# 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:** 19
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/362 "2019-09-23T08:52:32Z")
Yeah, and I see coarse-ground beef for chili at major chain supermarkets. Granted, I live in Texas, so maybe it’s a regional thang. ---
**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 23, 2019, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/363 "2019-09-23T10:44:25Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Can you still call a phone number for the time? 😃 “Thank you for calling _Accu-Time_. Look at you phone, dummy!” (I don’t have a landline, so you question seemed non sequiturish) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/364 "2019-09-23T14:06:27Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > 53 here, and prefer bar soap. I use a washcloth, and I like to lather the whole thing up before I start. When I’ve tried the liquids, it all soaked straight into the spot I squirted it on and it was useless trying to spread it around. 47, and I prefer bar soap, as with our water, bodywash leaves me feeling slightly soapy, even though I’ve rinsed thoroughly and completely, and bar soap doesn’t leave that soapy feeling. Plus, it seems to be cheaper, but I don’t have any proof of that. ---
**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 23, 2019, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/365 "2019-09-23T14:32:43Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Can you still call a phone number for the time? Yes. The US Naval Observatory has a number you call. It’s 202-762-1401 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/366 "2019-09-23T14:40:58Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > Grocery stores and supermarkets closing on holidays. > > As recently as the late 80s/early 90s, if you were making a dish to bring to one of the family food holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter) you’d better be sure to have all the ingredients the day before, because if you were missing something that morning, tough. Nothing was open. I find the exact opposite. When I moved to Arizona in the mid 80s, all of the grocery stores were open 24/7/365. It was quite the change from Wisconsin of the time, where they rolled up the streets at 5:00 sharp. Now not only are they not open holidays, they get publicly shamed if they are, because families are important in Red Arizona\*. And 24 hours has been a thing of the past for more than a decade. And don’t get me started on the number of car dealers that proudly proclaim in every commercial that they are never open Sundays. We’ve regressed. \*eta and forget about it if the 4th of July falls on a Sunday. No fireworks on Sunday. Monday or Saturday, so as not to offend a certain religion. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/367 "2019-09-23T14:52:47Z")
> [@bump](#): > > 47, and I prefer bar soap, as with our water, bodywash leaves me feeling slightly soapy, even though I’ve rinsed thoroughly and completely, and bar soap doesn’t leave that soapy feeling. > > Plus, it seems to be cheaper, but I don’t have any proof of that. And it doesn’t come in a big plastic, one use container. We are fans of bar soap, and in particular, Yardley. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/368 "2019-09-23T15:56:49Z")
> [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > Another one that’s becoming a bit of a problem for me: people apparently don’t use bar soap any more. Even in a big supermarket or big box store, there’ll often only be a couple of options, usually ones that are mostly used for women washing their faces. Really? WalMart has a whole aisle with bar soaps. For both women and men. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/369 "2019-09-23T16:05:40Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Maybe it’s a regional thing… here, every grocery store/drugstore/Wal-Mart has a decent choice of bar soaps- last time I bought some (a few weeks back), they had several varieties each of Dial, Caress, Dove (men and women varieties), and Irish Spring, as well as some more random varieties- Ivory and Safeguard come to mind. > > I can’t say that I’ve seen a bar of Lifebuoy, Shield or Camay in a long time, but that’s been decades, not like a few years. I’ve been using ivory most of my life and couldn’t find it the last time I was at Walmart. I ended up buying some Dove “for men” scented stuff. I really prefer non-scented plain stuff. I thought Ivory was pretty standard, when did that become “random”? That’s certainly a change - that men need more variety of soaps and scents. They sell all kinds of varieties of “for men” bar and body/face/all-in-one liquid washes. “Dudes” even need their own special wet wipes these days apparently. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/370 "2019-09-23T16:09:55Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Bar soap is another thing that Millenials are supposedly killing off; if so I don’t blame them a bit. Bar soap is messy and the soap dish you need for it takes up a lot more room on the bathroom counter than a container of liquid soap. > > Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk I like bar soap because it’s cheap. I’m used to getting a 3 pack for a buck. A lot of that liquid body wash stuff is 5 or 6 bucks a bottle. I guess this comes down to those damn millenials and their avocado toast and Starbucks habits, wasting money and going into debt instead of buying houses and leaving mom’s basement and such. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/371 "2019-09-23T16:20:24Z")
> [@bmoak](#): > > “Get all the sports news instantly, dial 976-1313!” Why do I remember a jingle that I haven’t seen since I was a kid almost 40 years ago? In addition to dial time/temperature numbers, there were a lot more pay-per-minute numbers such as Dial-A-Joke. I remember the commercial for “call 1 -900 -976 - EEEEEE - S - P - NNNNNNNN” maybe 25 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/372 "2019-09-23T17:03:24Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > I’ve been using ivory most of my life and couldn’t find it the last time I was at Walmart. I ended up buying some Dove “for men” scented stuff. I really prefer non-scented plain stuff. I thought Ivory was pretty standard, when did that become “random”? > > That’s certainly a change - that men need more variety of soaps and scents. They sell all kinds of varieties of “for men” bar and body/face/all-in-one liquid washes. “Dudes” even need their own special wet wipes these days apparently. I should have probably said “singular” varieties. What I was getting at is that Dial has 3-4 colors/types, and Irish Spring has 2, Dove has like 5 for women, and 4 for men, but Ivory, Safeguard and Lever 2000 are only the one type. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/373 "2019-09-23T18:34:08Z")
