# Small/subtle human trends & behaviors that have slowly subsided since the 70s/80s. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 31, 2019, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516 "2019-08-31T13:06:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/262 "2019-09-11T21:59:34Z")
DH and I still use the radio in our car (2016 model), and occasionally the CD player. ---
**Author:** ![RadioWave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/91b2a8/32.png) [@RadioWave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadioWave)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/263 "2019-09-11T23:06:32Z")
Speaking of cars, I just saw one with a “For Sale” sign in the window. There used to be vast swaths of intersections and supermarket parking lots with rusting hulks sitting around, each with a red and white sign showing the year, mileage, price and phone number to call. They’d sit there for weeks until someone got piqued and called up the number to make an offer. Now it’s all CarMax and websites. Of course, once somebody did drive the car home, all the guys on the street would come out, pop open the trunk and stand around pointing at stuff. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/264 "2019-09-11T23:21:47Z")
> [@RadioWave](#): > > Speaking of cars, I just saw one with a “For Sale” sign in the window. There used to be vast swaths of intersections and supermarket parking lots with rusting hulks sitting around, each with a red and white sign showing the year, mileage, price and phone number to call. They’d sit there for weeks until someone got piqued and called up the number to make an offer. Now it’s all CarMax and websites… I still see the “for sale” car signs occasionally around here, but they’ve been illegal for at least a decade in the city of Chicago, as far as I know. You probably won’t get ticketed if it’s on a side street, but off a main street, I have seen the cops ticket them. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/265 "2019-09-11T23:33:09Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > For that matter, here in the U.S., men’s suits are certainly far less common now. Up until the 1990s, business attire was the norm in professional environments; many businesses which had been “business attire” fairly rapidly changed over to “business casual” 20 years ago, more or less. Certainly, there are still some professions and firms which expect men to wear suits, but even then, it’s often been loosened – for example, many lawyers now only wear a suit and tie when they actually go to the courthouse. A few years ago I showed up to a job interview on a hot day wearing a suit, because I was always taught that that’s what you’re supposed to wear to a job interview. I got there and the interviewer was like “Oh, you didn’t have to wear a suit.” This was at a tech company in notoriously casual Silicon Valley, though, so I don’t know if that’s the norm everywhere. > [@TimeWinder](#): > > The “white pages,” though isn’t just gone, but there’s a whole societal change since then. Can you imagine what people would say today if you suggested that every single person’s name, address, and phone number should be printed in a book and delivered to every household? Privacy advocates would get it shut down instantly, and the company that did it would probably be out of business. I remember in the late 1990s when the internet was still a new and scary thing to a lot of people, and online phone directories were starting to become a thing, some of my classmates thought _that_ was a huge violation of their privacy, even though they had no problem with the exact same information being listed in the phone book. They were like “Oh my god, they’re putting people’s phone numbers on the _internet_! Then just anyone can find it.” I pointed out that they already could do that, using the phone book. > [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](#): > > Some time around the early 2000s, pubes started being considered as dirty. That’s quite a 180° from my youth, though I hear there’s been a (most welcome in my view) pushback against that trend recently. That reminded me of a conversation with a girl in college (so that would make it early 2000s) about how she thought body hair of any kind was “gross”. We were just platonic friends, so we weren’t intimate enough for me to learn if this opinion extended to pubes (the conversation was about leg shaving). ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/266 "2019-09-11T23:57:15Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > I think this has a lot more to do with people hating the way their bodies look, as opposed to any notion of being naked is shameful, or prudery. The 4th graders in our local school all had compulsory swim lessons this year (the government is trying to stem the increase in child drownings ) the boys all wore underwear under their swimsuits, and each/all changed under a towel. That wasn’t body image issues – it was social pressure, which is to say shame and prudery. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_McQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@Steve\_McQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_McQwark)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/267 "2019-09-12T00:02:37Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Buses and airplanes used to have smoking sections in the back. And at one time any woman smoking on the street was seen as “loose.” On a big enough plane it was the back of each class. I was in the front row of coach one time and the row in front of me, the last row in business class, was a smoking row. Unlike the people in business class, their smoke was perfectly happy to mix with us commoners in coach. But the best was when I flew Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Stockholm - the right side of the plane was smoking and the left side was non-smoking. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/268 "2019-09-12T00:25:12Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Newspapers used to be nearly ubiquitous- you’d find them, or parts of them everywhere- waiting rooms, bus/train stops, bathrooms, pretty much anywhere had to spend any amount of time would probably have that day’s newspaper handy. And people would read them > > While I still see people getting the paper in their yard, seeing them elsewhere in the wild is almost non-existent these days. As a matter of fact, when my sons were born, I had to go HUNT down newspaper copies of the day they were born (in case they’re curious when they’re older), while in years prior to that, it would have been a matter of just picking one up at a machine, convenience store, gas station, etc… Must depend on where you are. They’re still all over the place here; maybe somewhat less so than they used to be, but I see them for sale in drugstores, gas stations, groceries, etc. all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/269 "2019-09-12T04:15:09Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Are you sure it wasn’t KLondike 5-? KL-5 maps to good old 555. While HOllywood-5 maps to 465. 555 numbers came about in the 1960s; the first usage seems to have been 1961, after most seasons of Perry Mason had been broadcast. They don’t seem to have become ubiquitous until the early 1970s. [TV Tropes says](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FiveFiveFive) that Another fake number used back in the 1950s through the 1970s when most of Southern California was entirely one area code, 213, was to reserve the extension 1 plus the prefix in every prefix, so that the number 462-1462 or 733-1733 was never a working number. . . . A number of TV shows and made-for-tv movies took advantage of this fictional number feature. I’ll have to listen for that. ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/270 "2019-09-12T05:39:50Z")
