# How long has it been since...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [February 24, 2010, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281 "2010-02-24T18:11:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2010, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281/1 "2010-02-24T18:11:37Z")
…you held a paper napkin or a Kleenex in the palm of your hand out the window of a moving car and held it out there until it was torn to ribbons?
…you had a phone number for a landline phone that had letters in it?
…you wore horn-rimmed glasses?
(Add to the list of questions. Answers optional)
This was to avoid treading on the thread about useless stuff you can do.
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281/2 "2010-02-24T20:11:03Z")
…wore a pair of Keds?
…wound your watch?
…used the word “twitter” to talk about birds?
…you walked more than a mile to get somewhere?
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281/3 "2010-02-24T20:23:52Z")
…walked to the TV set to change channels or adjust the volume or picture?
…used a non-motorized reel type lawn mower?
…eaten sugar cane?
…picked blackberries by the side of the road?
…drank water out of a creek or stream?
…turned off all electrical devices in your living space when there wasn’t a power failure?
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281/4 "2010-02-24T20:55:06Z")
…got picked up off the ground by your mom or dad.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281/5 "2010-02-24T20:59:17Z")
> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> …you held a paper napkin or a Kleenex in the palm of your hand out the window of a moving car and held it out there until it was torn to ribbons?
>
> …you had a phone number for a landline phone that had letters in it?
>
> …you wore horn-rimmed glasses?
Never.
> [@AskNott](#):
>
> …wore a pair of Keds?
>
> …wound your watch?
>
> …
>
> …you walked more than a mile to get somewhere?
I wore some Converse last week.
I wound my watch on Monday.
Nowhere I need to go a mile away, but I frequently walk a mile round-trip to Pike Place Market.
How long has it been since you used a choke knob in a car?
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281/6 "2010-02-24T21:07:03Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> How long has it been since you used a choke knob in a car?
Or the clutch?
Or used hand signals before turning?
Or had somebody else pump gas for you?
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### Author:  [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281/7 "2010-02-24T21:19:51Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#):
>
> How long has it been since you used a choke knob in a car?
I drove my '74 Saab Sonnett III to work today, so…this morning.
> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> Or the clutch?
See above.
> [@](#):
>
> Or had somebody else pump gas for you?
I live in Oregon, so…this morning.
🙂
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### Author:  [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281/8 "2010-02-24T21:36:53Z")
I walked about four miles on Sunday - I don’t have a car and the bus service in my town is very limited on Sundays. The weather was absolutely perfect, so it was no hardship.
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281/9 "2010-02-24T21:39:36Z")
Last October, I used hand turn signals, when I wasn’t sure the trailer lights were working.
There’s a station here in town that will pump your gas for you for a penny more a gallon.
When’s the last time you had to use a scraper for the frost on the **inside** of your windshield?
…burned trash in the backyard?
…grew your own sweet corn?
…grew your own tobacco?
…used a manual, non-electric typewriter?
…took instant Polaroid pictures?
…touched a live cow?
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### Author:  [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281/10 "2010-02-24T21:51:21Z")
. . . . . played the game “Operation”?
. . . . . wore leg warmers (ladies)?
. . . . . ate a chili size?
. . . . . used a feather duster?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281/11 "2010-02-24T22:09:37Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#):
>
> . . . . . ate a chili size?
Six or eight months ago.
But they didn’t call it that. It was a ‘Chili Steakburger’.
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### Author:  [@tattman40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tattman40)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281/12 "2010-02-25T01:31:45Z")
Parents actually talked to their kids on a long drive, instead of throwing them in the back of the minivan with personal dvd player in the headrests.
No wonder some parents have no idea whats up in little Johnny’s life.
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### Author:  [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281/13 "2010-02-25T01:36:52Z")
…walked out to get the newspaper and …sniffed it? (I do that every time, to this very day, I do not know why).
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### Author:  [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281/14 "2010-02-25T01:40:44Z")
> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> …eaten sugar cane?
I was about 7. My grandma in Virginia was alive and well and cooking us some beans and rice in her kitchen and my chubby chin was wet and sticky with sugar water and life was good.
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### Author:  [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281/15 "2010-02-25T03:00:45Z")
…owned and used a rotary-dial phone?
…got up to manually turn the knob to change the channel on the TV?
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### Author:  [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281/16 "2010-02-25T03:02:18Z")
> [@AskNott](#):
>
> …touched a live cow?
All the time in the summer. My up north neighbors have friendly cows. And donkeys, too, but they’re not friendly unless you have apples.
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### Author:  [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281/17 "2010-02-25T03:37:24Z")
…listened to a record?
…or a cassette?
…or an 8-track tape?
(I have the following setup- an 8-track player with a cassette adapter plugged into a CD player. Haven’t tried it out yet, but I will someday!)
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### Author:  [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281/18 "2010-02-25T04:13:16Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#):
>
> …listened to a record?
> …or a cassette?
> …or an 8-track tape?
>
> (I have the following setup- an 8-track player with a cassette adapter plugged into a CD player. Haven’t tried it out yet, but I will someday!)
I listened to a cassette the other day. I was cleaning the basement and found some old cassettes. I still have a boombox that plays cassettes, so I loaded it in and listened to it as I cleaned the basement.
…watched a VHS?
(today at work. We have a TV with a built in VCR, and no converter box… so the only thing you can watch on it is VHS tapes. I packed my lunch, and a VHS copy of _That Thing You Do!_
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281/19 "2010-02-25T12:44:59Z")
> [@Serenata67](#):
>
> …watched a VHS?
…or a Beta!
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### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-it-been-since/530281/20 "2010-02-25T12:57:26Z")
…saw a milk truck drive up the street and leave quart bottles of milk and take the empties from a metal dairy box on a porch?
…ate a pixy stick?
…got up early on a Saturday to watch the ‘good’ cartoons?
…had a bicycle with generator head & tail lights?
…sat in an open field and watched the sunset go from orange to red to purple to night sky?
…listened to a transistor radio?
…played shuffle board?
…got detention?
…ridden in a Datsun?
…or…dare I say it…played ‘kick the can’? 😉
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