# 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:** 32
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/621 "2025-10-10T19:00:14Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Um, they sell bottles of “Rapido-eze technical pen cleaner”; you are not supposed to soak the whole thing in a bottle of acetone. > > They also had nibs with (hard) jewel points that were meant to last longer. Yep, we had all that. This was ~35 years ago. They did get abused, used 8 hours a day. Sometimes you just had to give up on it. I remember trying to get that tiny wire back through the nib. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/622 "2025-10-10T19:42:49Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > You can easily draw with your fingernails on thermal paper. It depends on the thermal paper. Receipt paper is intended to print fast and is more sensitive. Try it on a self adhesive delivery label like FedEx or Amazon shippers use and even a key scratch might not be enough. But a CAREFUL quick pass of a lighter or candle flame or heat gun will blacken it. Please don’t use my soldering iron with the new tip! ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/623 "2025-10-10T19:47:27Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > It depends on the thermal paper. Receipt paper is intended to print fast and is more sensitive. I’m sure that’s true. I was thinking of usual paper receipts and the flimsy thermal paper in old fax machines. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/624 "2025-10-10T19:48:47Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > My daughter knows what a typewriter is and how it works from studying the origin of the QWERTY keyboard and the lore surrounding it during middle school (she’s now at University) I asked my daughter and her five roommates on a video call if they had ever seen a typewriter in real life. One of them, who is from India, said she had. The rest have only seen them in media. Thankfully, no one asked “what’s a typewriter?” ---
**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 10, 2025, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/625 "2025-10-10T19:51:56Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I would be more concerned about the ionizing radiation. Gosh darn it! I am getting tired of this more insidious autocorrect that just changes whole words because it feels like it. Radiograph Radiograph Radiograph … Yep. All 3 got changed. Rapidograph. ---
**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 10, 2025, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/626 "2025-10-10T22:20:15Z")
I just don’t use autocorrect at all for that reason. I go back & fix all my squiggly underlined typos myself. Or add the word to the spellcheck dictionary as appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2025, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/627 "2025-10-11T00:53:06Z")
Does anyone still use NCR paper? ---
**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 11, 2025, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/628 "2025-10-11T01:45:42Z")
As noted upthread here, these kinds of forms exist here and there IRL. > [@Ubiquitous items from relatively recently youngsters may not recognise](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/569): > > The ‘two part’ carbonless duplication paper is a little easier to find in delivery and service call slips like the plumber, oil change, or appliance delivery person might bring but especially in restaurants. Short order kitchens, catering, stapled to the bag or pizza box, a yellow copy for the customer. But actual pressure transfer purple/black paper like the old credit card kerchunkers, gone. Speaking of that, impact printers. I suspect that nowadays a lot more such multipart “NCR” forms exist in the internal processes of long-established businesses than are exposed to the public consumer. But once in awhile I sign one and get one of the copies. IIRC it was standard back in the day that the customer always got the bottom = least legible copy. Who cares about them? ---
**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 11, 2025, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/629 "2025-10-11T02:09:14Z")
One of the places that those forms do surprise would be quite familiar to the youngsters. Infraction forms, at schools, use duplicating paper, too. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2025, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/630 "2025-10-12T12:32:34Z")
Remember milkboxes? Those little insulated porch boxes where the milkman would leave glass bottles of fresh milk and pick up the empties? They were once a standard feature on front porches across suburbia. Back then, most folks didn’t have full refrigerators, so milk was delivered daily (or close to it), straight from local dairies. The box kept it cool and safe until someone came home. By the 1970s, milkboxes had mostly vanished. Supermarkets, better refrigeration, and the decline of home delivery made them obsolete. You can still find a few relics on old porches, silent reminders of a time when the clink of glass bottles and the rattle of a milk truck were part of the morning soundtrack. [![](https://i.imgur.com/putHOzX.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/putHOzX.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2025, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/631 "2025-10-12T15:02:37Z")
We have milk boxes in our area. A dairy farm delivers milk (and a variety of other products derived from milk) in reusable glass bottles. They have several thousand delivery customers. ---