My 2001 Corolla (and probably every car manufactured before it) came with an ashtray and a cigarette lighter. My 2018 Mazda3 has neither. (There’s a 12v outlet into which I suppose you could plug an aftermarket cigarette lighter, but it’s inside the center console so rather inconvenient for that.) I barely remember smoking sections in California restaurants; I was still a kid when it was banned. I clearly remember when smoking in bars was banned in Massachusetts; I wasn’t old enough to be there legally, but I was old enough to get away with it. NPR had an interview the other day with a high school kid talking about how an e-cigarette company representative had spoken to his class about how safe their product was, in the context of a story about the FDA warning them to knock it off. I don’t often scream at the radio these days unless it’s one of Trump’s defenders, but that one got me. The more things change, the more those purveyors of poison stay the same. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/271 "2019-09-12T14:26:12Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > Or a suitcase with wheels. When did those come about? I remember seeing them in the 1990s and thinking they were a little ‘too much’ - not necessarily a dumb idea, but something you kind of smirk at and make jokes about how they’re taking the luggage for a walk. Now they’re just standard. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/272 "2019-09-12T14:30:22Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > When did those come about? I remember seeing them in the 1990s and thinking they were a little ‘too much’ - not necessarily a dumb idea, but something you kind of smirk at and make jokes about how they’re taking the luggage for a walk. Now they’re just standard. I got a set of luggage when I graduated high school\* in 1986, and the largest suitcase has wheels, so they had come to be by then. This was the era of “four tiny wheels on the bottom, forcing you to make turns very carefully” wheeled luggage though. “Two big wheels with a pull-handle” came later, I think. ETA: I just did a quick search and found a ad in the _Charlotte Observer_ from 1978 for “jumbo wheeled luggage.” \*From my parents, no less. Nothing says “when are you moving out?” like the gift of luggage. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/273 "2019-09-12T14:45:34Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Must depend on where you are. They’re still all over the place here; maybe somewhat less so than they used to be, but I see them for sale in drugstores, gas stations, groceries, etc. all the time. You can still buy them, but it’s not at all common to see people reading them, see them as litter blowing around, or find newspapers in public areas anymore. I mean, I still read the Dallas Morning News, but I do it on my phone or desktop. The actual printed paper would be pretty inconvenient by comparison. Nationwide, newspaper circulation is about half what it used to be, and ad revenue is about a third. Printed magazines are just as badly affected, with a lot of formerly popular magazines going web-only(Newsweek, Redbook, Teen Vogue) or having much reduced circulation(Time), reducing publication frequency(Seventeen), or folding altogether(Life). ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/274 "2019-09-12T18:16:19Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I got a set of luggage when I graduated high school\* in 1986, and the largest suitcase has wheels, so they had come to be by then. This was the era of “four tiny wheels on the bottom, forcing you to make turns very carefully” wheeled luggage though. “Two big wheels with a pull-handle” came later, I think. I did a little googling, the patent on wheeled suitcases was in the early 70s, but the 'two wheels with a pull handle" wasn’t invented until the late 80s, which fits with them catching on in the 90s like I remember. It was the pull handle and two wheels that jumped out at me when it came out. [Happy anniversary, wheeled luggage! - CNN.com](http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/10/04/wheeled.luggage.anniversary/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/275 "2019-09-12T21:14:23Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > How about calling the number for the “Time Lady”? When we wanted to set our watches/clocks to the exact time, we’d dial a number that we all had memorized and a recording would tell you the time. Towards the end, the Time Lady would even tell you what the current temp was. Similar to this service was something, at least in Indianapolis when I was growing up, where you could call an automated system at the newspaper and get news and sports information. I called it every day to get the Pacers and Colts scores and standings. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/276 "2019-09-12T22:02:14Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > Similar to this service was something, at least in Indianapolis when I was growing up, where you could call an automated system at the newspaper and get news and sports information. I called it every day to get the Pacers and Colts scores and standings. I do believe it was CE6-2200 in Chicago. The Daily News or the Sun-Times, can’t remember which. The other had one beginning WH3. Might have ended 3080. It’s possible I called for updates a little too frequently. ---
**Author:** ![JohnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/848f3c/32.png) [@JohnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnM)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/277 "2019-09-13T01:10:04Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I was in a dive bar/restaurant near Pittsburgh on Saturday that is smoker friendly, as in signage that reads “SMOKERS WELCOME”. We were definitely in Allegheny County, and I thought all places that served food _had_ to be no-smoking. We both took showers that night to wash off the smell, haven’t had to do that in years. As a former columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer used to say in reference to our politics, “Pennsylvania, Land of Giants.” Bars can request an exemption from the smoking ban if they ban anyone under 18 and get less than 20% of their revenue from food. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/278 "2019-09-13T11:48:23Z")
> [@JohnM](#): > > As a former columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer used to say in reference to our politics, “Pennsylvania, Land of Giants.” Bars can request an exemption from the smoking ban if they ban anyone under 18 and get less than 20% of their revenue from food. Huh. Well, nobody there under 18 who didn’t have ID saying they were 21, but they sell a ton of food. It was a real throwback kinda day. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/279 "2019-09-13T17:00:26Z")
I heard somewhere that, in my state, bars that serve cocktails and shots (distilled spirit) are required to have a major portion of their revenue coming from gnosh. Taverns (beer/wine only), not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/280 "2019-09-13T18:56:35Z")
I realized this morning that I don’t think I’ve heard anyone talk about a six-pack of beer in decades. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/281 "2019-09-13T19:06:18Z")
Huh. I just bought beer and the sign referred to 6-packs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516.md?page=15)