# Without saying your age, what's something from your childhood that a younger person wouldn't understand? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 25, 2021, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138 "2021-10-25T01:08:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/202 "2021-10-26T14:44:21Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Collecting comics from individually-sold pieces of Bazooka Joe bubble gum and mailing them in for prizes was still a thing when I was young, but I’m fairly sure it had ended by the time I reached my early teens. I’m pretty sure every word of that would make absolutely no sense to some of my Gen-Z coworkers. I collected Kool-aid envelopes for prizes, one was a really nice camera (not one of those cheezy “spy cameras”) that one of my dad’s co-workers wanted to buy from me because his pix never looked as good from his fancy-shmancy camera (translation: he was a bad photog). I wish one of those prizes had been a set of molars. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/203 "2021-10-26T14:46:27Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > > [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > > > But more on topic, a younger person might not understand that the sum of _electronic_ appliances in a typical home might be just a telephone, radio, and TV. > > Nitpick perhaps, but by the time people had TV’s, most would have had refrigerators, washers and dryers. But they wouldn’t have been electronic. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/204 "2021-10-26T14:47:17Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > Cutting rubies. I’m old enough to have understood almost everything on this thread, but I’m stumped here. More info, please? Is “ruby” a nickname for something, or actual red jewels? Tell me more! ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/205 "2021-10-26T15:00:46Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Not sure about this one, but today do they require engineering students to learn to draft using regular drafting tools? Or is it all CAD? CAD became a thing at my old school after I graduated, so my assumption is that today they only use that. My cousin, who was an architect major only learned to use drafting tools in college…he didn’t actually learn CAD until years after he graduated. We did drafting in shop class in high school. T-squares and triangles and protractors. If you were lucky, you got to use one of the handful of desks that had a [mechanical drafting machine.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drafting_machine). One of the first projects in the shop was making a sandpaper drafting pencil sharpener so you could put a proper point on your (wooden) pencil. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/206 "2021-10-26T15:03:03Z")
My sister and BIL bought our grandma’s house. It has a hardwired pink telephone on the side of one of the kitchen cabinets. They kept it as a conversation piece. We were trying to show my 11 yo grandson how it worked. He couldn’t figure out that when he dialed, he had to dial all the way around to the little metal stop thingy. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/207 "2021-10-26T15:08:43Z")
Right. A washer or dryer or fridge would be simple electrical/mechanical (and maybe gas-powered) devices ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/208 "2021-10-26T15:13:06Z")
Am I correct that the distinction between electric and electronic lies in the presence of at least one transistor (or vacuum tube)? ---
**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:** [October 26, 2021, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/209 "2021-10-26T15:16:28Z")
There’s a distinction between electric and electronic? So, I google this and by god there is. Another reason I visit this site, I learn things. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/210 "2021-10-26T15:25:53Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > We did drafting in shop class in high school. T-squares and triangles and protractors. If you were lucky, you got to use one of the handful of desks that had a [mechanical drafting machine.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drafting_machine). One of the first projects in the shop was making a sandpaper drafting pencil sharpener so you could put a proper point on your (wooden) pencil. I never had to make my own tools, but yes, we used a variety of pencils…not all wooden in my case. We also used a drafting table as you linked too and regular drafting tools for all our mechanical drawings. I remember doing cut-away mechanical drawings of jet engines as being one of the more difficult and often tedious projects, though any mechanical break-out and elevation could be a trial. The college I went to had a desk for each student, but you had to buy your own tools (and slide rules), though materials (various drafting paper and other media) were provided by the cost of the class. I think this is just one of the joys of how things were that the kids today will never know. