# Odd things your elderly relatives were concerned with that caused you embarassment or confusion **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 21, 2014, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213 "2014-11-21T00:17:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213/181 "2014-12-04T20:51:27Z")
> [@bup](#): > > My mother insisted we had to sit 6 feet away from the TV because of ‘radiation.’ The parent’s fears were exaggerated, but with the old cathode ray tubes, that was a real issue. > **[Cathode-ray tube](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathode_ray_tube)** > > A cathode-ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing one or more electron guns, which emit electron beams that are manipulated to display images on a phosphorescent screen. The images may represent electrical waveforms on an oscilloscope, a frame of video on an analog television set (TV), digital raster graphics on a computer monitor, or other phenomena like radar targets. A CRT in a TV is commonly called a picture tube. CRTs have also been used as memory devices, in which case the screen is n > [@](#): > > CRTs can emit a small amount of X-ray radiation as a result of the electron beam’s bombardment of the shadow mask/aperture grille and phosphors. The amount of radiation escaping the front of the monitor is widely considered unharmful. The Food and Drug Administration regulations in 21 C.F.R. 1020.10 are used to strictly limit, for instance, television receivers to 0.5 milliroentgens per hour (mR/h) (0.13 µC/(kg·h) or 36 pA/kg) at a distance of 5 cm (2 in) from any external surface; since 2007, most CRTs have emissions that fall well below this limit.[45] Note that the article only gives confidence for CRTs made since 2007. For the prior half-century, it was a minor but real concern. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Dracula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/54ee81/32.png) [@Count\_Dracula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Dracula)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213/182 "2014-12-04T21:03:00Z")
My grandmother insisted that we did not actually land a man on the moon but instead the government was showing things that they had filmed in the desert. ---
**Author:** ![Tully\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@Tully\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tully_Mars)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213/183 "2014-12-04T21:08:31Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > So, old people follow annoying rules because they’ve seen more stuff go wrong. And some of the rules they follow still make sense (washers still break and leak) and others probably don’t (catalyic converters no longer set grass on fire.) But people don’t always keep up with which dangers have gone away. I think that about more than a few posts in this thread. In 1999, my grandmother asked me to cut her some firewood so she could replace the gas log in her Franklin stove should it come to pass that the gas utility failed catastrophically due to the Y2K bug. I started to explain to her why she shouldn’t worry, but then I realized I was talking to a lady who likely had been told not to worry in 1929 and in 1941 by some smart people. I just replied, “Yes ma’am. I’ll bring you some firewood.” ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213/184 "2014-12-04T21:09:07Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Your mom didn’t forget. There’s a good story you’re missing. 🙂 If it were anyone but my mom, I’d think so. But she was very straightforward\* and didn’t really have any guile about her. I could have seen her maybe not saying in front of Grandma and telling me later… I guess I could ask my father if he remembers, but not press him for details. \*My teenage brother: Have you ever tried anal sex? Mom: We did, but it hurt me too much so I didn’t like it. ---
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213/185 "2014-12-05T00:12:35Z")
My mother has paranoid psychosis (she’s over 90 and her paranoia meant she wasn’t taking her meds and she was starving herself too at the time). While I was in the process of transferring her to a care home she called the cops on me. Fortunately, I had copies of the durable power of attorney and a letter from her doctor about her mental impairments. The care home is working out fine, and she’s now taking her meds but convinced people are stealing her underwear. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. ---
**Author:** ![Coffeecup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Coffeecup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coffeecup)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213/186 "2014-12-05T00:47:38Z")
My mother insisted that women must not wash their hair more than once a week, and she held me to that strict policy. She never explained her reasoning; possibly she grew up in a house without indoor plumbing and she’d been taught not to waste water. Problem was, I had a very oily scalp, so I’d have to walk around the last half of every week with slick, oily, stringy hair. She had me so thoroughly indoctrinated that I was 25 years old and living in my own apartment before I decided I could wash my hair _as often as I pleased!_ ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213/187 "2014-12-05T01:14:43Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > 🙂 If it were anyone but my mom, I’d think so. But she was very straightforward\* and didn’t really have any guile about her. I could have seen her maybe not saying in front of Grandma and telling me later… > > I guess I could ask my father if he remembers, but not press him for details. > \*My teenage brother: Have you ever tried anal sex? > Mom: We did, but it hurt me too much so I didn’t like it. I’m gonna bet she told her Mom some BS story way back when to cover for some indelicate reality. At least indelicate by the standards of her Mom back then. And now she didn’t want to tell you the fib, nor did she want to tell her Mom the truth. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213/188 "2014-12-05T01:18:14Z")
My Grandma was a living Encyclopedia Catastrophica in the last years before death. Her memory in general was very spotty, but She knew every possible geographical location by the most likely method of death, sometimes real, sometimes urban legend, sometimes ancient ridiculous prejudice. Name a City, or country you might move to or visit, and her immediate response was, “You can’t go there! You be killed by/in a …” Some of the ones I remember. West Coast =Earthquake. Southeast = Heat Stroke. Southwest = Hurricane. Northeast = Mugged and Murdered. Upper Midwest = Blizzard. Europe(except Italy) = Killed by Gypsies :smack: Australia = Snake. India = Tiger Italy or Japan = Gangsters Russia = KGB And if you named a place she wasn’t quite sure where it was: Malaria or Tuberculosis. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213/189 "2014-12-05T23:48:39Z")
