Nostalia - words that we no longer use much anymore

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

Some thoughts of yesteryear...I think.


"I came across this phrase in a book 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."

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.

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."

Did 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; or for those on the farm, store-bought milk !

"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. 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 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-'60s word I came across the other day - "rat fink." Ooh, what a nasty put-down!

And 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- "supper." Now everybody says "dinner." Save a great word-- invite someone to supper. Discuss fender skirts.

Someone forwarded this to me. I thought some of us of a "certain age" would remember most of these. I AIN'T OLD-----I JUST BEEN HERE A LONG TIME..."

Just for fun.

 

[cowsense]

lilly: Somehow I kinda thought you were a bit younger than this post suggested ! You sure had me fooled! :wink: :lol: :lol:

 

[mp.freelance]

And 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.

Oh, percolator is still in use. :lol: It's meaning is less wholesome, but definitely not dull.

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

I am young........well sorta.......

I spent ALOT of time with my Grandparents........

ummm.....I refuse to get old........

 

[Hanta Yo]

I don't know if this will work but I'll try...neat e-mail from a friend my age...


MEMORIES

A little house with three bedrooms and one car on the street,
A mower that you had to push to make the grass look neat.

In the kitchen on the wall we only had one phone, And no
need for recording things, someone was always home.

We only had a living room where we would congregate,
Unless it was at mealtime in the kitchen where we ate.

We had no need for family rooms or extra rooms to dine,
When meeting as a family those two rooms would work
out fine.

We only had one TV set, and channels maybe two, But
always there was one of them with something worth
the view.

For snacks we had potato chips that tasted like a chip,
And if you wanted flavor there was Lipton's onion dip.

Store-bought snacks were rare because my mother liked
to cook, And nothing can compare to snacks in Betty
Crocker's book.


Weekends were for family trips or staying home to play or go to church but we always did everything together. (actually I did not know there was an option)


When we did our weekend trips depending on the weather,
No one stayed at home because we liked to be together.


Sometimes we would separate to do things on our own,
But we knew where the others were without our own
cell phone.

Then there were the movies with your favorite movie star,
And nothing can compare to watching movies in your car.

Then there were the picnics at the peak of summer season,
Pack a lunch and find some trees and never need a reason.

Get a baseball game together with all the friends you know,
Have real action playing ball -- and no game video.

Remember when the doctor used to be the family friend,
And didn't need insurance or a lawyer to defend?

The way that he took care of you or what he had to do,
Because he took an oath and strived to do the best for
you.

Remember going to the store and shopping casually, And
when you went to pay for it you used your own money?


Nothing that you had to swipe or punch in some amount,
Remember when the cashier person had to really count?


The milkman used to go from door to door, And it was just
a few cents more than going to the store.

There was a time when mailed letters came right to your
door, Without a lot of junk mail ads sent out by every
store.

The mailman knew each house by name and knew where it
was sent; There were not loads of mail addressed to
"present occupant."


There was a time when just one glance was all that it
would take, And you would know the kind of car, the
model and the make.

They didn't look like turtles trying to squeeze out every
mile; They were streamlined, white walls, fins, and
really had some style.




One time the music that you played whenever you would
jive, Was from a vinyl, big-holed record called a forty-five.

The record player had a post to keep them all in line, And
then the records would drop down and play one at a time.

Oh sure, we had our problems then, just like we do today,
And always we were striving, trying for a better way.

Oh, the simple life we lived still seems like so much fun,
How can you explain a game, just kick the can and run?

And why would boys put baseball cards between bicycle
spokes, And for a nickel red machines had little bottled
Cokes?


This life seemed so much easier and slower in some ways,
I love the new technology but I sure miss those days.

So time moves on and so do we, and nothing stays the same,
But I sure love to reminisce and walk down memory lane.

I know you're younger than I, Lilly, because I remember these from experience. Thanks for sharing, sure brought MORE memories and smiles.

Much credit to the person who put this together, whoever it was.

