# Obsolete traditions and customs you'd like revived **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 20, 2004, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074 "2004-09-20T01:54:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074/41 "2004-09-20T18:37:17Z")
(1) Village Idiots:every town should have a crazy guy dressed in cap and bells, for public amusement (2) The Saturnalia Festival: an end-of-year drunken festival, with lusty wenchs and roast pig! ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074/42 "2004-09-20T18:46:01Z")
I want nuns looking like Sister Bertrille, dammit. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074/43 "2004-09-20T18:52:41Z")
> [@Shoshana](#): > > Waering academic regalia at the Academe. > Admit it, you secretly envy the students at Hogwarts. Hear, hear. I love watching commencement, when the entire campus comes out in all its medieval glory. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074/44 "2004-09-20T18:55:04Z")
I’d like to see the return of chariot racing. Or just using a chariot to get to work. ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074/45 "2004-09-20T19:28:10Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Well quite. A little firebrand she was too, and no mistake, what! > > But to bring dishonour on the family in such a way, well, it just _would not do_. One has one’s standing to consider. The fabric of society is greater and more important than the improprieties of petty folk. > > I am, of course, an honourable man. I rewarded her generously with three weeks’ wages, and allowed her to keep her uniform. I have also set aside in trust a guinea per year for the child’s education, if it is a boy. > > Now, we shall never mention this again, shall we? LMAO. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074/46 "2004-09-20T19:51:53Z")
Not exactly a revival, since I’m not advocating the spread of cigarette smoking, but we need something that replaces the social mechanism of asking for, offering, and accepting smokes (and matches). From what I’ve seen in novels and films written in The Age Of Cigarettes, one could often ease tense interpersonal situations by offering a smoke. Asking for a match was a good way to start talking to someone. ---
**Author:** ![Heppie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@Heppie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heppie)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074/47 "2004-09-20T19:59:59Z")
OOOH OOOH! I know!! I’d like to see the return of common courtesy and common sense! ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074/48 "2004-09-20T20:10:35Z")
> [@Already in Use](#): > > Heh, I went to [this](http://www.movieswithlivesoundtracks.info/) at the Rhode Island School of Design the other day, and there was a movie that involved singing along to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” It was fun, especially given the crowd of scruffy artists and silly indie-rocker types. > > \ That’s great! Forgive the hijack but did they sing the verses too, or just the chorus that they play at the ballgames now? As I recall from Ken Burns’ baseball documentary, the first verse starts: “Katie Casey was baseball mad…” Now back to your originally scheduled thread! ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074/49 "2004-09-20T20:22:22Z")
Remember the old days when a fella could masturbate on the bus without the crying and carrying on? /Ahhh, good times ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074/50 "2004-09-20T20:52:25Z")
> [@](#): > > I’d like to see the return of common courtesy and common sense! Return? When was it ever here? ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074/51 "2004-09-20T20:54:19Z")
I’m even more old-fashioned than **Annie X-Mas**. I liked it when porn was regarded as sleazy and kind of difficult to obtain, rather than being the primary reason that a lot of folks own a home computer. I also miss the obsolete tradition that one civil servant’s modest paycheck could pay a mortgage and raise a family (like my dad’s). ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074/52 "2004-09-20T21:38:37Z")
> [@Lynn Bodoni](#): > > I think I could do without the carolers at Christmas. I’m an athiest, and I sleep odd hours, so I don’t like random people showing up at my doorstep, wanting me to interact with them…especially if it means I have to have the door open for any length of time (my Siamese cat is an escape artist, and has delusions that she can take on the neighborhood dogs) and I don’t like to be involved in religious ceremonies. I agree. I’m pretty sure my husband, who is somewhat more reactionary than I, would open the door and spray down a group of carolers with the nearest bottle of Windex or 409 if anyone did that here. Putting the shoe on the other foot, I’m sure my Catholic mother and fundie Protestant father wouldn’t be too thrilled with a group of Wiccans singing Samhain carols on their lawn either. I’m all for people having whatever religious ceremonies or celebrations they want to have, but not loudly in my driveway. I miss the tradition of parents discouraging their children from being rude assholes in public. I’m that person who scolds the children of strangers in front of their parents, since the parents seem incapable of it. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074/53 "2004-09-20T21:57:29Z")
I know it’s still pretty common elsewhere, but in America, not that many people have tea-time. I used to love that when I was living in Chile. It was called “onces,” and most of us would put away whatever it was we were doing and have tea or coffee together and just chat for an hour or so in the late afternoon. We do something like that when I visit my mom’s house, but it’s not something I’ve seen done very often in mainstream America. No one really has time. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074/54 "2004-09-20T23:49:45Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > I’d like to see the return of chariot racing. Or just using a chariot to get to work. Chariot racing isn’t gone, it’s just in Utah (well, and Wyoming, Idaho, and Nevada, but their clubs are clearly inferior to the Utah clubs…) ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074/55 "2004-09-21T00:08:01Z")
We need more pesants to do the cooking, cleaning and muck out the stables. Reintroduce fudalism, that’s what I say 😉 Seriously, more street parties and neighbourhood events would be good. It is a shame that in this day and age people are generally too busy to do such things. A lot of what I see wrong in US is that people are affraid of their neighbours and this getting magnified into general fear and distrust. ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074/56 "2004-09-21T00:08:10Z")
The 25th of November… [Gazpacho Soup Day](http://www.ganymede-titan.info/news/2003/november/gazpacho_soup.html). Maybe I’ll revive it this year. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074/57 "2004-09-21T02:11:45Z")
How about the Twelve Days of Christmas? A celebration every day, culminating in 12th Night on my birthday, with a King’s Cake and the Lord of Misrule and all of that fun stuff. Also lots and lots of birds. ---
**Author:** ![xenonymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de0a6/32.png) [@xenonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenonymous)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074/58 "2004-09-21T03:07:36Z")
> [@pugluvr](#): > > I also miss the obsolete tradition that one civil servant’s modest paycheck could pay a mortgage and raise a family (like my dad’s). I heartily agree - my civil service paycheck is too modest for my liking. I can barely afford the rent on a house with 3 other flatmates and a half share in a cat - let alone a mortgage and family. While I’m on the topic of families, I’d like to see the return of arranged marriages (because I’m tired of trying to find a partner) **and** ‘letters of introduction’ (because I’m tired of crazy strangers engaging me in conversation on the train). ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074/59 "2004-09-21T07:11:35Z")
Silent films. I love silent films!!! Plus a basic custom- correct grammar and spelling. Posting here without expletives or descriptions of bosily functions. ---
**Author:** ![six\_personalities](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@six\_personalities](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/six_personalities)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074/60 "2004-09-21T09:07:22Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > Plus a basic custom- correct grammar and spelling. Ahem…physician,heal thyself … > [@Cicero](#): > > Posting here without expletives or descriptions of **bosily** functions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-traditions-and-customs-youd-like-revived/265074.md?page=4)