Mom: “Don’t wear your glasses all the time. They’ll make your eyes get weaker”. Me: “bwuh? How??!!” Mom: “They just do.” Me: ::::thud:::: (either headdesking, or stumbling into a wall) Later Me: “Mom says wearing glasses makes your eyes weaker” Eye Doctor: “That’s absolutely untrue” Later Me: “The eye doctor says that’s wrong.” Mom: “Well, what does he know anyway.” Me: :::thud::: (headdesking) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2014, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213/190 "2014-12-06T00:35:16Z")
> [@Marion\_Wormer](#): > > The care home is working out fine, and she’s now taking her meds but convinced people are stealing her underwear. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. That’s actually quite possible. But more likely lost/misplaced in the laundry than stolen. Quite common & understandable in facilities like that. For Xmas, buy your mother some fancy, comfortable underwear and sew nametags onto the front of them. Tell her no one can steal these! and she should like that. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2014, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213/191 "2014-12-06T03:40:40Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > That’s actually quite possible. > But more likely lost/misplaced in the laundry than stolen. Quite common & understandable in facilities like that. > > For Xmas, buy your mother some fancy, comfortable underwear and sew nametags onto the front of them. Tell her no one can steal these! and she should like that. Buy her some RFID tags and track the new ones to the laundry and back. LoL! Honestly though, is she in adult diapers? If so, the staff may be reluctant to pull her undies on over them. Or she may have had a favorite pair that got soiled beyond repair and were tossed. Or she may just be running out, and need an infusion. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2014, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213/192 "2014-12-06T04:05:58Z")
I still unplug the toaster. To be fair, my toaster is around 30 years old; I’m not sure I’d be as worried about a 21st-century appliance. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213/193 "2014-12-07T01:17:16Z")
My grandpa thought you could get better trade-in/sale value on a car if you never unwrapped and plugged in the cigarette lighter. He “hand me down”'d a car to my mom that still had the thing wrapped up and sitting in the ash tray, which, as soon as I saw I promptly unwrapped it and plugged it in. No, I don’t smoke, nor does anyone in our family. I just wasn’t putting up with that nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213/194 "2014-12-08T20:42:32Z")
Don’t stand near the microwave when it’s cooking. I was at a boyfriend’s for Easter dinner some 15 years ago, and I was near the microwave when a dish was put in to heat. Everyone moved away from it but me b/c I didn’t take the mom’s urging seriously, thought she was kidding and the family was having a joke. Until she shoved me into the next room yelling that I would get hurt. Considering what it took to get rid of her son when I broke up w/ him (phone harassment, parking behind my car so I couldn’t go to work in the morning, shoving his way into my apartment b/c he KNEW I had a man there I was hiding from him, shouting matches in the apartment building’s open hallways), I’d say she was right. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213/195 "2014-12-08T21:05:47Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I still unplug the toaster. To be fair, my toaster is around 30 years old; I’m not sure I’d be as worried about a 21st-century appliance. Bah! No 21st-century appliance will last for 30 years. By design. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213/196 "2014-12-10T21:18:03Z")
> [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](#): > > Not a relative, but: > If you drive a car barefoot, you can be arrested. ?!? > > My father would unplug everything in the house before leaving on vacation except for the refrigerator. Especially clocks. I got in much trouble for suggesting that if the kitchen clock was going to start a fire, it would be better if it did so while we were gone. That’s another one, before going anywhere that they would be gone more than 4 hours they unplugged everything AND turned off all the water at the inbound source in the basement. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213/197 "2014-12-10T22:07:57Z")
An odd one I just remembered. I was born in the early 80’s and by the late 80’s, I wasn’t allowed to walk outside barefoot. My mom said I would cut my foot on something that someone else had already cut themselves on and I’d get aids. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213/198 "2014-12-11T02:24:03Z")
Dammit…I have a 40-year-old toaster, and, thanks to this thread, I’m going to start unplugging it. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213/199 "2014-12-11T02:42:49Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > An odd one I just remembered. I was born in the early 80’s and by the late 80’s, I wasn’t allowed to walk outside barefoot. My mom said I would cut my foot on something that someone else had already cut themselves on and I’d get aids. I think you win! That is really odd. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2014, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213/200 "2014-12-11T04:29:48Z")
> [@Coffeecup](#): > > My mother insisted that women must not wash their hair more than once a week, and she held me to that strict policy. My grandmother did that her whole life; she also sponge-washed. Now that she’s in assisted living, she complains that they only shower her three times a week and that the shower only lasts fifteen minutes (which is about five minutes longer than one of her sponge washes). My mother would switch off the gas and water in the Barcelona flat when she was going back to her own home and there wasn’t someone else there (there’s three people who are relatively likely to spend the night and who have keys: her, my aunt and me - my brothers and my cousin need to get their respective mother’s keys); I got her to stop doing it after the second time I was arriving within 24h. Call me dumb, but this “arrive to flat after midnight, drop into bed, get up, go to shower, get a few liters and then it dries up” got old fast. One time she also switched off the electricity; she realized there had been food in the freezer before she’d gotten in a taxi, though, and went back to switch it on. Note that she does not switch off the electricity or the water when leaving her own flat for several days. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-your-elderly-relatives-were-concerned-with-that-caused-you-embarassment-or-confusion/705213.md?page=11)