# What became ubiquitous then went away in your lifetime? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 10, 2026, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180 "2026-04-10T22:01:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 41
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/801 "2026-09-15T00:20:23Z")
remember Sinclair giving away dinosaur balloons? ---
**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:** [September 15, 2026, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/802 "2026-09-15T00:26:04Z")
No, but then, we don’t have Sinclair gas stations in Canada. I did get a tiger tail from Esso, though (“Put a tiger in your tank”), so that was good. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/803 "2026-09-15T00:34:01Z")
> [@fedman1](#): > > remember Sinclair giving away dinosaur balloons? And dinosaur-shaped soap (_Dino-soap)_? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/804 "2026-09-15T18:53:40Z")
The Old English cheese is still pretty common, and still in 5 oz glass jars. [![](https://www.brandlandusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/img_5965-scaled.jpg) ](https://www.brandlandusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/img_5965-scaled.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/805 "2026-09-15T19:24:54Z")
> [@bump](#): > > The Old English cheese is still pretty common I remember both it and the pimento cheese spread fondly (on Ritz crackers or Melba toast of course). I’ll have to look for some. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/806 "2026-09-15T19:26:25Z")
My family always stuffed the channel of celery sticks with it, and served them as hors d’oeuvres at family gatherings like Thanksgiving and Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2026, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/807 "2026-09-17T03:44:55Z")
> [@ricepad](#): > > I wanted (but never managed to get) a Jack antenna ball. I’m sure JitB will bring them out again in the future. I hope. All the JitB around here just closed. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2026, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/808 "2026-09-17T18:35:16Z")
> [@pirviii](#): > > All the JitB around here just closed. Where do the stoners go at 2am for their munchy fix? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2026, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/809 "2026-09-17T18:50:05Z")
> [@ricepad](#): > > Where do the stoners go at 2am for their munchy fix? Taco Bell. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MacDoc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/macdoc/32/18696_2.png) [@MacDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacDoc)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2026, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/810 "2026-09-17T21:13:42Z")
Typewriters… ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2026, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/811 "2026-09-17T21:18:43Z")
> [@MacDoc](#): > > Typewriters Unless you are well over 100 years old, typewriters don’t fit the premise of the thread, which is about things which really weren’t widespread (if they existed at all) when you were born, but then _became_ ubiquitous, before fading away, during your lifetime; typewriters were _already_ ubiquitous when you were born. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2026, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/812 "2026-09-17T21:22:56Z")
I think typewriters was in ref to JitB and Taco Bell posts. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2026, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/813 "2026-09-17T21:22:57Z")
> [@fedman1](#): > > remember Sinclair giving away dinosaur balloons? Certainly Cecil Adams remembered that. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2026, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/814 "2026-09-17T21:29:10Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > I think typewriters was in ref to JitB and Taco Bell posts. Stoners go to _typewriters_ to get their 2am munchie fix??? That makes even less sense. Yes, that poster replied to me, but it was pretty evident that it was their contribution to the overall thread, not a direct reply to my post. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2026, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/815 "2026-09-17T21:52:01Z")
okay, how about electric typewriters? ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2026, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/816 "2026-09-17T21:59:15Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > okay, how about electric typewriters According to [Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter), the first electric typewriters appeared in the early 1900s. The IBM Selectric, which is certainly familiar to a lot of us, was introduced in 1961. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2026, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/817 "2026-09-17T21:59:26Z")
Maybe if you were born before 1950. But electric typewriters in 1950s offices were pretty common, although apparently it was the 1961 introduction of the IBM Selectric [ETA: ninja’d by @Railer13], with the typeball element instead of all the keys, that really took off. Electric typewriters never totally displaced manual ones, though: in the early 1980s I took my manual Brother typewriter (with _correcting ribbon_, ooooh 🤩 ) to college with me. And I still remember my smugness when a power outage hit campus one day (back when random power outages could be all-day issues) and I was typing my paper outdoors in the sunshine while all my classmates with their fancy-schmancy electric typewriters were lamenting that they couldn’t get any work done. 😁 ---
**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:** [September 17, 2026, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/818 "2026-09-17T23:00:40Z")
I’m in my late 50s and grew up in a relatively technically deprived country (Pakistan) in the 1970s and 80s. I do not remember manual typewriters being in use when I was hanging around my mother at work. Certainly everything was electric by the mid 70s. Of course I’m a young ‘un compared with most of you it seems. Between this place and the bridge table, I am able to counteract the feeling that I am old that I get from going to work each day. Only five of eighteen colleagues were born before 1990. ---
**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:** [September 17, 2026, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/819 "2026-09-17T23:06:10Z")
There is a difference between **electric** typewriters and **electronic** typewriters, which I think is confusing some people. An electric typewriter works pretty much like a manual typewriter, except it uses an electric motor to move the striker rather than relying purely on mechanical force from your fingers. An electronic typewriter (such as the IBM Selectric) uses electronics to translate your key press into the movement of something like a typeball or daisy wheel, with no actual mechanical connection between the key and the typing element. ETA: I just read the Wikipedia article, and I just learned that the Selectric was electromechanical, not electronic. So it would actually fall into the “electric” category, albeit a very advanced electric typewriter. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2026, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/820 "2026-09-17T23:16:19Z")
I meant like people drunk call people, maybe they also post while stoned. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180.md?page=40) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180.md?page=42)