**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 12, 2025, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/632 "2025-10-12T15:08:32Z")
Hmm. When I was a kid in the early 1960s we had milk delivery. In the very heavy 1/2 gallon thick glass bottles. But we never had a box of any kind. The milkman just left our group of bottles on the stoop. And picked up the empties Mom had set out there for him. It’s usually cool in the early morning in coastal SoCal, but a lot warmer than a fridge. OTOH, I’d say we rarely had milk older than 3 days in the house; any given delivery was used up by then. So were/are the boxes something provided by the dairy where all the subscribers would have the same thing, or were they a gizmo you’d buy yourself at the hardware store or wherever? ---
**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:** [October 12, 2025, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/633 "2025-10-12T15:46:35Z")
IME they were provided by the dairy, and had the company name/logo on them. I suppose in places where the company wasn’t so generous, people might have bought their own. ---
**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:** [October 12, 2025, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/634 "2025-10-12T16:50:44Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > Those little insulated porch boxes where the milkman would leave glass bottles of fresh milk and pick up the empties? We had a milk box, similar to the one pictured, but never got milk in glass bottles. The milk was delivered in cartons, same as what’s used in the grocery store. When we stopped taking delivery, we bought the same milk in the same cartons at the grocery store. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > So were/are the boxes something provided by the dairy where all the subscribers would have the same thing, or were they a gizmo you’d buy yourself at the hardware store or wherever? The dairy owned it, and it even said “Property of Foremost Dairies”, like [this](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1167330900/vintage-foremost-dairies-milk-box?ls=s&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=foremost+milk&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&sts=1&content_source=6eb64850-714c-4c62-aa86-c8c4fed2b90c%253ALT4c4c644a51a9394c62eaeafb98fd2fd770348ed9&organic_search_click=1&logging_key=6eb64850-714c-4c62-aa86-c8c4fed2b90c%253ALT4c4c644a51a9394c62eaeafb98fd2fd770348ed9) one availble from Etsy. That’s very similar to the one that sat on my parent’s front porch. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2025, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/635 "2025-10-12T17:28:19Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > they were provided by the dairy, and had the company name/logo on them Several of my neighbors get milk delivery, and they have “milk boxes”, which are really just standard plastic coolers with the company’s name and logo on them. My biggest complaint about the milk delivery is that the driver seems to take the empty streets at 4am as his opportunity to practice for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, because the delivery van has only two settings, idle and full throttle. Back to the thread, what about milk doors (or coal chutes)? I had to ask what those were for as a kid in the 70s, I’m sure kids today wouldn’t know. I guess “from 100 years ago” is only relatively recent on an archeological scale. ---
**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 12, 2025, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/636 "2025-10-12T17:29:57Z")
[“Milk doors: Is it time to bring them back, to avoid package theft?“](https://www.core77.com/posts/103681/When-Houses-Had-Built-In-Milk-Doors) ---
**Author:** ![mtnmatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@mtnmatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mtnmatt)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2025, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/637 "2025-10-12T17:30:44Z")
When I was a kid in NJ in the 70s, some people got their potato chips and pretzels delivered, in big tins, from a company called Charles Chips, which had a fleet of step trucks like the ones UPS uses ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2025, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/638 "2025-10-12T17:42:19Z")
I have a vague memory that the house I lived in when I was about three years old had such a milk door. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2025, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/639 "2025-10-12T17:45:04Z")
In the ’60s we had _two_ milkboxes, courtesy of the local dairy. The milkman delivered all kinds of dairy goodies, but my mother only ever ordered white milk. _C’mon, Ma — one bottle of chocolate milk break the bank!_ Our neighborhood was like the Daytona Speedway of home delivery: the milkman, the egg lady, a couple of ice cream trucks, a pizza-by-the-slice truck, a pretzel-and-chip truck — maybe even a rogue fish guy now and then. It was paradise for a hungry kid, though you sometimes risked your life crossing the street for a popsicle. Good times. Chaotic times. [![](https://i.imgur.com/kxMoiIN.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/kxMoiIN.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2025, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/640 "2025-10-12T21:35:49Z")
We had a milk box when I was a little kid (early '60s), but that’s all I remember about it – don’t know if we actually had milk delivered or had just inherited the box from the former occupants. When I was in Scotland in the early '90s my flatmates and I got a pint of milk delivered every day; we didn’t have a milk box, so the milkman just left the bottle on the steps. That only became a problem after the cat discovered that she could punch holes in the lid with her fangs and tip the bottle over so the milk could flow out… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362.md?page=31) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362.md?page=33)