# 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:** 7
**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 27, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/121 "2010-07-27T19:45:05Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I think that’s understandable. I’ve seen people in India \*using[/] washboards and I still don’t fully understand how they’re supposed to work. Of course there is a [website for this](http://www.oldandinteresting.com/washboards-history.aspx) ::shakes head:: The intarweb has a page for everything. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/122 "2010-07-27T19:54:40Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > > [@VernWinterbottom](#): > > > > How do students register for classes now? > > Online. Florida state universities use PeopleSoft (now Oracle) software, which I think is pretty typical. Before that, when I was in college (1993-98, University of Maryland), we registered for classes over the phone. I always registered for classes from my dorm room. The system was called MARS, which I think stood for Maryland Automated Registration System. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/123 "2010-07-27T19:55:05Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > I, for one, am simply horrified that today’s youth neither knows how to pluck a chicken to prepare for dinner OR could even explain how to use a butter churn. A butter churn! Who doesn’t know how to church butter? Freaking kids these days! I’m 25 and not only do I know how to use a butter churn I also know how to make butter without one. I haven’t gotten [del]much[/del] any RL use out of that skill. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/124 "2010-07-27T19:55:49Z")
I think it was last year when I discovered that my children didn’t know who Jack Nicholson was. (They would have been twelve and eighteen at the time). I finally had to point out the part in Aladdin where the genie does an imitation. After that I forced them to watch The Shining and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/125 "2010-07-27T19:55:59Z")
I went shopping for canning supplies one fine summer at Wal Mart. I asked three people under the age of 30 “Where are your canning supplies?” and received blank stares and crickets chirping in response. Well, the third guy tried to be helfpul, “Oh. Canned goods are on aisle 13.” “No, I don’t want stuff that’s already in cans. I’m looking for canning jars.” :: blank stare :: “Uhhhhmmmm…😕” “Nevermind.” Finally, I found a little white-haired granny employee who pointed me right to them… in the _arts and crafts_ section. I had to teach myself how to can jam because my grandmother was the only person I knew who knew how and she’d died a few years previously. My sister went through the exact same thing last summer when she scored a bunch of tomatoes and wanted to can her own salsa. In other anachronistic anecdotes, in 1990, I worked in an amusement park… making change in the arcade. (There’s a whole other subset of stuff kids today are clueless about.) Kid walked up to me with a Bicentennial quarter from 1976, handed it back to me and said, “I can’t use this. It’s Canadian.” Remember when we used actual quarters in arcades, when there were still arcades, instead of tokens? You couldn’t use Canadian quarters because they jammed up the machines. I told him the quarter wasn’t Canadian, that it was Bicentennial. “What’s bicentennial?” “What year were you born?” “1977.” “Nevermind. There just some special quarters that were designed before you were born. It’s an American quarter. You can use it. God, I feel old.” I was only 20 at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/126 "2010-07-27T19:56:57Z")
For the record, by the way, I’m 33, own a slide rule, and know how to use it. One of my office-mates, however, who is 24, has a much nicer slide rule, but does not know how to use it. Mind you, I never actually _do_ use it, since I’m seldom more than 20 feet from a computer, and always carry a scientific calculator in my pocket. But I know how. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/127 "2010-07-27T19:57:37Z")
Why does your office-mate have a slide rule that they don’t know how to use? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/128 "2010-07-27T19:58:21Z")
> [@VernWinterbottom](#): > > How do students register for classes now? I was explaining to a young 'un just the other day how when I started college, I had to register over the phone. Each class and each section had a numerical code, and you’d have to punch them in one by one, then cross your fingers until you heard “You have successfully registered…” The phone line would open at midnight, and if you weren’t fast, you’d find that all of your classes had filled up by 12:02. Then you’d have to sit down and redo your schedule, finding classes that started at 7 pm or 5:30 am, and try again. ---
**Author:** ![DivineComedienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c67d28/32.png) [@DivineComedienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DivineComedienne)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/129 "2010-07-27T20:07:09Z")
I just took my son to the eye doctor to get his eyes checked. I mentioned that I brought him in because it’s vital that kids have good eyesight in order to be successful at school. The doctor said, “Yes, they have to be able to see the blackboard…although I don’t think they have blackboards anymore, they have whiteboards.” That reminded me of my grade-school music teacher, who used a device that held five pieces of chalk about 2" apart, so she could draw a music staff across the board. I think the regular teacher had one that held three pieces of chalk about 5" apart, so she could teach us how to keep our handwriting in the lines/spaced properly. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/130 "2010-07-27T20:10:07Z")
