Joe Frickin' Friday Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 So my dad forwarded another forwardable email. Rather than forwarding it, I figured I'd post the interesting part here for conversation (yes, it's still snowing outside, dammit). ================================================= Older Than Dirt Quiz Count up all the items on this list that you remember from when you were a kid - not the ones you were learned about from someone else. Blackjack chewing gum Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water Candy cigarettes Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers Party lines on the telephone Newsreels before the movie P.F. Flyers Butch wax TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the morning. (there were only 3 channels [if you were fortunate] ) Peashooters Howdy Doody 45 RPM records S & H greenstamps Hi-fi's Metal ice trays with lever Mimeograph paper Blue flashbulbs Packards Roller skate keys Cork popguns Drive-ins Studebakers Wash tub wringers If you remembered 0-5, you're still young. If you remembered 6-10, you are getting older. If you remembered 11-15, don't tell your age. If you remembered 16-25, you're older than dirt! =============================================== I'm 40, but I was surprised to discover that I recalled 14 of these things from my childhood. (seeing a test pattern on TV on Saturday morning was a good sign; it meant you hadn't missed anything yet! ) How about you? Link to comment
Burt Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I hate to admit it, but I remember them all. Link to comment
notacop Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 You are talking to the Gerotol, Social Security crowd here. We don't remember these? If we don't it's because we have old timers and don't remember anything. Link to comment
1MPH Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I should change my name to "Joe Friggin Dirt". I drove my Studebaker to a drive-in for movies and food. Link to comment
Glenn Reed Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 According to the published scale, I am officially older than dirt. My kids might think so too, but I respectfully disagree. Link to comment
Paul Mihalka Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 The list does not work for me as most things are very USA-American and I was in the Old World going through a war, but I know that many of you older than dirt guys could be my children by age... Link to comment
ltljohn Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 According to that scale at 51 I am older than dirt. What does that make Paul? Link to comment
ShovelStrokeEd Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 According to that scale at 51 I am older than dirt. What does that make Paul? Older than I but not old enough to be my father. I remember all those things and used all of them as well. I still have a couple of the old ice trays in my tool box. Handy for little parts like carb jets and the like. Link to comment
KevinH Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 51 and I scored 23 out of 25. But I knew I was starting to get old because my dad didn't know how to set the clock on a vcr let alone any thing about email. The Ice Cube Trays with the Lever were still in the fridge he had in his garage with the beer tap - in case someone came over and wanted something soft. My mother in law had a wringer washer - swore by it, and was using it till she died 8 years ago. I miss Blackjack Gum Link to comment
Kathy R Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I'm grateful that I CAN REMEMBER them all, except one. Link to comment
Burt Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Older Than Dirt Quiz [*]Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers I remember having to shake the milk bottle so the cream and milk mixed together. Otherwise, you got just cream on your cereal instead of milk...yuck. Link to comment
JOHNNYWISHBONE Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 i remember most all. but i got a new bike anyway. the first time i saw this photo, i became really concerned. i look old. this is new to me. i've never done this before. the getting old part. guess it beats the options. kinda scary though. Link to comment
baggerchris Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I remember em all. And to tell you the truth, it's some of the stuff from the middle 60's I wish I COULD forget. Some I have been good at forgetting, but other stuff that should have gotten me killed, I remember quite well. And some stuff I never/ever want to forget cause they taught me life's lessons. It is interesting just how many things I did and things that happened to me that should have killed me but didn't. Yet I know of folks that died or ended up maimed by chance little things. Amazing. Thank you LORD. Link to comment
DavidEBSmith Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I miss Blackjack Gum Here you go. Might note the ominous description: "Black Jack Gum is an old time favorite, made in a single batch every few years." Also candy cigarettes. And wax coke bottles. Don't forget Turkish Taffy. Link to comment
Les is more Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I believe I may be old enough to be Dirt"s mother. Link to comment
Kathy R Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Thanks EB. I haven't seen or thought of this stuff in many years! I loved it! Link to comment
