# Things you're suprised under-30s don't recognize **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 26, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101 "2010-07-26T21:06:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/181 "2010-07-28T15:07:54Z")
> [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](#): > > Tippex was a paper-backed white chalky strip that you used to correct mistakes on a typewriter. Apparently that’s what it was in 1959. I think you’ll find things have [moved on a bit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipp-Ex) since then. ---
**Author:** ![Ispolkom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47774/32.png) [@Ispolkom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ispolkom)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/182 "2010-07-28T15:09:38Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > This thread seems to have drifted from the original topic to things we don’t expect under-30s to recognize. > > Other things that I wouldn’t expect the under-30 crowd to know about: > > [ul] > [li]TV test patterns[/li][li]Door-to-door milk delivery[/li][li]PCs without hard drives[/li][li]Mimeographs[/li][li]Mechanical adding machines[/li][li]Reel-to-reel audio tape[/li][/ul] Extra points if you know the difference between a ditto machine (which made the purple copies) and a mimeograph machine. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/183 "2010-07-28T15:23:17Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > > > … I’d just like to point out that these are the same thing - the most popular brands of white correction fluid … I doubt there are many kids who don’t know what they are, though. They still have to write things down at school. > > School kids using correction fluid on hand-written material?? Perhaps I’m sheltered, but I’ve never seen that. All the time. Every week I have kids ask to use the stuff. I always keep several bottles out in the classroom. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/184 "2010-07-28T15:32:14Z")
You know, the lady who invented that was the mom of the lead singer of the Monkees. Wait a minute, what are the Monkees? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/185 "2010-07-28T15:36:26Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Wait a minute, what are the Monkees? So there is an upside, at least. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/186 "2010-07-28T15:36:53Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > > [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](#): > > > > Tippex was a paper-backed white chalky strip that you used to correct mistakes on a typewriter. > > Apparently that’s what it was in 1959. I think you’ll find things have [moved on a bit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipp-Ex) since then. Ah, apparently I was using it in 1982. Apparently you didn’t read your reference properly: "_The Tipp-Ex company was **founded** in 1959…"_ ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/187 "2010-07-28T15:38:17Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > You know, the lady who invented that was the mom of the lead singer of the Monkees. [Whoah](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bette_Nesmith_Graham)! I thought you were joking. [QUOTE=6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast] Apparently you didn’t read your reference properly: “The Tipp-Ex company was founded in 1959…” [/QUOTE] Right, but they started producing liquid correction fluid in 1965, and that’s all they’ve been known for for at least 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/188 "2010-07-28T15:53:26Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > > [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](#): > > > > Apparently you didn’t read your reference properly: “The Tipp-Ex company was founded in 1959…” > > Right, but they started producing liquid correction fluid in 1965, and that’s all they’ve been known for for at least 20 years. So what are you telling me - that I wasn’t using Tipp-Ex correction paper in 1982? Or that Wikipedia is the Be All and End All of All Knowledge? ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/189 "2010-07-28T15:55:39Z")
Who ya gonna believe, Wikipedia or yer own lyin’ eyes? ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/190 "2010-07-28T16:00:08Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Who ya gonna believe, Wikipedia or yer own lyin’ eyes? Jeez **Koxinga** - you’re really puttin’ me on the spot here… ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/191 "2010-07-28T16:12:26Z")
Message boards. 😃 Really. I was talking to an 18-year-old the other day, and I mentioned SDMB. I had to explain to her that it is a message board…and then I had to explain what a message board is. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/192 "2010-07-28T16:25:54Z")
> [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](#): > > And for the OP - I’m dumbfounded that there are people under 30 in this world who don’t know what an aerogramme is, what air mail paper is, what a telex machine was, and how telegrams were delivered… I’m 40, and I have no idea what any of these are. Well…I did send a few air mails with the special paper, but I mostly used a regular envelope. I’ve never seen a telegram outside of a museum, and have no idea what a telex machine was. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/193 "2010-07-28T16:30:40Z")
