# 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:** 22
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/421 "2023-06-27T06:32:14Z")
I used to have an excellent street map that had just one horizontal fold, and the sections between the vertical folds were increasingly narrow and would stack up centered over one another when folded, like a step pyramid in profile. The two widest sections on the left were glued onto a single piece of thin cardboard that served as sort of protective binder when the map was stored in the glove compartment. Very handy for urban navigation, and refolding was just about foolproof (in this fool’s opinion). ---
**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:** [June 27, 2023, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/422 "2023-06-27T11:25:24Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > When you’re done with it, you rinse the bottle, bring it back to the store, and they give you your $2 and it gets sent back to the dairy to be sterilized and refilled. They are sterilizing the glass bottle, so rinsing is unnecessary, other than your own aesthetics , right? 🔬 ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/423 "2023-06-27T15:34:08Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > They are sterilizing the glass bottle, so rinsing is unnecessary, other than your own aesthetics , right? 🔬 You rinse them out to avoid attracting insects while they’re stored. For the same reason you should rinse out recyclables, including cans. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/424 "2023-06-27T15:38:47Z")
Anybody mention overhead protectors in school? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/425 "2023-06-27T17:17:27Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > They may not recognize answering machines. At least in part because the acoustic data was stored on analog cassette tapes. ---
**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:** [June 27, 2023, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/426 "2023-06-27T17:25:28Z")
Every street map I’ve ever seen accordion folds one way, and then accordion folds the other. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/427 "2023-06-27T18:12:46Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Anybody mention overhead protectors in school? Kids (and many adults) these days would assume by “overhead projector” that you meant a ceiling-mounted video projector, typically for a smart board, instead of what us boomers mean: [![](https://grandstandsd.com/image/cache/catalog/p/overhead_projector8-637x637.jpg) ](https://grandstandsd.com/image/cache/catalog/p/overhead_projector8-637x637.jpg) ---
**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:** [June 27, 2023, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/428 "2023-06-27T18:43:44Z")
I actually have one of those that I picked up several years ago, and held onto in case I ended up working in one of those charter schools which don’t provide any classroom equipment for their teachers (seriously, I interviewed at one that didn’t even provide chairs for the rooms). Thankfully, that risk is now past, but I still have it, because whom would I even give it to, now? I guess I could still use it for templating a mural or something… > [@commasense](#): > > Kids (and many adults) these days would assume by “overhead projector” that you meant a ceiling-mounted video projector, typically for a smart board … And even that’s on the way out, now. Modern smartboards are basically just giant tablets, with a giant flat self-contained monitor, no projection. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/429 "2023-06-27T21:20:36Z")
I grew up on a small dairy farm and we only drank raw, nonhomogenized milk. I remember being about five years old and begging my mother to get some of that skim milk that the store sells. She told me that I wouldn’t like. I tried it and about gagged. I thought they were saying “skin milk”, meaning the cream that rose to the top. So: would kids today recognize pudding with a skin on the top? I don’t think you can make it with homogenized milk. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/430 "2023-06-27T21:41:16Z")
Talking about street maps, are Falk Plans known outside Germany? Gerhard Falk patented a system to cut and fold plans in such a way that you could use it like a book, turning the bits like pages in both directions, up and down _and_ left and right, and you could unfold it completely to have a flat up to DIN A0 plan, and everything in between. That was in 1953 (says internet). It is genius, but I never saw them anywhere else, and I can’t find a nice video to show how it works. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/431 "2023-06-27T21:41:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And even that’s on the way out, now. Modern smartboards are basically just giant tablets, with a giant flat self-contained monitor, no projection. Every classroom in my son’s elementary school has a short-throw projector. Giant monitors have drawbacks in such an environment. