# Wanna feel REALLY old? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 25, 2005, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549 "2005-08-25T12:34:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [August 25, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549/21 "2005-08-25T16:44:40Z")
Okay, now I feel really old indeed. I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree in 1983, and am returning to school this year for full-time study after 22 years in the working world. True, I’ll be in a professional faculty where 18-year-olds won’t be, but I remember most things in the given list that they wouldn’t even have a clue about. Still, they’ll be around the campus; and no doubt, I’ll meet a few. I’ll be a student, but it looks like I may be a teacher too, if any of my younger acquaintances ask. “Jim Bakker? Disgraced TV preacher. Had a show called the PTL Club. He said it stood for Praise The Lord, but most everybody knew it really meant Pass The Loot. Convicted of embezzling, sentenced to jail, got out eventually. American Motors? Car company, known for such models as the Javelin, the Gremlin, and the Pacer.” “The Pacer? Well, you know the car that John Denver drove in the movie, _Oh God_?” “What’s that? John Denver? A movie called _Oh God_?” Oh God indeed. Well, maybe they’ll be too busy with studying to bug this old fart about this stuff. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549/22 "2005-08-25T16:45:07Z")
Andy Andy Andy Andy Andy Andy Andy Andy Andy ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549/23 "2005-08-25T16:47:04Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > Andy Andy Andy > Andy Andy Andy > Andy Andy Andy **applauds wildly – looks around, realizes no one else is joing the ovation – sits down, abashed** ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549/24 "2005-08-25T16:50:50Z")
> [@Mooney252](#): > > . . . hearing one kid in an Evanston used record store exclaim, “I didn’t know that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings!” I had a younger friend ask me if I knew Phil Collins had been in a band before his solo career. I found a wall and started banging my head against it. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549/25 "2005-08-25T16:54:02Z")
> [@Mooney252](#): > > . . . hearing one kid in an Evanston used record store exclaim, “I didn’t know that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings!” I’ll go you one better. A couple of months ago, SWMBO, The Teenaged Terror and I were having dinner and the conversation got around to music. And SWMBO laughingly said something to the effect that Paul McCartney had been in a little garage band before he was in Wings. And The Teenaged Terror said (in all seriousness): “Who’s Paul McCartney?” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549/26 "2005-08-25T16:59:27Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I had a younger friend ask me if I knew Phil Collins had been in a band before his solo career. > > I found a wall and started banging my head against it. That was a mistake. You were banging the wrong head. ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549/27 "2005-08-25T17:00:20Z")
> [@Phnord Prephect](#): > > Once, in the 70s, for fifteen minutes. > …this joke was much funnier than it currently appears. Oh, is that who that is? \* [Looks it up](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Warhol) \* ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549/28 "2005-08-25T17:16:23Z")
When I read the statements it seems to me that this is the world they live in and grew up in, not what they believe. It is just that America’s Funniest Home Videos has been on the air their entire lifetime. Pixar has existed their entire lifetime. Andy Warhol was dead before they were born. (How could someone always be dead?) Carter was out of office before any of them could remember. It’s not that they believe they can walk from England to Europe, but the fact that in their lifetime you always could do it. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549/29 "2005-08-25T17:22:59Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > When I read the statements it seems to me that this is the world they live in and grew up in, not what they believe. Agreed, but think of how they’d react when you tell them that once, you actually had to _go to the bank_ during _normal banking hours_ to get money! Or that in the beginning, you had to _get out of the car_ to order your food at McDonalds! And the worst of all–we used to have to _get off the couch to change the channel!!_ ---
**Author:** ![phall0106](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phall0106/32/5934_2.png) [@phall0106](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phall0106)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549/30 "2005-08-25T17:42:38Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I had a younger friend ask me if I knew Phil Collins had been in a band before his solo career. > > I found a wall and started banging my head against it. Ha, Hallboy came across one of my Phil Collins CD. He wanted to know why it didn’t have the animation songs on it. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549/31 "2005-08-25T17:45:38Z")
Back in my day, we called 1920s-style death rays “death rays,” because we were living in the 1920s! ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549/32 "2005-08-25T17:54:20Z")
Recently my international driver’s licence expired and to get a US licence, I had to take a driving test at the DMV. It was a bit of a shock to realize that everyone else waiting to take the test were exactly half my age. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549/33 "2005-08-25T17:55:01Z")
Having worked in academia for nearly the last decade…I always thought the incoming freshman were getting younger and younger. But it wasn’t until they started bringing their laptops to class that I knew I was getting older and older. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549/34 "2005-08-25T17:55:45Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. Matt Groening has always had a Life in Hell. What th’?? _Life in hell_ stopped sometime in the very early 90’s, when incoming Beloit freshmen would have been \<9. It stopped being funny in the late 80’s. If more than 10% of Beloit freshmen know that Groening had an underground strip before the Simpsons I’d be surprised. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549/35 "2005-08-25T18:07:04Z")
> [@Larry Borgia](#): > > What th’?? _Life in hell_ stopped sometime in the very early 90’s, when incoming Beloit freshmen would have been \<9. Then why is there a Life in Hell strip dated 8-19-2005 in the latest issue of my local alt-weekly? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549/36 "2005-08-25T18:12:54Z")
Oh, and for a televised example of the cluelessness of these kids today, check out _70s House_ on MTV. There are only a couple new episodes left but I’m sure MTV will repeat the whole series sometime. The premise is that a dozen barely-20-somethings live together in a 70s ranch-style house, and everything they do has to be 70s. One by one they get eliminated if they violate the time period. They give periodic quizzes on 70s events to help make eliminations. According to some of these kids, the Bicentennial was in 1972, a Grand Turino is a drink, Led Zepplin sang “Stairway to Kansas” and in 1979 Americans were taken hostage in Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549/37 "2005-08-25T18:14:16Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Led Zepplin sang “Stairway to Kansas” _There’s a lady who’s sure All that’s yellow is corn And she’s buying a Stairway to Kansas …_ ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549/38 "2005-08-25T18:15:22Z")
One of many things that makes me feel old is that, when I answer film-related questions on the IMDb messageboards, I notice that many people describe movies from the 1990s as “really old movies.” Lawzee, if something from the 1990s is “really old,” what am I? I’m from the 1940s. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549/39 "2005-08-25T18:17:07Z")
Monday morning, I will go to my first class and realize that I and the professor will be the only two people in the room legally old enough to drink. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549/40 "2005-08-25T18:28:51Z")
I remember standing in line as a kid, around the side of the theater (one screen in this theater), to see a first-run movie. It was standing room only, but I decided to watch anyway. It was great. The movie was _Godzilla versus the Smog Monster_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-feel-really-old/318549.md?page=3)