# Grandpa, what does "wind up a watch" mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 20, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080 "2005-10-20T14:42:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080/201 "2005-10-24T15:10:42Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > If you were lucky, you could automate kicking the computer into high speed with an entry in your autoexec.bat (Daddy, what’s an autoexec?) Henry Ford II? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080/202 "2005-10-24T15:11:44Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > Hey Grandpa, what’s a “polaroid?” It’s what Polish people get from sitting down too long. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080/203 "2005-10-24T15:15:56Z")
Black and white TV sets ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080/204 "2005-10-24T15:28:00Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > **Holiday Inn** > > _Single Bed: $21 > Double Bed: $27_ > > (circa 1966) **Motel 6** $6 per night. Coin operated TV **Regal 8** $8 per night. Free TV ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080/205 "2005-10-24T18:05:55Z")
**kunilou** : What, no _Magic Fingers_? ---
**Author:** ![Sutremaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@Sutremaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sutremaine)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080/206 "2005-12-22T05:23:07Z")
You know, I’m only twenty and most of these things are familiar. My parents were never particularly interested in technology, and we only had terrestrial TV up until something ridiculous like 1998. Also, it was only this year that I got a 512k connection instead of a 56k one, but since they’re the ones who’re paying for it then I can’t really complain. And I’m familiar with old tills, since we still use them where I work. They’re digital, but they’re pretty basic. Punch in total, hit ‘item’ button as necessary, repeat for all differently-priced items, hit ‘sub-total’, punch in amount given, give change. We’re getting new tills next year though, so memorising the prices at least will no longer be absolutely necessary. After reading posts on this board about how annoying it is to get change coin-over-note, I experimented with doing it the other way round, but people tended to drop the notes and/or change all over the place. I stopped doing it. As for the ‘here’s your change, here’s your receipt, here’s your stuff, LEAVE!’ issue, I do all my bagging up after the customer gets their change. It does lead to the odd evil look and an annoyed ‘Where’s my stuff?!’ after they realise that I haven’t placed half a dozen hot pasties and a loaf of bread onto the loaded trays of squishable and/or chocolate items on the counter, but for the most part it works well. ---
**Author:** ![sniperfang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@sniperfang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sniperfang)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080/207 "2005-12-22T08:20:34Z")
> [@Nature's Call](#): > > Reminds me of, “Don’t you hate when the program changes mid guitar solo?” closely followed by “Daddy, what’s an 8-track?” closely followed by “Daddy, whats a guitar solo?” ---
**Author:** ![Clock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19adc/32.png) [@Clock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clock)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080/208 "2005-12-22T09:16:25Z")
Blotting paper…really! I asked the girl in the local post office “where is the blotting paper please miss?” “Hu?” “What’s blotting paper” After trying to explain I left sans blotting paper ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080/209 "2005-12-22T09:39:35Z")
Now that this thread has been bumped – I was reminded of another during a _Lost_ thread a while back: Splicing blocks/Cement for film. A pretty regular thing to find around the house when I was growing up. Even if they had the tools, not many of the up-and-coming generation would guess correctly about _where_ to cut the film or bother to scrape the emulsion off. “What, you just tape the ends together, right?” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080/210 "2005-12-22T11:15:37Z")
Turning on the TV, and waiting for it to warm up. Actually, turning on the radio and waiting for it to warm up. The goodnight kiwi. Milk in glass bottles. Milk in bottles with a thick layer of cream on top. Milkmen, who delivered the milk to your letterbox - forgetting to put the bottles out, and chasing the truck down the street waving a milk bottle holder full of warm, soapy bottles. Milk bottle holders. Glass soft drink bottles {they still have them in Thailand: Coke comes in the old “naked lady” bottles, abraded opaque on the edges where they’ve been jostled together. It _does_ taste better in glass - I brought a couple of full bottles home as souvenirs}. Stealing glass soft drink bottles from the neighbours’ doorstep, and getting a refund for them at the dairy, which you then spent on lollies. Four-for-a-cent lollies. Cent coins. Two cent coins. Dollar bills. ---