> [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](#): > > So what are you telling me - that I wasn’t using Tipp-Ex correction paper in 1982? Or that Wikipedia is the Be All and End All of All Knowledge? I’m sure you were. However, you were using _Tipp-Ex correction paper_, not Tipp-Ex, which was already the shorthand for the liquid stuff. Um, wait. Are you American? Because if so, none of this applies. ETA: I used to send aerogrammes when I was a kid. And airliners still used telexes until a couple of years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/194 "2010-07-28T16:34:35Z")
Also about (US) Air Mail: Until the late 1970s, there was a separate domestic Air Mail rate. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/195 "2010-07-28T16:52:11Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > School kids using correction fluid on hand-written material?? Perhaps I’m sheltered, but I’ve never seen that. I used the stuff all the time as a kid once we were old enough that we were allowed to use _pens_ rather than pencils for stuff in school. I’m going to guess it was 5th grade or so that we started using pens and had white-out. I remember it was kind of cool when some company introduced _erasable pens_. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/196 "2010-07-28T16:57:48Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > I’m 40, and I have no idea what any of these are. Well…I did send a few air mails with the special paper, but I mostly used a regular envelope. I’ve never seen a telegram outside of a museum, and have no idea what a telex machine was. Early 40s. Never saw a telegram, but knew what they were. Used airmail, and got letters with airmail envelopes and paper, mainly pen pals overseas. I also remember Zenith numbers, and the twilight of exchange names (e.g. with a nasal 1940s accent, “Say there, skirt, give me Hudson 3-5423 and make it snappy!”); old-timers around my parts continued to use them into the late 1980s. I wonder if Millennials see the use of “dial a phone” or “tape a program” as quaint as we Generation Xers saw archaic terms like “icebox” for refrigerator and “carfare” for bus fare. Here’s one. Cabooses. Do youngins understand the word in contexts like “She’s got a nice caboose?” ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/197 "2010-07-28T17:04:20Z")
Kids these days are allowed to use Wite-out? Lucky bastards. We had to scratch the word our or start all over again if we made a mistake in an essay (see my previous post about typing). Actually, come to think of it, we didn’t use Wite-Out because we didn’t have any. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/198 "2010-07-28T17:19:52Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Full-service gas stations are mandated by law in some states, so they still exist. Not in the way that full-service was meant. Oregon and New Jersey mandate that an attendant must pump the fuel into your vehicle, that’s it. That is what is called full service now. A real full service station used to clean your windshield, pop the hood and check the oil and washer fluid, radiator resevour, and maybe check the air in your tires. In fact, most gas pumps had retractable hoses for air and water right beside each pump station. Now you might still find air and water at a separate machine that you can put quarters in and do-it-yourself. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/199 "2010-07-28T17:39:19Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > At the lab I work at, we were having a discussion about TV. I mentioned having to fiddle with the round thing around the TV dial to get the best reception. Almost all my coworkers are under 30, and they had no idea what I was talking about. Even after explaining what TV dials were they were they couldn’t grasp the idea. What things do younger people not recognize that suprise you/ I’d forgotten about this. Ah, the good old days. Anyway, my contribution is that I run a networking group of mixed ages of business people, 24 to 86. I do a couple of really wicked impressions. Rodney Dangerfield they all get. Peter Lorre just whooshes the younger crowd, much to the amusement of the older crowd. They have no idea who he was. Richard Nixon had one of them asking if Nixon really talked like that because it is such a charactature of evil that even Micheal Meyers wouldn’t use it in an Austin Powers movie. ---
**Author:** ![Rafe\_Hollister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Rafe\_Hollister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rafe_Hollister)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/200 "2010-07-28T17:49:53Z")
This past winter I was watching _Planes, Trains and Automobiles_, starring (Mr.) Steve Martin and John Candy. It occurred to me the movie probably made no sense to my 17 y.o. This was a plot that would be completely implausible in today’s world because of the easy access to cell phones and ability to book travel reservations online. He said he realized that the movie was accurate for the day it was made. In any case he found it absolutely hilarious. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101.md?page=11)