 

[OldDog/NewTricks]

Norge - Studabaker - Searchlights when New Car Models came out - 4 on the Floor - Drive-in (Resterant) (movie) - 3 Lane Hiway North South and Passing Lane

Tv Stations "Signed Off" at 12:30 PM - Kate Smith Hour - going to a friends BECAUSE they had a TV

Radio - - The Fat Man - The Shadow - Stars Over Hollywood - Grand Central Station

Took 5 people to Bale Hay - (1) Drive Tractor - (2) to feed Hay into the chamber with Hay Forks - Up and Down action called (The Chinaman)
(2) men - one on left side to punch wires to the man on the right - Man on right to ad "Block" to divied bales and return wires so the man on the left could tie them.

Dariy
Milk by Hand - Three steps up so we could pour Buckets of Milk down through cooling coils - (real "Ice Milk" on Hot Days) and More

 

[Been There]

Remember the old "party line", where everyone in one direction from the switch board was on one line and everone could here everyone else's ring and could listen to everyones conversation?

 

[greg]

Hey we just got rid of our 'Party Line"ten years ago.We must really be backwood rednecks out here in the middle of nowhere Alta.

 

[fedup2]

I still have 3 sets of fender skirts in my shop, plus a rusted out set of 'cruiser skirts'. (full length that went to the back of the car).
I also have some old 6 volt spotlights (a must years ago), sun shades (these bolted over the windshield),
two high beam blockers (not sure of the correct name but they covered the top half of your headlights so you could drive on bright and not blind the other driver), some fake wide whitewalls for your tires, etc.

These things are never forgotten by us old car nuts. You forgot to mention 'cubby hole' ( glove box).
Thanks for the memories

 

[OldDog/NewTricks]

I still have 3 sets of fender skirts in my shop, plus a rusted out set of 'cruiser skirts'. (full length that went to the back of the car).
I also have some old 6 volt spotlights (a must years ago), sun shades (these bolted over the windshield),
two high beam blockers (not sure of the correct name but they covered the top half of your headlights so you could drive on bright and not blind the other driver), some fake wide whitewalls for your tires, etc.

These things are never forgotten by us old car nuts. You forgot to mention 'cubby hole' ( glove box).
Thanks for the memories

(Party Line, "thats a good one"), Hand Crank Phone, Ship Lap, Knob & Tube Elect.,

Rumple Seat, Model A, Model T, Oooga (sp) Horn, Crank, Hand Crank Windsheld Wipers, Sports Teams Named after Native Americans,

 

[Hanta Yo]

I remember as a little girl, we lived in town, the MILKMAN delivered MILK to our house in BOTTLES. I must be older 'n DIRT! I remember when they went from clear bottles to brown bottles.

 

[mn]

My aunt ran into a classmate she hadn't seen in years, she said Hi an then blurtes out " You have store bought teeth" (false teeth)

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

Ok here goes,

I do remember fender skirts, mama hadda 1966 Cadillac when I was a kid, was terrible to have a flat and hafta take that off along with the tire...boy that car was ugly with the fender skirt off.
And daddy's truck had a steerin knob.

I also remember Continental kits......but thank goodness we never had one of those attached onto a vehicle.

Emergency Brakes........heck I still call em that....

Dad still calls it a foot feed.......

And yeap, I've rode on the runnin board before....

the first house I remember livin in, had all hardwood floors...with rugs placed here and there.......there was a good reason for NOT runnin in the house, hit one of them rugs just right....your head got banged on the floor.......(I know this cuz I watched 3 older brothers do it regularly)
It also had a floor furnace with a big metal grate smack dab in the middle of the hallway. You don't wanna git up at night barefoot to make a trip to the bathroom and forget to jump over that!!!!

I remember grandma talkin about when she was pregnant...she didnt even say "in a family way" she said......"when I was sick"....course she had 8 kids, I'd be sick too by the time I had that many.

brassiere - there's a reason they were called that.......they were contraptions....(40 gazillion buckles, snaps, and straps).....and no, I didnt ever hafta wear one of those.....hehe
modern times...wheww...

We went to the "drive-in" to see movies back in high school. We seen one of the speakers that you hang on your winder here while back at a flea market, neither one of the kids knew what it was.

Percolators, came out after Drip......I still have a drip coffee pot that you put on the stove, put the water in the top and let it run thru.......but I do use a Mr Coffee type one on a daily basis......

