How old is grandpa

[OKLAHOMAN]

And yes, these were the BETTER days of life too, for all Grandpa's & Grandma's of these times.
Enjoy the educational learning of 'when I was young'
How old is Grandpa?

Stay with this -- the answer is at the end. It will blow you away.
One evening a grandson was talking to his grandfather about current events.
The grandson asked his grandfather what he thought about computer age and things in general.
The Grandfather replied, "Well, let me think a minute, I was born before:
television
penicilin
frozen foods
Xerox (copiers)
polio shots
contact lenses
flu shots
Frisbees and
the pill
There were no:
credit cards
laser beams or
ball-point pens
Man had not yet invented:
pantyhose
air conditioners
dishwashers
clothes dryers
and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and
man hadn't yet walked on the moon
Your Grandmother and I got married first, .. .... ... and then lived together..
Every family had a father and a mother.
Until I was 25, I called every man older than me, "Sir".
And after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, "Sir."
We were before gay-rights, computer- dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy.
Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense.
We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take
responsibility for our actions.
Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege..
We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.
Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.
Draft dodgers were those who closed front doors as the evening breeze started.
Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends-not
purchasing condominiums.

We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings.
We listened to Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios.
And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey.
If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan or China' on it, it was junk
The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam..
Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.
We had 5 & 10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents.
Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, bus and a Pepsi were all a nickel.
And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards.
You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $1600, . .. . but who could afford one?
Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon.
In my day:
' "grass" was mowed,
' "coke" was a cold drink,
' "pot" was something your mother cooked in and
' "rock music" was your grandmother's lullaby.
' "Aids" were helpers in the Principal's office,
' " chip" meant a piece of wood,
' "hardware" was found in a hardware store and
' "software" wasn't even a word.

And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby.
No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation gap.
And how old do you think
I am?
I bet you have this old man in mind...you are in for a shock!

Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same time.

Are you ready ?????


This man would be only 58 years old.

 

[wdcav1952]

Geeze Roy, that was interesting. Now can we hear something about words they used back when you were young? (So simple a caveman can do it!) :biggrin::tongue::biggrin:

 

[Gary Max]

Roy that's why we still think of them as the "Good Ole Days"

 

[hunter-27]

At least I did not make that "old age" cut off. :biggrin:

 

[rjwolfe3]

Man those were much better days. Before my time but much better days. Now Cav and Ed were considered old in those days now they must be ancient.

 

[snowman56]

Roy
There is still some with manner's.That say mam and thank you.Few and far between.

 

[altaciii]

Thats a very scary thought, but ain't that the truth. I have two gkids,8 and 6 and both probably know how to work the computer better than my wife does, (not me)

 

[mrcook4570]

Interesting read, but my math puts him over 100 years old (AC 1902)

 

[TellicoTurning]

Roy,
I had a long post refuting some of your inventions... but got dropped off line by the forum... still having problems with that if I write too long of a post....
I think Jeff is trying to keep me from being too windy....

I have about 10 years on you... some of the things one your list were even before me..
The electric typewriter was invented in 1935..
The Television was developed in 1930 - commercially available in the early '50's... I saw first TV in about 1952 in Fairoaks, Texas (5th grade).. we got our first in our house when I was 14 - about 1955 or 56.
The ball point pen was invented/patented in 1888 - but I wasn't still allowed to use one for term papers in highschool.. graduated in 1960... only senior year were we required to use a typewriter.
Fm radio was patented in 1933 - approved for commercial use in 1941 - the year I was born... the military used both FM and VHF radio transmission in the mid-40's... I was in the Navy from 1960 until 1964... the ship I was on from 1963-64 had transmitters on board that were 15-20 years old.. still used the old crystals for frequency turning.

 

[ed4copies]

How about a REAL SHORT version.

I heard today that the "upcoming generation" is the first one whose life expectancy is shorter than their parents. To remedy this, they are extolling the virtues of gym memberships.

When I was a kid, we PLAYED outside and ran, rode bikes, etc. In college I ran track. I did NOT have to PAY for a membership. So, to conclude, yes we seem to have raised the first generation to

DIE of LAZINESS!!​

 

[great12b4ever]

Roy,
I had a long post refuting some of your inventions... but got dropped off line by the forum... still having problems with that if I write too long of a post....
I think Jeff is trying to keep me from being too windy....

