I had to explain “45’s” and “33’s” to a twenty-year-old at work. He sort of got it when I reminded him, but he didn’t have even a faint clue when I told him I collect “78’s”!
Imagine if I’d told him about Victrola rolls!
• Hot Air popcorn poppers.
• Buying gasoline on “Odd & Even” days
• Home Alarms that are not on motion sensors. I remember in our garage in a kid (mid-late 70s) my dad had this old-ass burglar alarm (still in the box) that somehow ran a wire from the front door to a big bell. I’m assuming that if there was a connection broken between the door and the frame while it was activated it would ring the bell.
• Lawn Darts
• I remember when I was very young some friends of my parents had a remote control for their TV, the signal from which actually generated a mechanical response…the channel dial would actually flip by means of this gearing system that was retrofitted to an older TV – this TV was produced way before remote controls were commonplace.
• Magnavox’s Odyssey game system
Do they still put attic fans in new houses? It seems like they would but I have not seen one in a long time. Maybe its a regional thing.
I played this at camp as a kid. I’m pretty sure they still do.
Jazzheads might know this one. 
skate key
running board
ice box or frigidaire
iceman
art gum eraser
rouge
coal oil
falsies
getting out of school for “cotton pickin’”
book satchel
Jarts. The fun of combining a back yard game and instant death!
Quadraphonic!
Earth shoes.
Mood rings.
Phase II (wage/price controls in the early '70s)
Quadraphonic!
Earth shoes.
Mood rings.
Phase II (wage/price controls in the early '70s)
Are hayrides really obsolete? I was at a fall festival a few years ago and the hayride was quite popular.
And just this weekend, I saw hula hoops for sale in WalMart.
I coach high school kids, and one of my kids is an actress. She had gone for headshots before practice one day, and came in covered in that photographic makeup.
So when it was her turn, I said, “Hey, Tammy Faye Bakker, get over here.” Mind you, I was making eye contact with her at the time.
Dead. Freaking. Silence.
Nobody had any clue what I was talking about. I tried to explain, and, if it is possible for silence to deepen, that’s what happened. Finally, I just hung my head, called her by her actual name, and went to find somewhere to cry.
It’s almost as sad as the time that I brought a copy of “Heathers” to movie night and nobody had heard of it.
What about disc cameras? Or drive-in movies?
I guess for every thing in this thread that someone thinks is obsolete, someone else thinks it’s the cat’s meow (and “the cat’s meow” is obsolete, no?).
As far as attic fans, they are ideal some places. I live right on the edge of northern Lake Michigan, where air conditioning is needed perhaps only 3 days a year. An attic fan is just the ticket for those inbetween days when you need a little air moving, but don’t want the refrigerated air feeling.
Someone else mentioned drive-in movies. I know of at least one nearby that is still surviving. It’s near a state park that has lots of summer campers, and many feel that bringing a portable VCR & TV to the campsite is going too far, but a drivein still feels like they are roughing it.
I wonder if any campers take their 8-tracks to the drive-in.
Drivein movie theatres, alive and kickin’.
I wasn’t knocking them…we had one in the house I grew up and I liked it. My comment was just that I havent seen a new house that has one installed in it in quite a while.
I am surprised nobody came up with this one; it’s the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread title: when I was a little kid the proper term for people of color was “negro”. I would say that’s obsolete.
Originally I was going to say that I’ve had spam to buy a fake Rolodex both yesterday and today. But that was for a Rolex . . .
We keep a Rolodex on the counter for family phone numbers. For some things, paper and ink just can’t be beat!
What else is obsolete?
Mimeographs – soon the exam-stealing episode of ‘Animal House’ will be incomprehensible
Card catalogs (in the library)
Multiplan – one of the worst products devised by Microsoft
Lazy Susans – well this house doesn’t have one but a Google search turns up 18,500 references to them, so maybe not
afternoon mail – yes, the U.S. Postal Service once delivered mail in the morning and again in the afternoon during the busy holiday season
Kindergarten anxiety – it used to be a scene of tears when 5-year-olds were separated from their mothers for the first time. Current teachers say it’s gone because most children have done pre-school for years.
clothes line – ubiquitous in the old days; now it turns your head if you see clothes or sheets hanging on a line
leaf burning – illegal in most areas
I still call the remote control a “clicker” even though they haven’t clicked for ages. Remember the remotes with the cord and about a zillion buttons?
When I was just a nipper, my parents bought a car with automatic windows. If it got a bit too windy in the back, I would holler at my dad to roll up the window. But that sounded funny, because all he had to do was hit a button. So my family started to say, “Go up the window, will ya? I’m freezing!”
I’m still not sure why we say “roll up the window”. What are we rolling? The ball bearings?
It’s all ball bearings these days.
I think the people my age have heard of drive-ins. I was just saying to my brother a few days ago that I think they sound reasonably cool and that I’d like to try seeing one if I could. It would save me and the lady from worrying about people icking at the making out. Okay, we don’t worry about that much, but still.
Typewriter ribbons
Typewriters
CB radio and “10-4, good buddy!”
Calculators that need batteries - they all seem solar-powered now
“Open an account and get a free toaster!” Now you’re lucky if they let you keep the pen.
“Fill 'er up!” - obsolete everywhere except Oregon
“Number, please”
“Extra! Extra! Read all about it!”
“Hello, Operator?”
You’re not old-fashioned, you’re well versed and appreciative of prior art. I’ve never owned a camera with a format above 6 x 7, yet love my Mamiya Universal. I worked for a professional photographer as a lab tech in the early 70’s, and learned a great deal.
Another vote for Quadrophonic! My Lafayette LR-5000 quad receiver is still going strong, along with a reel-to-reel deck, a turntable, and an 8-track deck. Sigh If only they had tubes.