CoarsegoldKid Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Easiest test in awhile. Scored a perfect older than dirt! Link to comment
notacop Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 What is funny is to back in time when you can and do see things you loved as a kid and try them again. Those candies are not so tasty anymore nor the soft drinks. What about taking cans of bacon drippings down to the corner market. Seeing the rag man on his horse drawn cart making his way through town. Watching the Hobos at the town dump. Watching the farm land on the edge of town disappear into tracks of houses. It's really bad when you go into Radio Slock to get a new battery for your cell phone and the kid says it belongs in the Smithsonian... Link to comment
subvet Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 I'm 40, but I was surprised to discover that I recalled 14 of these things from my childhood. (seeing a test pattern on TV on Saturday morning was a good sign; it meant you hadn't missed anything yet! ) How about you? 16. yikes. must be a Dad thing cuz I got that from my Dad too. test patterns....they've been replaced by infomercials. Link to comment
Lineareagle Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Yep got them all, some fond memories. Also, Steam engines and the little black clinkers that looked like marbles on the tracks. Animal crackers in a little box with a string handle. Black and White TV. Kapok life vests - weighed a ton wet! Refrigerator with an ice box the size of a loaf of bread. Link to comment
KevinH Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Thanks for the Blackjack link. I lost a filling or two on that Turkish Taffy Link to comment
bayoubengal Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Dirt. Barely, but dirt... Link to comment
plext Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 I'm 40, but I was surprised to discover that I recalled 14 of these things from my childhood. Also 40 but came up with 7. From this I deduce that not being American keeps you young. P'raps I have discovered a whole new market to sell to those desperately trying to avoid age with miracle creams etc; simply start a market in non US citizenship! Link to comment
steve.foote Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Well, let's see, Mitch... [mumbling to myself] no..yes..yes...yes..yes..no..no..no..no..no..yes..yes..yes..yes..yes..yes...yes..yes..yes..yes..yes...yes...aw crap! Link to comment
Paul Mihalka Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 "It's really bad when you go into Radio Slock to get a new battery for your cell phone and the kid says it belongs in the Smithsonian..." Yep, you know you are getting old when all the things you used when they were new and high-tech are in a museum... Link to comment
Quinn Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 "Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles" with the gray metal paddle you rotated to dispense. Not as good as the ice chest models full of super-cold water where you slid the bottle around their slots by their necks until you got it to the gate to pull up and out. If you didn't pull hard enough, you lost your money and didn't get the coke (in my part of the South, "coke" was the word for soda or pop). I missed checking Packard. Never saw one. Just remember my father bragging about driving one. Guess he considered it the Rolls Royce of New Jersey. ---- Link to comment
Charles Elms Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 I can remember all but the first one. Add .10 movies to list. Link to comment
hANNAbONE Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 "nIB'S" black licorice @ the movies... yup - I'm older than dirt.! Link to comment
Harry_Wilshusen Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 A perfect 25. D--N Harry Link to comment
IT_Mike Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 18, don't tell anyone Age 41 Link to comment
David13 Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 I scored high on this test, perfect, but not because I am old. Just only because I am so intelligent. Just very smart. Some of these items are still around, I think, like Turkish Taffy, I think someone is still making that stuff. dc Link to comment
Ron_B Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Akchooley, this was posted some time last year. Hey, what the heck, it's fun enough to post every once in a while. I nearly got a perfect score, only newsreels are kinda iffy for me. I remember cartoons and short informative clips before the movies, but not the kind of newsreels they once had with actual news. Link to comment
Norm 88 Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 At 75 I can remember them all ..."but I refuse to grow up" Link to comment
CoarsegoldKid Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Yeah, I think you're older than some of the rocks in my yard. Link to comment
Norm 88 Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Yeah, I think you're older than some of the rocks in my yard. Lafin...That was a good one Joe Link to comment