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/432 "2023-06-27T22:20:52Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > So: would kids today recognize pudding with a skin on the top? I don’t think you can make it with homogenized milk. I used to think that the skin on the pudding was the best part. It’s there on pudding that’s been cooked. The kind of milk does not affect the creation of skin as pudding cools. When my three kids were young, I had to make instant pudding because cooking pudding with those maniacs in the house gave too big a risk of burning it. (I’m distractible.) So they grew up with instant pudding. When they were older, I tried giving them cooked pudding and they hated it. They particularly hated the skin. Sigh. That would be back in the mid to late eighties. My kids complain about getting old, now. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/433 "2023-06-27T22:23:53Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > When my three kids were young, I had to make instant pudding because cooking pudding with those maniacs in the house gave too big a risk of burning it. (I’m distractible.) The trick is to cook it in the microwave. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/434 "2023-06-27T22:24:38Z")
I will try that. ---
**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:** [June 27, 2023, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/435 "2023-06-27T22:42:06Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > So: would kids today recognize pudding with a skin on the top? I don’t think you can make it with homogenized milk. My grandmother’s pudding always had a skin on the top, and she wouldn’t have been caught dead doing something as rustic as buying raw milk. I think that it’s instant pudding that doesn’t get the skin. > [@garygnu](#): > > Every classroom in my son’s elementary school has a short-throw projector. Giant monitors have drawbacks in such an environment. Oh, there are still plenty of the projection ones around in the wild. They’re on the way out, but not very far along that way yet. ---
**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:** [June 27, 2023, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/436 "2023-06-27T23:25:17Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > “Lift handle and select grade.” > What handle? Doesn’t it usually say “Lift _nozzle_ and select grade”? IIRC the older style pumps where you had to lift the handle didn’t require pressing a button to select the grade, because that’s what the handle did; those pumps had separate hoses for each grade, so lifting the handle selected the grade. But that reminds me of a story. When I moved across the country to California we stopped somewhere to gas up. I swiped my credit card and picked up the handle, but the pump wouldn’t pump, and eventually the transaction timed out. I tried again and again it didn’t work. So I went inside the store to tell them the pump wasn’t working, and the woman was like “Did you lift the handle?” Ohhh. My brain was so frazzled after the long drive I just did what I did at the last several places we stopped for gas, which didn’t have that handle. I completely forgot that some pumps require you to lift that handle before you can pump gas. And that was in 2005, so it seems like that type of pump was starting to become uncommon even back then. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/437 "2023-06-28T04:34:03Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > aren’t rim-balancing weights used just as much as they’ve always been? Or is there some new rim-balancing technology that I haven’t heard about? Weights, yes, but they’re peel-and-stick. With steel rims getting scarce and alloy rims not taking getting clamped on well, they’ve taken over. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/438 "2023-06-28T09:35:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Every street map I’ve ever seen accordion folds one way, and then accordion folds the other. I don’t believe you. Many street maps have only one horizontal fold and therefore don’t fold accordion-style both ways. Neither do many maps whose horizontal folds don’t zigzag but are like a flattened roll or coil when folded. Here’s a Google image search for “[folding maps](https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1YTUH_esES1016ES1016&q=%22folding+maps%22&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiY35m60OX_AhXkTqQEHbTAA90Q0pQJegQIDBAB&biw=991&bih=450&dpr=1.94).” ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/439 "2023-06-28T17:43:19Z")
> [@alovem](#): > > > [@Chronos](#): > > > > Every street map **I’ve ever seen** accordion folds one way, and then accordion folds the other. > > I don’t believe you. [emphasis mine] You don’t believe he’s capable of reporting his own experience accurately? ---
**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:** [June 29, 2023, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/440 "2023-06-29T12:19:37Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > So: would kids today recognize pudding with a skin on the top? I don’t think you can make it with homogenized milk. Yes, I’ve made it with homogenized milk. The skin is coagulated milk proteins. I make a single serving of cocoa for myself in the microwave, and if i heat it enough i get a bit of a skin. I like it in the pudding, but not in my cocoa. (But it’s easy to remove.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362.md?page=21) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362.md?page=23)