# 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:** 8\ **Page:** 33
**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 12, 2025, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/641 "2025-10-12T21:41:04Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > But we never had a box of any kind. The milkman just left our group of bottles on the stoop. When I was a tyke in Los Angeles Carnation delivered milk in a wire basket that held as many as four bottles. The memory is not clear enough that I can tell whether they were quarts or half-gallons. The milkman would carry the delivery from the truck in a basket, leave it and tote back the empties in their own basket. If you wanted something other than your standing order, there was a pack of cards about one inch by five held together by a rivet at one end. You’d swivel what you wanted out of the pack and put it in the bottle so it was sticking out of the neck with the rest inside. They were color-coded with a big letter so the milkman could read it from the street, white with a blue S for sour cream, yellow with a darker yellow B for buttermilk as examples. Being four I couldn’t read but possibly through experimentation I discovered tan with a brown C would get a quart of chocolate milk. Things went swimmingly until the bill came. “Why am I being charged for the chocolate milk?” “Because you ordered it.” “I did not. I thought they were free samples.” “The thing was in the bottle.” All eyes fell upon the kid. ---
**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 12, 2025, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/642 "2025-10-12T21:41:16Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > 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… From what I gathered in several similar threads, British cats have discovered this trick by the thousands. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/643 "2025-10-13T00:30:25Z")
Back in the 60’s we got milk and juice delivered - I remember that the juice came in rectangular bottles. In the 90’s I started getting dairy and other items delivered. The dairy provided a cooler that was left out on the front porch. I seem to remember that I had to leave a note with the next delivery request - I can’t remember how often the deliveries came. ---
**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:** [October 13, 2025, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/644 "2025-10-13T00:50:06Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > > [@SCAdian](#): > > > > 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… > > From what I gathered in several similar threads, British cats have discovered this trick by the thousands. 😉 I remember seeing film (too long ago to be video tape) of birds (wrens?) that had learned to pull the tops off of milk bottles. They concentrated on drinking the cream at the top of the bottles. ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/645 "2025-10-13T11:30:45Z")
We had milk delivered every other day - the dairy gave us a calendar with alternate dates printed in blue and red, your deliveries were either on blue days or red days. Our milkman didn’t put deliveries on the porch, he came around to the back door, into the kitchen and loaded the 1/2 gallon glass bottles directly into the fridge! I’ve often wondered if every house got that service or just my widowed mom. ---
**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 14, 2025, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/646 "2025-10-14T04:52:46Z")
Common enough that a red-headed child while the husband is not red-headed but the milkman is, is a [trope](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CheatingWithTheMilkman). ---
**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 14, 2025, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/647 "2025-10-14T17:38:27Z")
The trope was also the basis of Monty Python’s [Seduced Milkman](https://youtu.be/0_vyVQnvFc4?si=zRH3vjxsY7iKnDGD) sketch. ---
**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 14, 2025, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/648 "2025-10-14T20:13:01Z")
Kinda like this? [![](https://i.imgur.com/SDOrWMu.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/SDOrWMu.jpeg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362.md?page=32)