# 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:** 30
**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:** [October 8, 2025, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/581 "2025-10-08T23:17:48Z")
Wikipedia says [Risograph](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risograph) is a brand name for a process that is “very similar to a mimeograph”. I’m sure very few young people understand this joke from _Fast Times at Ridgemont High_ anymore, but those of us who grew up with mimeographs do. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Uu3iCvAQCHg/maxresdefault.jpg "Fast Times Paper Sniff") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu3iCvAQCHg) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2025, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/582 "2025-10-08T23:19:28Z")
With the collapse of paper use in schools, are e.g. staplers and 3-hole punches disappearing from the world of, say, teens & younger? I’m not in that youthful environment, but despite having owned every paper-handling gizmo known to man, I’m down to a stapler and some paperclips. The last box of 5000 staples should outlast a dozen of my remaining ~20 year life expectancies. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2025, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/583 "2025-10-08T23:20:48Z")
A _graphing_ calculator seems kind of pointless these days for anybody; however for simple number-crunching they are _still_ selling HP-15C’s, not that I can wholeheartedly say it is worth the $130 if you do not already have one, rather than just run whatever free software you want on whatever smart device or laptop you have. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2025, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/584 "2025-10-08T23:25:17Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > With the collapse of paper use in schools Is it? Easy to say to just use a fancy e-device, but is every school handing out free tablets to every student? Newspapers and magazines, on the other hand, perhaps youngsters have never held one of those, let alone looked up stock prices or sports scores, or news headlines, in them. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2025, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/585 "2025-10-08T23:38:05Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Is it? Easy to say to just use a fancy e-device, but is every school handing out free tablets to every student I do not know for sure. Hence my post in the form of a question. Clearly it varies by region and SES. Equally, the OP’s question isn’t “stuff no youngsters recognize”, but rather “stuff some appreciable fraction of youngsters don’t recognize.” My one IRL data point is that 4 years ago the kindergarten class my niece taught all had issue chromebooks. And had had for a couple / few prior years too. They only handled paper for arty stuff plus learning to write the printed alphabet w a pencil. ---
**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:** [October 8, 2025, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/586 "2025-10-08T23:42:10Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I’m sure very few young people understand this joke from _Fast Times at Ridgemont High_ anymore, but those of us who grew up with mimeographs do. I’d played that _Fast Times_ clip the first day of the computer basics I taught at college. I had students of various ages, from just out of high school to retirees. After I played the clip I told the class that I could tell how old students were based on whether they laughed or nodded in recognition. I also brought in things like carbon paper, punch cards, and floppy disks in both 5 1/4 and 8 inch sizes. And a trackball, explaining it was an upside down mouse. ---
**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:** [October 8, 2025, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/587 "2025-10-08T23:43:56Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > I think you mean a [Mimeograph](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimeograph) > I definitely remember the distinctive aroma and soft blue ink. I’m 45 and I’m just _barely_ old enough to remember Mimeograph machines. Which is to say, I’ve never actually used one, but I do remember getting worksheets printed in that blue ink when I was in kindergarten and 1st grade, and I have a vague memory of peeking into the copy room at school and seeing the machine in action. That would have been in the mid 1980s. But I am pretty sure by the time I finished elementary school they’d completely switched over to photocopiers. ---
**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:** [October 8, 2025, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/588 "2025-10-08T23:51:32Z")
One-to-one chromebooks (that is to say, every student has their own that they use for all classes and take home at the end of the day) are pretty common now for all schools. But there’s still a lot of room for paper. In particular, it’s a lot easier to write mathematical work on paper with a pencil than it is with any currently-common sort of electronic device. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2025, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/589 "2025-10-08T23:58:11Z")
This photo was posted on a “can you guess what this is?” thread. My best guess is that I’m an ancient artifact myself who used a kit like this to make homemade comics fifty years ago [![](https://www.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/68da818ce07be_identified-antiques__700.jpg) ](https://www.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/68da818ce07be_identified-antiques__700.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/590 "2025-10-09T00:03:11Z")
