# Old People Are Weird **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 24, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925 "2011-08-24T17:56:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925/1 "2011-08-24T17:56:03Z")
Below is an excerpt from an email my dad sent me today. He recently visited my grandmother. “Something funny happened while I was at her house. She told your sister that she could have an old cast iron teapop that she has had for years. It belonged to her grandmother. She asked if there was anything that you might like. I said I didn’t know and she should ask you. Then she said do you think he would like the civil war needle. It was used by her grandfather during the war. It is the needle, the part that hold the medicine, and all in a wood case. I said yes, I think he might like to have that. She said she had considered giving it to you before but was afraid you would use it for drugs. I thought that was funny. I told her I didn’t really think John would stick a 150 year old needle in his arm or any other needle for that matter. She has strange ideas.” So does my grandmother already think I am a recreational IV drug user? Or that the Civil War era antique needle will entice me to try shooting up? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925/2 "2011-08-24T18:05:19Z")
You mean the youths of today aren’t all on drugs? ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925/3 "2011-08-24T18:07:04Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > You mean the youths of today aren’t all on drugs? LOL. What makes it even funnier is that I am considered the “good” grandson. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925/4 "2011-08-24T18:16:53Z")
What else would you use it for other than drugs? That’s what it was made for! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925/5 "2011-08-24T18:29:18Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > What else would you use it for other than drugs? That’s what it was made for! Adding whipped cream to the center of cupcakes? One of my mother’s insaner friends once told me that the young men of today were all prematurely bald because of drug use. It was back in the late 1980s, so maybe she was reacting to the steroid craze? So, **Living Well Is Best Revenge** , what \*are \*you going to do with your great grandfather’s war needle? ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925/6 "2011-08-24T18:36:55Z")
DG: I wonder if I can take it on Antiques Roadshow! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925/7 "2011-08-24T18:38:51Z")
> [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](#): > > Adding whipped cream to the center of cupcakes? Whipped cream can be like a drug. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925/8 "2011-08-24T18:42:38Z")
Weren’t those old needles huge? You could almost use a straw instead. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925/9 "2011-08-24T18:48:00Z")
Sigh, I can’t believe I read it as ‘recreational 4’ in my head. I feel dumb. > [@Yllaria](#): > > Weren’t those old needles huge? You could almost use a straw instead. A straw for snorting coke? ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925/10 "2011-08-24T21:49:31Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Sigh, I can’t believe I read it as ‘recreational 4’ in my head. I feel dumb. > > A straw for snorting coke? Naah, Pepsi is better anyway… ---
**Author:** ![Al\_Bundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925/11 "2011-08-24T22:05:27Z")
Granny lived in an age where this type of rampant drug use was not common. She watches TV and hears the news yet she is unaware of the specifics of how thing work today. But she is interested in your welfare and wants no part of influencing you improperly. I see nothing weird about it. She simply has a far different perspective of things because of the vast age difference. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925/12 "2011-08-24T22:52:36Z")
> [@Al\_Bundy](#): > > Granny lived in an age where this type of rampant drug use was not common. She watches TV and hears the news yet she is unaware of the specifics of how thing work today. But she is interested in your welfare and wants no part of influencing you improperly. I see nothing weird about it. She simply has a far different perspective of things because of the vast age difference. I guess, but the fact she thought I might shoot drugs with a 150 year old antique syringe is pretty crazy! ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925/13 "2011-08-25T00:27:45Z")
Maybe that’s what her grandfather had used it for and she didn’t want history to repeat itself. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925/14 "2011-08-25T02:35:53Z")
> [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#): > > I guess, but the fact she thought I might shoot drugs with a 150 year old antique syringe is pretty crazy! Why, you might become Hysteric, or get Sprue, Lumbago or the Spanish Disease! Where’s my Laudinum? ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925/15 "2011-08-25T08:10:52Z")
Or you might get the grippe, or the vapours and need to drain the humours of bile. ---
**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:** [August 25, 2011, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925/16 "2011-08-25T08:28:18Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Maybe that’s what her grandfather had used it for and she didn’t want history to repeat itself. Family history repeating itself, etc. How old is granny, anyways? ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925/17 "2011-08-25T09:13:56Z")
I think Granny was just needling your dad. mmm ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925/18 "2011-08-25T12:12:57Z")
My maternal grandmother was a character. When I was in my mid-20s, she was mid-60s (Dang, just a little older than I am now) and she used to buy bodice-rippers from a local thrift store for a quarter each. When she finished them, she’d pass them to me, letting me know which ones had “good parts” in them. :eek: 😃 My mother would have been appalled, but it just cracked me up. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925/19 "2011-08-25T18:34:18Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > What else would you use it for other than drugs? That’s what it was made for! > [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](#): > > Adding whipped cream to the center of cupcakes? Yeah, I’d, um, like one of your, uh, _special_ cupcakes. Yeah, uh, like my friend Cheech got the other day. The, you know, _special_ one. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925/20 "2011-08-25T18:49:07Z")
> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > Family history repeating itself, etc. > > How old is granny, anyways? Granny is 89. But a young 89, if that’s possible. She is still with it mentally. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-are-weird/593925.md?page=2)