I have about 10 years on you... some of the things one your list were even before me..
The electric typewriter was invented in 1935..
The Television was developed in 1930 - commercially available in the early '50's... I saw first TV in about 1952 in Fairoaks, Texas (5th grade).. we got our first in our house when I was 14 - about 1955 or 56.
The ball point pen was invented/patented in 1888 - but I wasn't still allowed to use one for term papers in highschool.. graduated in 1960... only senior year were we required to use a typewriter.
FM radio was patented in 1933 - approved for commercial use in 1941 - the year I was born... the military used both FM and VHF radio transmission in the mid-40's... I was in the Navy from 1960 until 1964... the ship I was on from 1963-64 had transmitters on board that were 15-20 years old.. still used the old crystals for frequency turning.

I am 60 years old, born in 1949. If you re-read Roy's message, he doesn't say radio's, he says FM radios, and they were not commonly available in 1951, which is when a 58 year old man was born, or maybe 52 if born on Jan 1st or 2nd. They were used by the Navy, but not everyone was a sailor, and there were very few FM radio stations around.
TV's were invented, but how many people really had one? We didn't get one until around 1955, when I was about 6 years old. We window coolers available but not Air Conditioners. My early years in school did not have ball point pens, just the old fountain pens. The ball points were available, but there were not many and most people did not have one. Typewriters were made and available, but electric typewriters were not around for the common folk yet.

A lot of these items were available to the very rich or well connected, but not to the masses, since there were a lot fewer of the rich than the poor, most of us did not have access to these items, and therefore, for us, they were not available.
So I lean more towards agreeing with Roy than not.
Have a great day!

 

[Displaced Canadian]

Rob does make a good point. For example I'm younger than the computer as we know it but the computer is older than me.

 

[tbroye]

Born in 1942 and remember my mom stirring in the color into the margarine. I can rember most of the things on that list becoming common in use. I can remember when Rosevelt died, didn't know what happened but everybody was crying and upset. We even had an Ice box. I did join a Gym but need some place to work out and get back in shape at 67

 

[TellicoTurning]

I am 60 years old, born in 1949. If you re-read Roy's message, he doesn't say radio's, he says FM radios, and they were not commonly available in 1951, which is when a 58 year old man was born, or maybe 52 if born on Jan 1st or 2nd. They were used by the Navy, but not everyone was a sailor, and there were very few FM radio stations around.
TV's were invented, but how many people really had one? We didn't get one until around 1955, when I was about 6 years old. We window coolers available but not Air Conditioners. My early years in school did not have ball point pens, just the old fountain pens. The ball points were available, but there were not many and most people did not have one. Typewriters were made and available, but electric typewriters were not around for the common folk yet.

A lot of these items were available to the very rich or well connected, but not to the masses, since there were a lot fewer of the rich than the poor, most of us did not have access to these items, and therefore, for us, they were not available.
So I lean more towards agreeing with Roy than not.
Have a great day!

Actually Roy said people of his age bracket had never heard of FM radio, Electric Typewriters, and ball point pens.. I merely pointed out that they did exist earlier then 1951 when he was born.
I saw my first television when I was in the fifth grade at the home of the local store owner in the very small community where I lived... that was about 1953... I was 11. We got our first when I was 14...
In my early years of school, we didn't use any kind of pen, but later in high school we were only allowed to write with the fountain pens.. didn't help my penmanship any..
When I was assigned a typing class in highschool.. circa 1958, we had two or three electric IBM typewriters in the class room... personally I hated them, but we were rotated around the room so everyone had to use the electric every couple of weeks... didn't help my typing any...
I actually got good at typing in the Navy on the old Model 19 teletype machines and later on the model 31's ... I still type as if I'm on a model 19... I go through keyboards pretty regularly.
I didn't mention air conditioners, they still use window coolers in this day and age... it's been a few years since we lived there, but our town house in Tucson was cooled by a "swamp cooler".. except during the monsoon, then we had to kick on the real ac.
BTW, my father was a share cropper when I was young.. I left the farm in 1955 when my parents split up and my mom moved us into town... we were among the poor - monetarily anyway.

 

[TellicoTurning]

I took another look at Roy's list.. it's hard to believe that many of the things on his list are things that are so common place today, most people have reached a point where they almost cannot live comfortably without them and they all have been developed in our lifetimes... it's really amazing the progress man has made in the last 50-100 years...