As for names of products. For the first 18 years of my life I vaccuumed the floor with a Filter Queen Canister type vaccuum (that also doubled as a hair dryer, so mom thought, but ever daggum time she'd try that, I ended up with my hair full of dirt). First dryer I owned after gettin married was a Speed Queen.....our TV growin up was a big ole Zenith floor model that had a record player on one end and a radio on the other...took up 8 feet of wall space.

OOOOOhhh mama would make me take a tsp of caster oil or black drought......both some of the nastiest stuff on earth......If you wasn't really sick, you would be by the time she got thru doctorin on ya.

Dinner is still the mid-day meal, and supper is somewhere around 7pm. oh, and I still cook with a cast iron skillet.....

NOW HOW OLD DO YOU THANK I AM???????

 

[Faster horses]

Thanks Lilly and Hanta Yo. I let the meat burn in the cast iron skillet while I read every word!!!!

Our tv was a Philco "seventeener" that wouldn't stop rolling. We stopped it from rolling up, and it would roll down. Now I think those are worth a lot of money...

 

[Northern Rancher]

Heck we use half those words up here every day lol.

 

[PureCountry]

I'm wonderin' if there's a time lapse when you cross the 49th, b/c I'm 28, and we use alotta those words to this day. Growing up on our ranch, we had alot of old trucks and cars, so 'foot feed', 'fender skirts', 'runnin boards', 'fins', 'drive-in picture show', and 'rat-hole racin', were common place. I can remember Mom gettin mad cause she figured her Mother-in-law(Granny) was listenin' in on her party line talks.

Cubby hole was standard - friends from town thought it was funny as heck. I tried to buy shiplap to finish part of a ceiling in our kitchen, so it would match the rest where we took out a wall and made one big room. Long story short, every place I called had no idea what I was talking about. Then I explained how it was used on barn loft floors, barn walls, subfloors in houses, and they all thought I was crazy. Little do they know.... :wink: :lol:

 

[PureCountry]

One other thing...our kids call us Poppa and Momma, and we get all kinds of comments from all ends of the spectrum on that one. What's the difference if they say Daddy or Poppa? Myself, I get all warm inside when I hear the boys say, "We go feed da cows, Poppa?". I swear some of our friends from town would like to hear their 3 year old chime up with, "It would be my pleasure to assist with the household chores, Father."

How's that Billy Dean song go? Let them be little....

 

[theHiredMansWife]

Took 5 people to Bale Hay - (1) Drive Tractor - (2) to feed Hay into the chamber with Hay Forks - Up and Down action called (The Chinaman)
(2) men - one on left side to punch wires to the man on the right - Man on right to ad "Block" to divied bales and return wires so the man on the left could tie them.

Bale??
Shoot, I know people who still stack!


I remember waking up on winter days pre-dawn when it was so cold in my room I could see my breath. Hoping Dad would hurry up and get the fire going. Looking at my clothes laying on the chair thinking I sure didn't want to get out of bed and into those cold clothes...

I've made more late-night trips to the out house than I care to remember... (I really hated being the first one out after a snow, particularly if all the snow wouldn't brush off the seat.:shock: )

My first vacuum was an Electrolux... Running boards, foot feed and emergency brake? I still say all three.

I've always called it the glove box, but my husband has never called it anything but "cubby hole".

Oh, and my kids (four and six) differentiate between "store bought" cake/cookies and "real". :wink:

 

[theHiredMansWife]

Took 5 people to Bale Hay - (1) Drive Tractor - (2) to feed Hay into the chamber with Hay Forks - Up and Down action called (The Chinaman)
(2) men - one on left side to punch wires to the man on the right - Man on right to ad "Block" to divied bales and return wires so the man on the left could tie them.

Bale??
Shoot, I know people who still stack!


I remember waking up on winter days pre-dawn when it was so cold in my room I could see my breath. Hoping Dad would hurry up and get the fire going. Looking at my clothes laying on the chair thinking I sure didn't want to get out of bed and into those cold clothes...

I've made more late-night trips to the out house than I care to remember... (I really hated being the first one out after a snow, particularly if all the snow wouldn't brush off the seat.:shock: )

My first vacuum was an Electrolux... Running boards, foot feed and emergency brake? I still say all three.

I've always called it the glove box, but my husband has never called it anything but "cubby hole".