Posted from an e-mail sent by Glenda Burns Minniece
[The pictures that illustrated this forwarded piece were priceless, but unfortunately there is not a way (at least, not a way that I have found) to copy them and transfer them to the blog. NEVERTHELESS, and NOT TO WORRY, because I am CERTAIN that all of you gentle blog readers will have an instant mental image for every one of them! Karla]
OK Boy and Girls, these will bring back some memories .... Enjoy!
FENDER SKIRTS
I came across this phrase yesterday 'FENDER SKIRTS..'
That’s 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'. Does that ring a bell for you?
And 'steering knobs.' (AKA) suicide knob, Neckers Knobs.
Since I started out thinking of cars, my mind naturally went in that direction first.
Any kids will probably have to find some elderly person over 50 to explain some of these terms to you.
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.
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 hear 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 (though related topic), '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.
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.
Glenda Burns Minniece
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Here's a funny bit to help you take a walk down Memory Lane. Of course, some of us may choose to stay in the recliner to read, although I am sure the walk would do us all some good. Scroll to the top and read on.
Posted by: Karla Lofgren Davis | January 15, 2010 at 03:00 AM
Hm, speaking of cars, the passing of the running board deprived small children of a nice little "bench" to sit on when the car was parked on the driveway.
We used to call our electric refrigerators iceboxes, remember? And speaking of ice, when did the ice houses all turn into "convenience stores"?
Posted by: Laura Burns | January 15, 2010 at 02:52 PM