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

Chuck actually you and I are the same age I also was born in 1941.....and was 11 in 1952....The post was ment for us just to ponder the advances or maybe the not so good advances in the last 58 years. I remember Mom going to the store with war issue food stamps when I was 4, yes we also sat around the radio AM only and listened to Amos and Andy, The Shadow, The life of Riley, The Artur Godfrey talent hour. And when I got big enough going out and playing all day long in the Florida sunshine until dark, base ball, football, basketball, some days all three. Never did my parents once worry about us outdoors by ourselfs keeping busy, todays kids can't or won't walk to the park....no..no...no..they must be driven and have the parents supervising and after the supervised game taken to the pizza palace, hell we would get so ingrossed in playing made sure we brought a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch and if it wasn't for the darkness we'd forget dinner. Yes we didn't have what the kids do today and I'm damn glad we didn't...

 

[skywizzard]

Gosh Roy, I'm 58 and never realized just how OLD I am until I read this... LOL

 

[gketell]

The Grandfather replied, "Well, let me think a minute, I was born before:

penicilin

This man would be only 58 years old.

Sorry, the original of this must have been created 10 years or so ago.

Penicillin was first created in 1928 and first viable for mass use in 1945. So if grampa was before penicillin he must be at least 65 by now.

GK

 

[TellicoTurning]

Chuck actually you and I are the same age I also was born in 1941.....and was 11 in 1952....The post was ment for us just to ponder the advances or maybe the not so good advances in the last 58 years. I remember Mom going to the store with war issue food stamps when I was 4, yes we also sat around the radio AM only and listened to Amos and Andy, The Shadow, The life of Riley, The Artur Godfrey talent hour. And when I got big enough going out and playing all day long in the Florida sunshine until dark, base ball, football, basketball, some days all three. Never did my parents once worry about us outdoors by ourselfs keeping busy, todays kids can't or won't walk to the park....no..no...no..they must be driven and have the parents supervising and after the supervised game taken to the pizza palace, hell we would get so ingrossed in playing made sure we brought a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch and if it wasn't for the darkness we'd forget dinner. Yes we didn't have what the kids do today and I'm damn glad we didn't...

I remember Amos and Andy - can't have them today.. not politically correct... The Shadow was my favorite ("The Shadow knows....") along with The Lone Ranger. I actually remember the day my dad brought home our first radio... it was just bigger than a bread box and used a battery about 3 times the size of the current 6 volt batteries... I was probably 4 or 5 at the time... we still didn't have electricity in the house, no running water, used out door toilets.. and when you got to our house, the road ended in the front yard. My dad loved to live as far into the woods as he could... When I was 11, we lived at another farm at the end of the road... there was a wire gap(gate) across the road that was tied between the big oak tree in the corner of the yard to a cedar post across the road... beyond the gate was private property and less than 100 yards onto the property, you entered some pretty dense woods... the neighbor boys and I played in those woods and probably could be miles from home most of the day... Mom just said be home by dark...

 

[Rifleman1776]

I'm with Stan. Very misleading and loaded is inaccuracies.
I am 71 and remember many of those things from my childhood.
An example: Soldiers in WWII used to give pantyhose to women as 'gifts' while overseas. Most of those guys are now about 85 years old.
Sorry to throw cold water on yer post.

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

Frank if you want to correct someones post at least get your facts right, Soldiers during WWII gave nylon stockings never pantyhose as they were not invented until 1959 :Allen Gant Sr. invented panty hose. In 1959, Glen Raven Mills of North Carolina introduced panty hose, underpants and stockings all in one garment
Some people would find fault with some of the things in my post but the post was meant to show the differences in the generations and most of you understood this .......sorry Frank you're way off base.

I'm with Stan. Very misleading and loaded is inaccuracies.
I am 71 and remember many of those things from my childhood.
An example: Soldiers in WWII used to give pantyhose to women as 'gifts' while overseas. Most of those guys are now about 85 years old.
Sorry to throw cold water on yer post.

 

[PaulDoug]

Born in 1942 and remember my mom stirring in the color into the margarine. I can rember most of the things on that list becoming common in use. I can remember when Rosevelt died, didn't know what happened but everybody was crying and upset. We even had an Ice box. I did join a Gym but need some place to work out and get back in shape at 67

Not many remember this, but most kids thought it was a treat to color the margarine. It came in a plastic bag, there was a little capsule of yellow coloring in it that you 'popped' and than started working the bag until the margarine was yellow.

 

[Rmartin]

Evry generation complains how easy the younger generation has it. In short, I would say:

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be

 

[TellicoTurning]

Roy,
I posted this earlier in the thread, but it is an amazing feat that man has developed so many of the things we take for granted - in our short lifetimes - or at least in the last 100 years.

 

[tbroye]

I didn't see the great Equalizer listed it came out in 1945. What was it?