# Things that were once cool, but today scream "old geezer/ette" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 18, 2026, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789 "2026-01-18T14:34:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789/121 "2026-01-21T13:59:44Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Funny, I dropped Levi’s a while back and switched first to cargo shorts and then also cargo pants. I’m pushing 60 at this point. The cargo pants are just very handy compared to Dockers or jeans. Yep, for many years now, cargo pants and cargo shorts are pretty much all I wear. I’ve heard (and been told to my face) that someone my age should not be wearing cargo pants, but I don’t care. The pockets are handy! I’ve never cared about fashion, beyond being well-groomed and presentable. But for a time in the 90s I discovered that I was accidentally the very height of fashion. At the time, I lived well south of a ritzy community that had a walkable downtown with many high-end shops. I used to ride my bike north through this town a lot. The people walking the downtown area were once dressed to kill, but at some point in the Grunge years of the mid to late 90s, I noticed that everybody was wearing flannels over old t-shirts. I thought wow, I fit right in! ---
**Author:** ![dimike333](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dimike333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dimike333)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789/122 "2026-01-21T14:02:18Z")
Facebook, bootcut jeans, and printed boarding passes. I’m early 40s and had to accept some stuff just aged with me. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789/123 "2026-01-21T14:03:08Z")
Were printed boarding passes ever seen as cool? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789/124 "2026-01-21T14:10:37Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Funny, I dropped Levi’s a while back and switched first to cargo shorts and then also cargo pants. I’m pushing 60 at this point. The cargo pants are just very handy compared to Dockers or jeans. Way back in the 90’s when companies like 511 started pushing them a lot of law enforcement agencies didn’t allow them because they looked too “tactical”. Today they are standard issue for uniform patrol and thank goodness for that. The more shit they require us to carry the more pockets I need. Plus with the stretchy waistband and crotch they are super comfortable to wear! ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789/125 "2026-01-21T14:24:19Z")
A former student of mine, now in his early twenties, plays in a Grateful Dead cover band. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789/126 "2026-01-21T14:29:09Z")
Hi-fi, van conversions, shag carpet, sunken living rooms, Leroy Neiman prints, aviator glasses, big belt buckles, built-in kitchen appliances…Jeans? Not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789/127 "2026-01-21T14:50:32Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Leroy Neiman prints And let’s not forget Thomas Kinkade paintings. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789/128 "2026-01-21T14:53:53Z")
Are you guys going to mention _every_ chapter of the (wonderful) _Encyclopedia of Bad Taste?_ > **[Encyclopedia of Bad Taste](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/533042.Encyclopedia_of_Bad_Taste)** > > America's premiere scholars of popular culture present … One reader’s comment: > Given that is book was written in the late 80s/early 90s, and mostly celebrates kitsch from the 1940s-70s, I read it feeling nostalgia for the nostalgia of an earlier time. The 80s-90s po-mo kitsch blender was actually pretty great, when the mid-century material culture was still the fat of the land, and before ebay scoured the thrift stores clean. ---
**Author:** ![Disinfectus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/disinfectus/32/11085_2.png) [@Disinfectus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disinfectus)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789/129 "2026-01-21T15:24:01Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > A former student of mine, now in his early twenties, plays in a Grateful Dead cover band. I know of a couple of bands that play this music that are comprised of young musicians. It surprises me in a good way. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789/130 "2026-01-21T15:24:51Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > My knee was torn up and bloody as you’d expect. But it was covered by my long thin cotton dress, which was not torn or even scuffed I was shot above the knee with a BB gun as a kid, by another kid (100% accidental) and it didn’t pierce my jeans. It DID compression-fabric-grind(?) a BB sized divot into the skin which welled clear, watery pus for an hour, much like you’d expect if it had bled or from a popped burn blister. It later turned black and hurt like the dickens for weeks, there’s a scar to this day. But the jeans were fine! ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789/131 "2026-01-21T15:29:30Z")
I agree with that poster about nostalgia for 80s-80s nostalgia. I’d expand it and say that 80s-90s pomo kitsch covered the 1890s through the 1970s since there were quite a bit of fake and real old timey posters around back then too. I neither liked nor hated it back then, and I neither like nor hate it now, but it does remind me of the 80s-90s when I think about it, thus bringing back memories. So in that way it is a pure form of nostalgia since I remember it for its time rather than remembering it because I still like it, or remember it because I especially hated it. And our collective nostalgia for the 70s lasted quite a long time. Right now, I think it’s in the phase of “too old hat to indulge in a lot, but not old enough to be considered classic”. Sort of like my opinion of serious Modernist art. If you tried to make art exactly like that (like from the 30s through the 60s), people would think that you were old fashioned but not old fashioned enough to be classic like if you were to try to make Impressionist art. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789/132 "2026-01-21T17:53:37Z")
Sorry, but this thread is getting too long to read through so if this has been mentioned blzzk! Is it still a thing for a man to carry a clean handkerchief? Used to be a gentleman’s thing and thus, cool. Even if you wore jeans having a clean hanky, and a pocket knife was once a thing. ---
**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:** [January 21, 2026, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789/133 "2026-01-21T18:05:29Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Modernist art. Which reminds me of another. The word “modern”. As in modern art, and modern algebra. Surely that once felt cool, timely, fresh… Now, when i see something described with the word “modern”, i assume it’s old. Like this “[Modern Pastry Shop](https://modernpastry.com/)” a friend told me about. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789/134 "2026-01-21T18:15:55Z")
Just like you never hear anything approvingly described as “the latest trend” anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789/135 "2026-01-21T18:17:17Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Is it still a thing for a man to carry a clean handkerchief? I’ve only ever seen that in the movies. And I’m 64 years old. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789/136 "2026-01-21T18:20:12Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Just like you never hear anything approvingly described as “the latest trend” anymore. Because trends (or rather memes today) come and go within days. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789/137 "2026-01-21T18:31:02Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > > [@pkbites](#): > > > > Is it still a thing for a man to carry a clean handkerchief? > > I’ve only ever seen that in the movies. And I’m 64 years old. A good friend and former co-worker used to carry and use a handkerchief, but he’s the only person I know who did so. Tom must be 70 by now, and it used to gross me out to see him blow his nose into his handkerchief, then stuff it back into his pocket. All I could think of was his pocket full of snot. ---
**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:** [January 21, 2026, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789/138 "2026-01-21T18:32:13Z")
My husband uses a handkerchief. I think it’s gross, too. But i love him anyway. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789/139 "2026-01-21T18:33:53Z")
My father who is 90 also still always carries a hanky and blows his nose in it. I pity my mother for having to wash them. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789/140 "2026-01-21T18:37:34Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Just like you never hear anything approvingly described as “the latest trend” anymore. Or “State of the Art.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-once-cool-but-today-scream-old-geezer-ette/1026789.md?page=8)