5 We Don’t Miss
One of the nice things about being over 50 is we can appreciate the evolution and added convenience of the every day things we use. Like the telephone for instance. Most of us aren’t angsting about the amount of time it takes to power up. We’re still delighted to find ourselves untethered from the wall with phones that fit in our pockets. Does anybody else remember party lines?! Here’s 5 more we don’t miss!
1. Fishnet stockings. I’m not sure I was actually allowed to wear black, but I definitely remember rocking those 1970s lime green and hot pink versions! These things were so cool I was willing to ignore the walking-on-broken glass feel of the mesh cutting into my feet on a long day.
2. Levered ice cube trays. If you were looking for cracked ice, these were perfect. If you were looking for whole ice cubes that didn’t dilute your drink in the first 22 seconds, you had a few years of wait time ahead.
3. Movie projector and screen. The best part of that duo was how my vocabulary increased in direct proportion to how many times my father had to deal with the inevitable snap of the film and splicing attempts on home-movie nights.
4. The Dating Game. Let’s see . . . how could we describe that show to someone who had never seen it? Cheesy. Smarmy. And other icky words that end in y. To this day if you look up “cheesy” in the dictionary the first definition is “The Dating Game.”
5. Sanitary Belt. The only thing worse than wearing a sanitary belt was switching to the new self-adhesive pad and realizing you had put it on with the sticky side up.
Ha! The sanitary belt actually got me. I only wore those silly things right after delivering babies in the hospital. I’m way past menopause, but now in Poise pads because I’m scared to death to go under the knife. It’s all the class action suit ads that have me worried. Sticky side up is still no fun 🙁
That is scary stuff, SK – like those miracle drugs that have a few potential side effects. And then the list takes 30 seconds of air time or two pages in a magazine! We’re fortunate to have streamlined products available to us to assist these days that the generation before us didn’t have at their disposal (no pun intended!)
Oh my….the fact that I remember all of these things shows my age, lol!
OUR age, Noreen – but since it’s the only one we have, might’s well celebrate the “things we know for sure!”
My grandparents in VT had a party line. If we were bored, we practiced our snooping and sleuthing skills by listening in. 😛
Fishnets ~> yes. Like walking on a tightrope with the rope digging into your heals.
The Dating Game ~> I loved it!
And the Newlywed Game.
I’m sure it wouldn’t hold my attention now.
Handling metal ice cube trays with wet hands is as dangerous as licking a frozen flag pole.
I would like to be able to state with superiority that I would never watch either the Dating Game or The Newlywed Game, but I know far too much about both to be able to get away with the claim. I think the draw in my elementary years was the constant sexual innuendo which was so . . . naughty. I’m surprised we were allowed to watch it, when I think about it. I suspect that the parents in my generation weren’t as vigilant about TV content as many parents are today. Or maybe game shows didn’t get the same scrutiny.
I had forgotten about the downright dangerous aspect of those old ice cube trays – that flagpole mental visual has the same wince-factor as some of the other examples listed! -El
Bob Eubanks and Jim Lange ~> naughty hosts!
Really hard to top that last one until I stop laughing…
Are you laughing at me or with me?? -El
At you, of course. It’s what sisters do. Snort.
May your next snort occur simultaneously with your next large gulp of milk.
I remember them all, I forgot about the last one, made me laugh!
Yah, sure – it’s funny now. But at the time?? Not so much!
Most of them have been blocked by my memory guardian who says ‘Danger, danger, don’t go THERE!’ But the last one ripped a snort out of me before the guard could act 🙂 Ah the joys of being a woman
Glad you weren’t drinking milk at the time Pauline – the combo of snorting and milk drinking is never a good look! -El
Oh my, I never wore the fishnets but I do so remember Sunday afternoons with the family, the roll up screen and Dad’s projector. Mostly it got stuck, we looked at Kodak slides of past holidays and had a jolly old time. Then Nanna would get out the fruit cake and we’d have tea. Those were the days …
What fun memories! Sounds like things were a little calmer on your home-movie nights, Jenny – I think that’s what tea does for people!
You covered them pretty well, I’d say. Still laughing at the sanitary belt–hard to really keep sanitary, as I remember–plus, I’ll never forget our 7-year-old neighbor boy.
I was babysitting him and his sisters as their mother was teaching a beginning Italian cooking lesson in the kitchen. Allen came out of the bathroom, and before we could stop him, he ran down the hall, through the living room, and stood at the kitchen doorway. He used the belt as a sling shot and had rolled up a sanitary napkin (clean, thank goodness) to use to shoot into the kitchen.
Many years later when he got married, I wrapped up their present, a setting of silver ware, in lots of tissue paper and packed it in an empty Kotex sanitary napkins box.
I think he’d agree that there are some things we just don’t miss when they’re gone.
Oh my gosh – that is HILARIOUS, Marylin! That reminds me of a comedian who performed at a place I worked in the 70s that had a whole schtick about this. Something to the effect of: “When I was a kid I saw the box in the bathroom and asked my mother what they were. She said ‘napkins.’ Then came Thanksgiving. My mother told me to set the table. So I did. At each place there was fork, knive, spoon (then in a high-pitched voice) little bow!” Even though he lost some of his material as pads evolved, lucky for him the next generation came with wings! -El
OMG, the sanitary belt? I never…
Then you are fortunate indeed, Lucie – believe me! Hope all is well for you in medialand! -El
Oh my gosh, Shel, you seriously did not post a sanitary belt??? Hahaha. I’d forgotten about them. It’s called denial and it works. I kind of miss fishnet hose. I mean, I never wore them, but I wanted to be one of those girls who could and looked good in them. Oh, and The Dating Game. Yeah, I watched. Don’t ban me from your blog. I know I’m a little strange. 🙂
I knew you never word fishnets, Kim, as soon as you said you miss them! Actually, it’s not too late for you – they’re still out there. Generally they are black and need the other dreaded belt to hold them up! -El
Two more sanitary things I do NOT miss…my Mum calling periods “the curse” and napkins being coyly referred to as “bunnies”!!! I wore a belt for a few months when I was twelve, then the luxury of stick-in pads came, my Mum embraced the technology wholeheartedly, then couldn’t believe it when years later I went “green” and made my own pads out of fabric off-cuts!
I am so with you on the terminology – there were several other terms that were just as . . . unseemly. I was tracking the experiences with you right up until I hit “green.” I’m glad I wasn’t aware that was an option so that I can tell myself I might have chosen that option – after all, I certainly applaud those who use cloth diapers and walk the talk. Yah, sure, I might have done that . . . -El