What fads in history can you name?

[Spoons]

This may be Canada-specific, but …

Stocking caps.

That’s what we called them, but they were just toques (wool beanie caps) that were longer than necessary. Needed in winter. Like Santa’s headgear, just taken to an extreme. I was about 9 or 10 when they were popular. And the most popular kid in school was the one whose stocking cap dragged on the street behind him or her.

[Elmer_J.Fudd]

@CaptMurdock

“No Bozo” (a picture of the clown with the circle-and-slash superimposed)

Also, “Baby onboard” signs and half of Garfield stuck in the trunk.

[EinsteinsHund]

@MrDibble

I doubt any modern dance fads were as dangerous as the St. Vitus Dance…definitely none lasted as long.

Thanks for that very interesting link. I had heard about St, Vitus Dance (“Veitstanz” in German, which is also used idiomatically for someone making a scene, acting erratically or throwing a tantrum), and also about the ergot poisoning theory, but I didn’t know how common a mass phenomenon it used to be. Seems to have been the medieval equivalent to 1990s techno raves.

[Moriarty]

@F.U.Shakespeare

@Just_Asking_Questions

I never got how they sat. Did they just sit on the ball on top? Sounds unstable. And painful.

AIUI there was usually a small platform built on top of the pole.

Now I hate to go all Howard Stern, but the bathroom thing seems an awkward thing to deal with in that prudish era.

So I did some research. Alvin “Shipwreck” Kelly (he claimed to have survived the Titanic) was the guy who got the craze started.

At the literal height of Kelly’s career in 1930, he set a world record by sitting atop a 225 foot tall flagpole in Atlantic City for 49 days and one hour. To keep himself from falling asleep, he would tie his ankles to the pole and was frequently pictured in the press hundreds of feet in the air brushing his teeth and shaving his face. His preferred form of nourishment was liquids (a lot of coffee) and cigarettes, which were hoisted up the pole by assistants using rope and pails. And to answer your burning question, to use the bathroom, “he turned away from the crowd and used a small tube that ran to the ground into a hole”.

The Mad 1920s Fad of Pole-Sitting

Here’s a picture. You can see the small stool he was able to sit on.

[BobLibDem]

Drilling a hole in a ping pong ball and putting it on your car’s antenna so you can find it in the parking lot. With modern antennas it isn’t quite so effective.

[Elmer_J.Fudd]

@Moriarty

And to answer your burning question, to use the bathroom, “he turned away from the crowd and used a small tube that ran to the ground into a hole”.

Not to brag, but a “small” tube isn’t going to cut it for me. I’m gonna guess the tube was just for number one. I suspect for other waste, the lunch pail served a dual purpose.

[Jeff_Lichtman]

There have been many fad diets:

Hollywood diet - from the 1930s, lots of grapefruit, 500 calories a day
Cabbage soup diet - from the 1950s
High-protein, low carb diets - Atkins, paleo, keto, carnivore
Raw food diet
Blood type diet

[burpo_the_wonder_mutt]

I imagine they’re still around, but point shirts were a big deal around 1975(?).

[EinsteinsHund]

@burpo_the_wonder_mutt

point shirts

What are “point shirts”? Google didn’t help.

[Boycott]

About 20 years ago when men in their 30s all seemed to have a phase of spiking their hair

[burpo_the_wonder_mutt]

A type of “urban cowboy” wear: long sleeves, the cuffs had snaps, ditto the front, and some contrasting fabric would come up over your shoulders from the back and come to points on both sides of your breastbone. I’ll find you a pic, shortly.

[Whack-a-Mole]

@dorvann

Lawn Darts

I feel like Lawn Darts might still be a thing had it not been made illegal (for good reason).

[EinsteinsHund]

@burpo_the_wonder_mutt

A type of “urban cowboy” wear: long sleeves, the cuffs had snaps, ditto the front, and some contrasting fabric would come up over your shoulders from the back and come to points on both sides of your breastbone. I’ll find you a pic, shortly.

Ah, I see, that’s a fashion that never made it to Germany. Maybe among truckers, but I never moved in that circles.

[burpo_the_wonder_mutt]

Somethin’ like this, pard:

Google Image Result for...

[EinsteinsHund]

Thanks, now I see, I’m a country rock fan, and many country rockers of the late 60s/early 70s wore those shirts, not only John Denver. But I really have never seen anyone wearing such a shirt in Germany.

[pkbites]

Digital pets

Baby on board signs

Mickey Mouse watches were huge around here in the 70’s.

[dorvann]

Speaking of fads ended by injuries and liability concerns—three wheel ATVs.

[Beckdawrek]

Hermit crab necklace.

I think it was very short lived(heh). Hole it it’s shell add a leather thong or chain. And hope it doesn’t decide to decamp from it’s shell during math class.

But there were many bug brooch fads. Iridescent beetles being popular for a time. I feel like they were killed first.

[Whack-a-Mole]

@FairyChatMom

Beanie Babies

This always reminds me of this pic of a divorcing couple trying to equitably divide their Beanie Babies in a court room:

[Pardel-Lux]

eugenics
nazism
uncountable religious “denominations”
freudian analysis
well mowed lawns (that has proven very resistant, still lingers)