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/211 "2021-10-26T15:31:54Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > The house where I grew up — which was built sometime in the 1930s, and my father bought in 1946 — had a wall outlet like the one pictured in **kenobi65** ’s post above in most rooms (certainly in each bedroom). I don’t know whether they were part of the original construction or added later, but I was aware of them in the 1950s because “my father the doctor” needed to have the only phone in the house close by so it kinda followed him around. That is really interesting – because my father was a doctor in the 1950’s and 1960’s (as well as before and briefly after); and if this had been available to him I’m sure he’d have done it. We had one hardwired phone, on the wall in the kitchen, and it wasn’t following anybody anywhere. He did try to install a second phone outside the house, so he’d be able to get to it faster if he was out in the yard, but the phone company found out about it and took it away again (I think if he’d paid for a second line and had the phone company do the installation, they’d have been fine with that, but I think that then there would have been two phone numbers and the first one still wouldn’t have rung or been answerable outside.) Maybe it depended on where you were? > [@panache45](#): > > Praying mantises were fairly common. I used to raise them. We still have some around here. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/212 "2021-10-26T15:33:06Z")
I started my career in 1980 hand painting geomorphic maps. Oil on canvas. Brush size 0 (1/32"). Very, very detailed paint by number basically. Every time before you reloaded your brush, you had to blot the previous area to make it soak in and get consistency in color. If you got 20 square inches done in a shift, you where doing good, or had a simple map. These maps where custom ordered and very expensive. They could take days or weeks to produce. Was kind of a cool job, I could make my own hours. But my god did it turn out to be boring. But it was a stepping stone to another job in mapping. Lot’s and lots of Leroy lettering in that and a few others. It did turn into a very lucrative GIS career though. I’m still in GIS. ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/213 "2021-10-26T15:48:04Z")
> [@XT](#): > > So, perhaps another thing that younger people won’t understand is ‘reverse polish’ logic from an HP calculator. Still have an HP-41CX on my desk that I use all the time. Guys at work ask if they can borrow my calculator - the reverse polish notation tears 'em up every time 😂 ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/214 "2021-10-26T15:50:40Z")
> [@XT](#): > > another thing that younger people won’t understand is ‘reverse polish’ logic from an HP calculator. I didn’t understand Reverse Polish when _ **I** _ was a younger people! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/215 "2021-10-26T15:52:24Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Leroy lettering Oh god yes, Leroy lettering. And Rapidographs. And I see they still make Rubylith. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/216 "2021-10-26T15:59:19Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > And…“calculator” was a job description for a person. I remember when my dad, who was produce manager at a supermarket would do his inventory at home. He would bring one of those old time adding machines. Like this one, complete with crank. [![](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/14/f3/79/14f379a9a03b46039b9be4d11bc98c7e.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/14/f3/79/14f379a9a03b46039b9be4d11bc98c7e.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/217 "2021-10-26T16:03:32Z")
My dad had one of those adding machines in his office too! Only a different model. I used to love subtracting 5 from 3 and watching it come up with 999,998. I wonder… If I show this picture to my grandkids, will they ask where the zero is?.. Gotta try it out… ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/218 "2021-10-26T16:03:57Z")
The machine that funded “The Naked Lunch”! (William S. Burroughs was the grandson of the Burroughs who founded Burroughs Adding Machines) ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/219 "2021-10-26T16:24:58Z")
[Rubylith,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubylith) as mentioned in post 212. I forgot about amberlith. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/220 "2021-10-26T16:39:11Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Can you even have film developed into slides anymore? You absolutely can get positive/transparency/color film developed at professional photo labs. Now whether you can still get them encased as slides, I don’t know. (ETA: Looks like the local lab does offer mounting services, so yes.) I’ve always had my 35mm transparencies developed and just cut into the normal strips of 5 or 6, and I would put my favorites into the slide holders manually. You can still buy those slide mounts at a place like B&H. I wouldn’t be surprised if some developing services still do it for you, but you can at least get the film developed and mount it yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Didi44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/221 "2021-10-26T16:47:33Z")
This…I didn’t understand why American soldiers were firing on people that looked like me. Related, having to sign up for the draft to potentially fight in another war…ummm…police action that you didn’t understand or agree with. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138.md?page=12)