# Conversations You Would Have Never Imagined Having Twenty or Thirty Years Ago **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 29, 2024, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227 "2024-09-29T00:37:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227/21 "2024-09-30T17:30:44Z")
> [@Ynnad](#): > > …he had to do a firmware update on his cats’ litter box… I haven’t figured out how to do a firmware update on my cats. 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227/22 "2024-09-30T18:24:34Z")
Any sentence that included “helicopter parents” not accepting “free range kids.” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2024, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227/23 "2024-10-01T00:34:43Z")
Thirty years ago I probably wouldn’t have expected to be watching new episodes/movies for the same properties that I was watching back then. Okay, maybe I might have considered _Star Wars_ and _Star Trek_, but not _Frasier_. Not _Karate Kid: the Series_ with original castmembers. ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2024, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227/24 "2024-10-01T07:45:02Z")
- _I really need to get hold of X. Should I use WhatsApp, Teams, Zoom or Slack ? Perhaps sending an email would be better ? Or just a text ?_ - _How about you just call them ?_ ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2024, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227/25 "2024-10-01T14:24:23Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Thirty years ago I probably wouldn’t have expected to be watching new episodes/movies for the same properties that I was watching back then. Okay, maybe I might have considered _Star Wars_ and _Star Trek_, but not _Frasier_. Not _Karate Kid: the Series_ with original castmembers. Back when I was in high school, the television series _Charlie’s Angels_ was a big hit. Enough time passed that the series faded from public memories so they made a reboot series. Enough time passed that the reboot series faded from public memories so they made a reboot movie (and sequel). Enough time passed that the first reboot movies faded from public memories so they made a new reboot movie. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2024, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227/26 "2024-10-01T15:18:22Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Since the war against Ukraine started I’ve participated in and read conversations about corruption and incompetence in Russia and the Russian military that would have been laughed at even a few years ago. The fact that many of the major players in the Republican party would be on Russia’s side would also be quite a shock ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2024, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227/27 "2024-10-01T16:44:42Z")
Not strictly speaking a conversation, but I never imagined that I would have to look at something that popped up on my TV screen and mutter to myself something along the lines of, “No, I do not want to ask Alexa for suggestions of shows to watch/No, I do not want Alexa to find a show I’m looking for.” I refuse to have conversations with anything in my house except myself and my cat. As it is, only one of them pays any attention to me anyway. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2024, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227/28 "2024-10-01T17:32:49Z")
> [@Moonrise](#): > > How about you just call them ? I have this discussion with my 19 year old daughter all the time. The young whipper snappers love the asynchronous communication methods and get uptight with a real-time phone call. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2024, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227/29 "2024-10-02T14:11:49Z")
I got some vaxing done yesterday. The nurse handed me a card with a QR code on it so I could do a survey. I know those can be sketchy (you never know what web site you’re going to), so I declined and explained why. I guess there was something kinda similar years ago. RadioShack’s [CueCat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat) from 2000. That died a justified quick death. To still have to think about avoiding the modern version of CueCat is surprising. (The [inventor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Hutton_Pulitzer) of CueCat changed his name soon after the fiasco. He later came up with a technology to “detect” bamboo fibers in fake ballots from China. He is a winnar!) ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227/30 "2024-10-03T12:05:18Z")
Actually, this thread reminds me of one I started over 2 years ago : [When Technology Changes Language](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-technology-changes-language/969692). What I wrote in then fits this conversation too. > [@When Technology Changes Language](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-technology-changes-language/969692/1): > > Back in the 90s, I remember a guy seated next to me saying over his then cutting-edge mobile phone “… I can’t tell you right now because I’m on the bus.” > > It was not the first time I’d heard a sentence like this in the previous couple of years and I remember finding it amusing that, before mobile phones, no one would have said “I’m on the bus” unless they were drunk or insane. We can all see you’re on the bus, man ! > > So, a perfectly grammatical sentence that had always been theoretically “utterable” but was [pragmatically](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatics) pointless became totally acceptable thanks to a new technology. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227/31 "2024-10-03T12:48:21Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Thirty years ago I probably wouldn’t have expected to be watching new episodes/movies for the same properties that I was watching back then. Forty years ago, would you have been expecting Vanna White to still be doing her schtick with the letters on Wheel Of Fortune in 2024? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227/32 "2024-10-03T13:16:03Z")
I wouldn’t have been surprised to find out that _Wheel Of Fortune_ would still be on the air in 2024 but I would have been surprised to find out Vanna would still be there. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227/33 "2024-10-03T13:42:13Z")
Personally, I give Vanna White a lot of credit. She was co-hosting a game show and inexplicably became famous. Most people in her position would have quit the game show to go off to greater things. Some would have succeeded and many would have failed. White did try to go on to bigger things in tv and movies. But she was smart enough that she never quit the game show. So when tv and movies didn’t work out she still had a job. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227/34 "2024-10-03T13:45:35Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I wouldn’t have been surprised to find out that _Wheel Of Fortune_ would still be on the air in 2024 but I would have been surprised to find out Vanna would still be there. Surprised they would keep someone so old, or surprised she hadn’t moved on to bigger things? I remember when she was amazingly huge (and a very bad tv movie), but that was a few years later. 20 years ago, the cryptocurrency - particularly the energy used aspect to mine it - would have been completely weird to hear people talking about for me. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227/35 "2024-10-03T14:05:42Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > Surprised they would keep someone so old, or surprised she hadn’t moved on to bigger things? Surprised that they would keep someone so old. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it was a bad thing but I wouldn’t have expected 40 years ago that she would still be there at 67. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227/36 "2024-10-03T15:18:44Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Surprised that they would keep someone so old. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it was a bad thing but I wouldn’t have expected 40 years ago that she would still be there at 67. She’s probably the same age as most of the audience. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227/37 "2024-10-03T16:12:45Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > She’s probably the same age as most of the audience. Now you’ve got me thinking about a graph showing the median age of viewers for the show from the 1980s through today. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227/38 "2024-10-03T16:48:50Z")
I’m amazed we’re discussing Vanna being on Wheel because ever since they went electronic, she doesn’t _do_ anything! She’s only there because she’s always\* been there. It’s TV comfort food. Now I’m thinking about people in the entertainment world that have had one job for ever. Like Johnny Gilbert. The man’s 96 fer cripes sake! Let someone else have a go. \*for varying degrees of “always” ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227/39 "2024-10-03T16:52:14Z")
I’m going to ask my self driving car to take me to the marijuana store. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227/40 "2024-10-03T17:56:44Z")
When my little brother lived in Michigan, he complained to me once because the recreational dispensary accepted his online order and let him pay with his debit card, but he couldn’t add a tip for the guy who brought his delivery. He had to search his home for cash. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conversations-you-would-have-never-imagined-having-twenty-or-thirty-years-ago/1008227.md?page=1)