Spiral bound notebooks are on their way out. They have these chunky hinge things instead, big plastic knobs holding the pages together. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/591 "2025-10-09T00:21:35Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Wikipedia says [Risograph](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risograph) is a brand name for a process that is “very similar to a mimeograph”. In my school we had a [Gestetner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestetner). ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/592 "2025-10-09T01:19:55Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > > [@muldoonthief](#): > > > > I think you mean a [Mimeograph](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimeograph) > > I definitely remember the distinctive aroma and soft blue ink. > > I’m 45 and I’m just _barely_ old enough to remember Mimeograph machines. Which is to say, I’ve never actually used one, but I do remember getting worksheets printed in that blue ink when I was in kindergarten and 1st grade, and I have a vague memory of peeking into the copy room at school and seeing the machine in action. That would have been in the mid 1980s. But I am pretty sure by the time I finished elementary school they’d completely switched over to photocopiers. What many think of as a Mimeograph machine was probably a Ditto machine, a distinction I was unaware of at the time. Mimeograph involved a stencil, cut through a special waxed paper with a typewriter or hand-drawn lines. Then it was used just like a stencil, to let ink go through to the blank sheets. I think I have actually seen one single real Mimeograph print in the wild: It was a yellowed flyer I found in a random corner of our church from Princeton Township discussing war ration stamps, from WWII. Ditto was a spirit duplicator that used a glorified sheet of carbon paper put behind the master sheet to imprint the typed letters on the back of the master copy with a special thick purple ink, then when that master copy was attached to the printing drum, a small amount of solvent (smelled like methyl alcohol) was used to dissolve a bit of the ink and make an impression on a blank sheet. This had the feature that a Ditto master was only good for a few dozen sheets before it started fading. The faded blue/purple worksheets with the delightful aroma that we remember from the 70s and 80s were most likely from Ditto machines. [More here…](https://www.chattanoogan.com/2006/7/27/89955/Remembering-the-Ditto-and-Mimeograph.aspx) ---
**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:** [October 9, 2025, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/593 "2025-10-09T01:29:22Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I’m sure very few young people understand this joke from _Fast Times at Ridgemont High_ anymore Sniffing the paper was more of a [spirit duplicator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_duplicator) (Ditto) phenomenon than stencil duplicator (Mimeograph). > The faintly sweet aroma of pages fresh off the duplicator was a feature of school life in the spirit-duplicator era.[[4]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_duplicator#cite_note-4) Fresh copies of the latter had an odor as well but not as pervasive (or pleasant) as the former. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/594 "2025-10-09T01:50:05Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > This photo was posted on a “can you guess what this is?” thread. My best guess is that I’m an ancient artifact myself who used a kit like this to make homemade comics fifty years ago I recognized it immediately. It’s a drawing set. Ruling pens, compasses, extenders, and so on. I’ve used those things before. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/595 "2025-10-09T01:57:53Z")
I have lived now 55 years past their relevance unaware of the true distinction between mimeo & ditto. Different I knew; how? Not in the least. Thank you @minor7flat5 ; the scales have ~~fallen~~ been blasted from my eyes … and nose. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/596 "2025-10-09T08:30:13Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > I recognized it immediately. It’s a drawing set. Ruling pens, compasses, extenders, and so on. I’ve used those things before. Sure, but I wonder how many youngsters had seen a ruling pen and so on even back in the day, unless they were into drawing or drafting. How many kids today have opened up a CAD program on their computers? I want to imagine they would have recognized things like triangles, compasses, and rulers, though. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/597 "2025-10-09T08:46:12Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > I definitely remember the distinctive aroma and soft blue ink. I would love to get hold of one, this was the quintessential aroma of junior school weekly tests. I just don’t really know what I would do with it, junior school tests now smell like burnt capacitors. Maybe run a Luddite propaganda newsletter. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/598 "2025-10-09T08:55:29Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > It’s still a thing, my kid got gifted one once. Still a thing, I bought my niece some last year for Xmas. She’s both arty and sciencey (if that is a word) so neatly ticks both boxes. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/599 "2025-10-09T09:03:05Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Sure, but I wonder how many youngsters had seen a ruling pen and so on even back in the day, unless they were into drawing or drafting. Likely very few, sadly. I’m sure that today, they’d just plot it out on a computer, and that would be that. But there was something about using a ruling pen, with which you could make no mistake, and crafting a perfectly-shaped serif on a letter N. I don’t know what today’s kids take pride in, but I was sure proud when I could do that. (Yes, I can do hand lettering.) ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/600 "2025-10-09T12:14:03Z")
I mentioned mimeograph to a group of friends at the pub a while back. They ranged in age from 40’s to 70’s and every decade in between. Only the oldest knew what it was. But this could be down to the machine/process being called a different thing in the UK whereas I learned of them in school in the US in the 70’s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362.md?page=29) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362.md?page=31)