# Ubiquitous items from relatively recently youngsters may not recognise **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 19, 2023, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362 "2023-03-19T15:27:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2023, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/321 "2023-03-29T15:43:23Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I’m fairly sure that anyone who came of age after the '90s would have absolutely no idea what to make of this; This is what you got when you pressed the buttons for channel 2 and 13 at the same time. A mostly, but not quite completely, scrambled Playboy channel. ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/322 "2023-03-30T06:51:54Z")
Oh, you beat me to it. I was going to say that until I read the post, it had only subconsciously registered that dried poop was no longer white. I had no idea about the bone meal. As a kid I just figured that all poop dried white! ---
**Author:** ![WhyKickAMooCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc29f/32.png) [@WhyKickAMooCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyKickAMooCow)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/323 "2023-03-30T13:31:28Z")
How about cap guns or spud guns - including the best method of propulsion: a string of paper caps on a roll. I haven’t seen cap guns for years and the ones I did see have little circular 6-shot caps. The guns look completely different too, I had a brilliant Remington pistol that looked pretty authentic. Kids guns now are garish colours with the essential orange plug in the end. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@sinjin1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin1)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/324 "2023-04-09T03:28:51Z")
My parents got one of those for me to go down the hall into my bedroom and have a private conversation when I was 15. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/325 "2023-04-09T04:52:15Z")
Those hot lather machines and scalp massagers are still made. My barber does straight razor shaves and trims men’s necks with a razor and hot lather. He has lather machines that look just like the ones I saw in barber shops when I was a kid in the 60s and the same companies are still servicing them. I also saw those scalp massagers being used back then. My barber has one of those also but for display only along with other antique barber’s tools. ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/326 "2023-04-09T07:01:31Z")
They still use those in India. At first I was concerned at the idea of having that metal thing banging on my head, until I realised that the barber’s hand was between my skull and the mini-jackhammer ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/327 "2023-04-09T07:05:33Z")
This. (The personal use, not the peeing. And seriously @kayaker how long do your pisses take??) ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/328 "2023-04-09T09:08:06Z")
The mention of a German-created standard reminded me of SCART. I had never seen it until we moved to Switzerland, and since 2015 even France no longer requires it. We did a cable purge a few weeks ago and this is one of the connectors that went to recycling. > **[SCART](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCART)** > > Status & Aspect Ratio up\[c\] > Blanking signal upRGB-selection voltage up > output/input denotes symmetrical linksup/down denotes links to/from the TV set > .mw-parser-output .citation{word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}^ a rarely supported. > ^ b non-standard extension. > ^ c from STB to VCR when used for unattended recording; 12V forces tv-set to AV-channel > ^ d protocol not standardised, e.g. D²B. > SCART (also known as Péritel or Péritélévision... ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/329 "2023-04-09T21:26:08Z")
Crank windows on cars. Twenty years ago, driving a work car outfitted with them, I had to pick up my seven-year old from school. They were uncommon then and she had never seen one. I heard her say to herself “So THAT’s what they do” as she played with it and found it rolled down the window. I haven’t seen them on a car in years. ---
**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:** [April 9, 2023, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/330 "2023-04-09T21:42:59Z")
Some reasonably-modern cars still have crank windows for the back seats. Which strikes me as a bit backwards: If I, the driver, want to lower all of the windows, I can reach a crank for the front, but not for the back. If you’re only going to motorize two, shouldn’t it be the back two? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/331 "2023-04-10T01:11:24Z")
Minitel / Teletext [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Minitel1.jpg/509px-Minitel1.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Minitel1.jpg/509px-Minitel1.jpg) [![](https://aulageek.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/bbc_news_on_the_teletext.jpg) ](https://aulageek.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/bbc_news_on_the_teletext.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/332 "2023-04-10T01:19:56Z")
“green screens” > **[The technology that’s replacing the green screen](https://yewtu.be/watch?v=8yNkBic7GfI)** > > The green screen is a Hollywood staple. Should it be? > > It’s easy to complain about overreliance on special effects, but for projects that require impossible-to-film environments or have incredibly expensive shots, how do you get the flexibility of... ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/333 "2023-04-10T03:47:10Z")
Were Teletext terminals and green screens really ubiquitous items? I’m over 60 years old and I’ve never seen either one in real life. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/334 "2023-04-10T04:16:56Z")
Green screens really are/were used in a specific industry, true. You could say the same about punched cards. Videotex and Teletext… I think this is going to depend on when and where. [This](https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Encyclopedia-of-TV/Encyclopedia-of-Television-Vol-4-OCR-Page-0475.pdf) claims that by the end of 1994 14 million people were accessing Minitel services in France; that’s like 25% of the population, and how many people lived in each household? Seems reasonably ubiquitous, or almost… OTOH the same document mentions only 250,000 users in Germany. [This](https://ars.electronica.art/center/en/orf-teletext/) says that as of (???), on a weekly basis over 25% of Austrian TV viewers over 12 access the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation’s Teletext. If that is still true, many users surely used to use a teletext terminal/decoder box for that (there were also TVs with teletext built in, in which case you would not need a separate unit), but who would buy one now when all those pages are available via any web browser… (also in the case of broadcasters like the BBC those pages simply no longer exist in their original form) ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/335 "2023-04-10T04:36:28Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/aXV-yaFmQNk/hqdefault.jpg "A Magazine Is an iPad That Does Not Work.m4v") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXV-yaFmQNk) A magazine is just a broken iPad. ---
**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:** [April 10, 2023, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/336 "2023-04-10T12:06:02Z")
> [@Orville\_mogul](#): > > (And seriously @kayaker how long do your pisses take??) I use my bathroom, which is a distance from where I watch my tablet. 20 second pee, but also walking to and from. I’d rather continue watching that entire time. ---
**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:** [April 10, 2023, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/337 "2023-04-10T12:08:39Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > Crank windows on cars. I’ve been driving Jeep Wranglers for a while, all with crank windows. No power locks, either. When I drive my gf’s car I’m always confused by the buttons. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/338 "2023-04-10T12:17:41Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Green screens really are/were used in a specific industry, true. You could say the same about punched cards. My quibble with punched cards is "relatively recently " . They were absolutely ubiquitous at one point in time - they were used for utility bills and checks - but that time wasn’t all that recent. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/339 "2023-04-10T13:00:25Z")
Another form of punched card that people who saw them often don’t realize what they were, the perforated little cardboard tags that would be pinned or stapled to department store clothes. Those things were actually punched cards that some poor sucker had to feed into a reader facing numerous jam ups. They were often in terrible condition after being pulled off by a clerk who may have had no idea what they were used for. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/340 "2023-04-10T13:06:15Z")
My mother worked as a Keypuncher in the late 70s & 80s. That was one major part of her job, was doing the entry for all those tags that didn’t feed. Their business dried up in the late 80s. She first learned keypunching at an IBM training school for girls in Manhattan in the 40s. But she didn’t work for the bulk of the 50s & 60s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362.md?page=18)