Selden Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 "nIB'S" black licorice @ the movies... Nibs are still around; our local Target carried them last year -- my favorite licorice, by far. So far, I have a perfect score on both the original test and everything added, so I will add these to the list: Cars: Nash Metropolitan and Rambler, Willys, Edsel, Corvair, Isetta and Messerschmitt micro cars. Cars without seat belts, air conditioning, or power windows. Bias ply, white wall, tube tires. Static straps. Those knob things that clamped to a steering wheel so you could crank it around with one hand (the other hand, presumably, hanging out the window). Manual spark advance knob on the dashboard, so you could run regular or premium gas. Gasoline at 20 cents a gallon. Ice man delivering ice for ice boxes (even when replaced with an electric compressor, it was still an "ice box"). Also, the coal truck, for people with coal-fired furnaces. Technology: Vacuum tubes in radios and TVs. Vacuum tube testers in drug stores. DuMont televisions (and network). Tuning fork remote control for TV. The shrinking white dot when you turned off the TV. Crystal radios. Wire recorders. Slide rules. ENIAC. 45-rpm (big hole) and 78-rpm records (shellac). Sputnik. Trackless trolleys (electric buses). Princess telephones, phone numbers without area codes, and mail addresses without zip codes. Operator assisted long distance calls. Culture: Hopalong Cassidy, Sky King, Flash Gordon serials at Saturday matinees. Clutch Cargo, Winky Dink, Sally Starr, Chief Halftown, Mr. Wizard. LIVE TV (with the bloopers that went along with it. My favorite was John Cameron Swayze strapping a Timex to the propeller of an outboard, which was then started in a tank of water. Pull the prop up, no Timex, but it probably kept on ticking somewhere down there. Beemans gum (the right stuff). Candy cigarettes, licorice pipes, bubble gum cigars. Taking water pistols to school and not getting in trouble for it. Oyster houses, and not being able to get oysters in months that don't have R in their names. Polio epidemics, Sister Kenny, metal leg braces, and iron lungs. Home doctor visits. Running through the cloud behind the DDT truck, lead paint, melting lead, leaded gas, mercury switches, playing with mercury, playing with asbestos gloves (why am I still alive?). Link to comment
Rocer Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Black and White TV. -what? Something's replaced B&W TV? Now you're going to tell us there's sound at the movie theatre. OTD here too. Selden - my dad was a VW Beetle nut (first was a 54). He bought a Corvair first year they came out to continue the air cooled trend. My sister was driving it when the fan belt broke. She pulled off and a good samaritan stopped and not considering the operative word "fan" told her that she could continue to drive it as it was air cooled. Needless to say the engine seized shortly thereafter. Link to comment
Paul Mihalka Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Selden, darn, you make me feel even older than I am. My brother bought a new Kaiser Henry J (Piece of $hite). Remember those? The IBM unit record (punched card) machines and the first computer I worked with (IBM 650) had vacuum tubes for electronics. Link to comment
mrzoom Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Got them all. Where's my puddin?? Link to comment
upflying Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 I got them all except for the P.F. Flyers. Cool thing about getting old is the people you once thought were old now look a lot younger. Link to comment
philbytx Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Damn! I must have been around when the Big Bang happened Link to comment
Norm 88 Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Cool thing about getting old is the people you once thought were old now look a lot younger. Link to comment
VinnyR11 Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Perfect score. Older than dirt. My wife decided it was finally time to buy new skis when she saw her skis in the Aspen ski museum! There are still a few candy stores that sell almost all of the old time candies. Hopefully, they are making a comeback. Link to comment
Redbrick Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 I got them all except for the P.F. Flyers. Cool thing about getting old is the people you once thought were old now look a lot younger. I remember PF Flyers when I was a kid..Shortage of everything at that time due to a world wide conflict......I think there was only one brand of tennis shoes made and they were high-top only.... Oh, I of course, recognized all of the items in the quiz and could add a few more..... Link to comment
Ron_B Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Black and White TV. When my parents retired and moved to Florida in 1977, they bought their very first color set. The first time I went down to visit, I walked in, saw the thing and almost fainted. I really thought they would never get one. Does anyone remember a transparent film that you stuck on your TV screen? I think it was supposed to give a color appearance to the picture. Maybe I'm just imagining it. Link to comment
Burt Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Does anyone remember a transparent film that you stuck on your TV screen? I think it was supposed to give a color appearance to the picture. Maybe I'm just imagining it. I don't remember a film for that reason. There was a show called Winky Dink and Me that used one on the screen so kids could draw on the screen to join in the program. http://www.tvacres.com/art_paintings_winky.htm Link to comment
Quinn Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Ron, I remember ads in Pop Sci for some kind of revolving disk that you put in front of the TV with three colored filters that was supposed to give you color. ---- Link to comment
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