> [@Marlonius](#): > > When I was a kid, all adults were called Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms. > > I’m now 47 and have only ever been called “Mr.” twice that I can recall. In each case, it was the child of immigrant friends. All other children call me by my first name. I notice that a lot, come to think of it. The strict formalities used. In the late 60s through early 70s, calling even the most familiar, long-time and friendly neighbor by their first name in front of my parents was a solecism that would bring an on-the-spot scolding or rap on the head. Today I’m indifferent to it. I don’t really dislike being referred to as Mr, but among kids of longtime friends, I prefer them use my first name. The formality seems stilted, somehow. ---
**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 23, 2019, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/374 "2019-09-23T23:20:53Z")
When did soap start coming in different versions for men and for women\*? And is the soap actually different, or just the wrapping, she asks suspiciously? (aside from beard shaving soap, that is. And come to think of it I never knew what was different about that, either.) ---
**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 23, 2019, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/375 "2019-09-23T23:33:37Z")
I’m pretty sure the only thing different between the men’s and women’s soap is the scent. Getting back to landline phones, what about collect calls? When was the last time you either made or received a collect call? Now that everyone has cell phones that don’t differentiate between local and long distance, and plans that either come with unlimited talk for a flat rate, or at least a preset number of minutes per month, collect calls are hardly needed anymore. Remember those 800 numbers they used to advertise back in the 1990s, like 1-800-COLLECT? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/376 "2019-09-24T00:40:45Z")
Actually, with cell phones and VOIP land lines, there’s hardly a reason for toll-free numbers any more. I guess collect calls still exist for calls made from jails and prisons. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/377 "2019-09-24T00:57:54Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > I have a vacation rental where we give the guests a choice in the walk in shower between a new paper wrapped mini soap bar and a full size squeeze container of liquid soap. Generally 50+ aged individuals use the bar soap and younger guests use the liquid soap. > > I’'m 66 and much prefer bar soap. > [@Marlonius](#): > > When I was a kid, all adults were called Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms. > > I’m now 47 and have only ever been called “Mr.” twice that I can recall. In each case, it was the child of immigrant friends. All other children call me by my first name. My mom and dad raised me to call people Mr/Mrs/Ms, and use sir and ma’am, born 1961. Out in public I still called my mom and dad ma’am and sir, and introduced them formally [Jeff, this is my mother/father \, and then give them his name [forename, surname] and I will call someone I don’t know personally mr/mrs/ms and use sir/ma’am unless/until they tell me to call them something else. And, yes, until she told me to call her with her first name, I called mrAru’s mom Mrs \. > [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > I like bar soap because it’s cheap. I’m used to getting a 3 pack for a buck. A lot of that liquid body wash stuff is 5 or 6 bucks a bottle. I guess this comes down to those damn millenials and their avocado toast and Starbucks habits, wasting money and going into debt instead of buying houses and leaving mom’s basement and such. I like either bar or liquid soap - though I have a preference for liquid soap for hand washing. There is a cheap dollar store bar soap [a lemon verbena/oatmeal] that quashes body odor with less scent slam than the ‘deodorant’ soaps … I think it is the old fashioned castile base, and something with the lemon verbena. I sue either liquid or bar soap with scrungy gloves and a back brush for my back. [not sure of the original poster]Organ meats used to be more common. You’d find liver (both beef and chicken), kidneys, hearts, tripe, tongue, etc. at the meat counter at just about any grocery store. Many stores today carry only muscle meats. Also, I remember when they used to have coarsely-ground beef for chili. When was the last time you saw that? Or cube steak? On the other hand, it’s a lot easier to get ground turkey or chicken than it used to be.[end unknown poster] In the local IGA in Perry NY and Caledonia NY, in the 60s and 70s I can remember basic ground beef, cubed steaks, large pot roasts and some cuts of steak [I vaguely remember NY strip and London Broil specifically] chicken whole [had to cut it up yourself] picnic ham, pork shoulder, pork chops and tenderloin, lamb around Easter, Turkey at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and sausage tended to be hot dogs and breakfast sausage. Bacon and cold cuts - rarely Canadian bacon, cuts were bologna, liverwurst [square with a rim of fat] sliced ham, sliced roast beef and very rarely something funky like olive loaf. If you wanted something different you had to order it, and I didn’t see duck or goose or venison unless we went out and hunted it. We got rabbits occasionally when they were raiding the garden. This might have been because it really was small town isolated western NY state, nearest city for Perry was 60 miles, for Caledonia was 30 miles. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/378 "2019-09-24T01:10:26Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > I like bar soap because it’s cheap. I’m used to getting a 3 pack for a buck. A lot of that liquid body wash stuff is 5 or 6 bucks a bottle. I guess this comes down to those damn millenials and their avocado toast and Starbucks habits, wasting money and going into debt instead of buying houses and leaving mom’s basement and such. Buying things they don’t need, with money they don’t have, to impress people they don’t like? ---
**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 24, 2019, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/379 "2019-09-24T01:32:37Z")
I’m 50, lifelong US West Coast resident. I’ve found it a bit odd in my call center jobs to have callers who are definitely a generation senior to me address me as “ma’am”. Feels kind of wrong to have someone that senior to me addressing me in a way I find deferential. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/380 "2019-09-24T03:12:48Z")
the need for Americans to have some form of cooked potato with every meal …now with rice and noodle roni type of stuff i dont have to choke down non-fried forms of potatoes every night … ---
**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 24, 2019, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516/381 "2019-09-24T04:51:36Z")
> [@bmoak](#): > > Department stores aren’t quite dead yet, but in their heyday, it was pretty common for department stores to have their own in-house restaurant, whether it be a lunch counter or a fancy dining room. I remember that store downtown, the place with the name that started with “W”, that had a cafe on the south wall, a lunch counter on the east wall and a soda counter on the north wall. They might have had something on the west wall but that was where the pet store section was. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-subtle-human-trends-behaviors-that-have-slowly-subsided-since-the-70s-80s/839516.md?page=20)