn't one at the last house - so yep, rabbit ears. Cricket and AFL football are free-to-air, only one pay-TV service also carries them but I have a moral objection to paying Uncle Rupert for anything, so I don't have a Foxtel subscription.
      November 8, 2022 4:28 PM MST
    0

  • 53526

    Surely you don’t assume that either the question or my answer encompasses ALL people, right? I did not and do not claim that any one of my entries NEVER happens. 

    :|

      November 8, 2022 5:12 PM MST
    0

  • 44652
    Cars on Daytona beach.

      June 22, 2022 7:09 PM MDT
    6

  • 11105
    I've never seen that either.
      June 22, 2022 9:42 PM MDT
    3

  • 44652
    When I was a wee one, I lived there for 2 years. Also, I went down there after I graduated HS in 69. It's funny when tourists don't know what high tide means and they park their cars too close to the water at low tide.
      June 23, 2022 7:15 AM MDT
    3

  • 3719
    I wonder how many of those car owners then complained about their vehicles going rusty too early?
      November 8, 2022 3:25 PM MST
    1

  • 17620
    Coal fireplace in the living room.

    Trading stamps.

    Free freezer bags at the market.

    Party-line telephone service.

    Heroin on the drug-store shelf.

    Girdle or garter belt.

    Toilet tank cover.

    The principal's paddle.

    Manual cash registers.

    Table manners.

    Wrap-around skirts.

    Cotton panties, bras, and slips.

    High-beam button on the floor.

    Gaslights in a house.

    A parent spanking a child outside of the home.

    Coca Cola in small glass bottles.

    A grocery store where all items are in either paper or glass containers.

    Copper and iron water pipes.

    TV stations that go off the air at midnight while paying the National Anthem.

    Drivers using hand turn signals.

    Milk in glass bottles.

    Repair shops for knives/scissors (including sharpening), irons, toasters, and hair dryers and other small appliances.

    Easter hats.

    Ice trays.






      June 22, 2022 8:20 PM MDT
    7

  • 11105
    Great list! I think a couple of those are before my time.. I  never heard of heroine at the drug store. 
      June 22, 2022 9:46 PM MDT
    4

  • 17620
    The 1924 Heroin Act made the manufacturing and possession of heroin illegal.  Prior to it was sold on the shelf as a pain and cough reliever.  The law has never gotten a handle on the import and sale of it, partly because it's cheap. 
      June 23, 2022 5:21 PM MDT
    2

  • 44652
    My house has copper water pipes.
      June 23, 2022 7:17 AM MDT
    1

  • 17620
    Mine does too but you won't find them in a new house.
      June 23, 2022 5:11 PM MDT
    2

  • 3841
    Steel roller skates that needed a skate key to fit it properly to your shoes.



    When you weren't skating, you could use the skate key to play hopscotch.
      June 22, 2022 8:53 PM MDT
    7

  • 11105
    Living on a dirt road with no sidewalk, I didn't have much use for those, but they sure looked like fun.
      June 22, 2022 9:47 PM MDT
    4

  • 3841
    They were.  Too bad you didn't get a chance to try them. :)
      June 23, 2022 5:11 AM MDT
    4

  • 17620
    Good one!
      June 23, 2022 5:23 PM MDT
    4