> [@DivineComedienne](#): > > \ > > That reminded me of my grade-school music teacher, who used a device that held five pieces of chalk about 2" apart, so she could draw a music staff across the board. I think the regular teacher had one that held three pieces of chalk about 5" apart, so she could teach us how to keep our handwriting in the lines/spaced properly. Ah! My Algebra, Geometry and Trig teacher (same teacher) had a big chalk holder thingy that held maybe a dozen or more pieces of chalk exactly 2" apart. That way she could draw graph lines with two swipes of her arm and we could go about plotting points or whatever the hell we were doing with graphs. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/131 "2010-07-27T20:14:21Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Who doesn’t know how to churn butter? Freaking kids these days! Both my kids learned to churn butter in elementary school. They had a section on life in pioneer days and part of the unit involved shaking a little jar of whole milk until the butter separated. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/132 "2010-07-27T20:23:04Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > We had SKY in the 1980’s. 🙂 > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Well, Sky was satellite, not cable. 😉 “80’s, 90’s, satellite, cable, it’s still freeview porn to me…” ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/133 "2010-07-27T20:29:04Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Why does your office-mate have a slide rule that they don’t know how to use? The same reason nerds like me carried a condom in their wallet. ---
**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 27, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/134 "2010-07-27T20:41:07Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > Before that, when I was in college (1993-98, University of Maryland), we registered for classes over the phone. I always registered for classes from my dorm room. The system was called MARS, which I think stood for Maryland Automated Registration System. Huh. I started college in '99, and the online system was already in place at my university. > [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I think it was last year when I discovered that my children didn’t know who Jack Nicholson was. (They would have been twelve and eighteen at the time). I finally had to point out the part in Aladdin where the genie does an imitation. After that I forced them to watch The Shining and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Been a while since he did anything important\*. [QUOTE=Swallowed My Cellphone] Of course there is a website for this ::shakes head:: The intarweb has a page for everything. [/QUOTE] Is it pr0n? \*ie., Batman. ---
**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 27, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/135 "2010-07-27T20:43:23Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Is it pr0n? I dunno. I guess it depends on how much you like laundry. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/136 "2010-07-27T20:49:28Z")
> [@VernWinterbottom](#): > > How do students register for classes now? Using an online form from the comfort of their home, as god intended. ---
**Author:** ![TagAmos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TagAmos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TagAmos)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/137 "2010-07-27T21:18:22Z")
I picked up my 10 year old nephew from school earlier this year in my old pickup truck. I told him he had to roll the window down to cool off and he was confused by the hand-crank. He had never been exposed to a car that didn’t have power windows. ---
**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:** [July 27, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/138 "2010-07-27T22:08:49Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > > > > [@VernWinterbottom](#): > > > > > > How do students register for classes now? > > > > Online. Florida state universities use PeopleSoft (now Oracle) software, which I think is pretty typical. > > Before that, when I was in college (1993-98, University of Maryland), we registered for classes over the phone. I always registered for classes from my dorm room. The system was called MARS, which I think stood for Maryland Automated Registration System. What? You had a phone in your dorm room? We had a bank of five pay phones in the administration building. We had to stand in line at busy times to call home and tell the folks we were still alive. I don’t think I talked to my parents more than once a month while in college. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/139 "2010-07-27T22:17:37Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > > [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > > > Who doesn’t know how to churn butter? Freaking kids these days! > > Both my kids learned to churn butter in elementary school. They had a section on life in pioneer days and part of the unit involved shaking a little jar of whole milk until the butter separated. I think you missed her point. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101/140 "2010-07-27T23:19:59Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Huh. I started college in '99, and the online system was already in place at my university. We might have been registering online by the time I graduated. I don’t remember. I do remember using MARS when I was a freshman. > [@Procrustus](#): > > I don’t think I talked to my parents more than once a month while in college. Neither did I, and I did have a phone in my dorm room. I remember that the phones in our dorm rooms were expensive. Something like 25 cents a minute, IIRC. No calling the parents over every little thing at those rates. I wonder if we would have gotten cell phone reception inside those dorms, with their cinder-block walls. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-under-30s-dont-recognize/548101.md?page=8)