**Author:** ![Jimson\_Jim\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@Jimson\_Jim\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimson_Jim_1)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080/211 "2005-12-22T17:33:08Z")
A doctor making a house call. (Although you see that in “old” movies.) More incomprehensible, a time when no one anywhere had health insurance. ‘Yeah that’s right sonny everybody just paid cash.’ From my dad, Three Musketeer’s bars that were actually three separate pieces. A time before twist top beer/pop bottles when every hotel had a bottle opener mounted in or near the bathroom. As a slight hijack. What would any of us or our parents thought 40 years ago, if in the middle of a city park they heard someone say, “Honey, stand over there I want to take your picture with my phone.”? ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080/212 "2005-12-22T17:44:03Z")
This might only be tangentially related to the thread, but what does “teach my grandmother to suck eggs” mean? That and “butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth” (which I assume means the she in question is acting very cool). They’re not technology related, but I am clueless! I think I may have contributed to this already, but my son didn’t know how to dial a phone–we have an old rotary phone in the basement… mimeographs, clip art, adding yellow color to margarine (that was before my time, actually)… ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080/213 "2005-12-22T20:06:36Z")
Flashcubes > [@Icerigger](#): > > Remember what would happen if you hit them with a hammer? > Heheheheheh. Yeah. Dad paddled your butt for messing with his camera! Don’t look now, but Magicube flashcubes and the Flip Flash are [still available](http://www.sciplus.com/singleItem.cfm?terms=7420)! ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080/214 "2005-12-22T21:55:25Z")
An E-ticket ride. “Bueller?.. Bueller?” From “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, from 1986. I’ve got 2 friends that teach at a community college, and their students don’t recognize that one any more. ---
**Author:** ![Clock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19adc/32.png) [@Clock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clock)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080/215 "2005-12-22T22:20:41Z")
Has anyone mentioned those big old juke boxes…Wurlitzers!? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080/216 "2005-12-23T00:05:31Z")
> [@Case Sensitive](#): > > Milk in glass bottles…Milkmen, who delivered the milk to your letterbox > [@Jimson\_Jim](#): > > A doctor making a house call. Although this thread lost its original meaning long before the bump, I’d like to point out I still have both of these (although the milk is delivered to my doorstep) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080/217 "2005-12-23T00:57:55Z")
> [@Case Sensitive](#): > > Turning on the TV, and waiting for it to warm up. Also, the strong 8" field of static electricity that surrounded the set, and how, when there were no more cartoons on, you could keep yourself entertained by pushing your head into it and making your hair stand up. Or by turning it on and off and watching everything shrink down to a bright little dot that _sloooowly_ faded away. Or playing with some of the standard pot settings that are now inaccessable to the home user. I still think the newer _Outer Limits_ series should have begun with “_We_ control the… uh… brightness. _We_ control the contrast! Ooooooh!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080/218 "2005-12-23T01:02:26Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Don’t look now, but Magicube flashcubes and the Flip Flash are [still available](http://www.sciplus.com/singleItem.cfm?terms=7420)! Can you still get 115 cartridge film, for the cameras that used 'em? Or do people just buy 'em to make detonators for small explosives, like I did with all the obsolete flash cubes that were lying around the house _twenty years ago?_ ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080/219 "2005-12-23T02:02:56Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > What’s an encyclopedia? I have an opposite story about that. I visited my friend’s farm in Kansas. We wanted to look up something and I asked if they had an encyclopedia. Grandpa (93 years old, born in that same house): A what? Dad: Encyclopedia. (Tiny pause for thought) It’s a bunch of books with… stuff no one really needs to know. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080/220 "2005-12-23T02:14:41Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > I don’t know if you had them in the USA, but I had to tell one of my daughters about dynamo-driven lights on the bike. She thought they sounded super cool. Man do I remember feeling like a mule driving those beasts. Ahem…and…err…They aren’t powered that way anymore?? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandpa-what-does-wind-up-a-watch-mean/327080.md?page=12)