navycop
Member
My friend emailed this to me. We grew up in the 60's and 70's. You that grew up in the 50's might remember this better than me.
Memories of the Past
'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.' (AKA) 'suicide knob,' 'neckers knobs'. I remember these.
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.'
Many today do not even know what a clutch is
or that the dimmer switch used to be on the floor. I remember that.
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 '50s, everyone covered his or her hardwood floors with,
wow, wall-to-wall carpeting!
Today, everyone replaces their wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood
floors.
When was 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.'
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 '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???
'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 'DynaFlow' and 'Electrolux. '
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 kids with Castor oil anymore.
Some words aren't gone, but are definitely on the endangered list.
The one that grieves me most is 'supper.'
Now everybody says 'dinner.'
Save a great word.
Invite someone to supper. Discuss fender skirts.
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Memories of the Past
'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.' (AKA) 'suicide knob,' 'neckers knobs'. I remember these.
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.'
Many today do not even know what a clutch is
or that the dimmer switch used to be on the floor. I remember that.
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 '50s, everyone covered his or her hardwood floors with,
wow, wall-to-wall carpeting!
Today, everyone replaces their wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood
floors.
When was 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.'
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 '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???
'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 'DynaFlow' and 'Electrolux. '
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 kids with Castor oil anymore.
Some words aren't gone, but are definitely on the endangered list.
The one that grieves me most is 'supper.'
Now everybody says 'dinner.'
Save a great word.
Invite someone to supper. Discuss fender skirts.
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. Tends to happen when you have a 10 ton truck being pushed by a 150 hp inline 6.
