# 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:** 27
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/523 "2021-11-04T03:41:29Z")
> [@Crane](#): > > Xray machine at the shoe store From 1987(!), Cecil on shoe store fluoroscopes. [Were those old shoe store fluoroscopes a health hazard? - The Straight Dope](https://www.straightdope.com/21341775/were-those-old-shoe-store-fluoroscopes-a-health-hazard) ---
**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:** [November 4, 2021, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/524 "2021-11-04T06:49:24Z")
Kids. Back in the day, kids were all over the place. You couldn’t swing a bat in your neighborhood without hitting a kid (not that I ever did that…well, not intentionally). My neighbors to the right had 5 kids. My neighbors to the left had 7. On the same block, another had 10 kids, and another had 6. The rest had at least 2. A neighbor on the next block over had a litter of 12. As a kid, this was fine and dandy, because there was always enough kids to play backyard team sports, or activities. Also, unfortunately, statistically more bullies, and neighborhood scuffles. Same for pets. Way back when, people let their dogs and cats run wild during the day. None of this _“indoor cat/dog”_ business. Oh, sure, a few _Fidos_ and _Snowballs_ succumbed to road-kill-status, but that was the price one paid for having an _outdoors-man_ pet who participated in kid activities along with us all. I don’t know if my low visibility of kids and pets is now the norm, or if it’s due to my moving to Florida, and people here keep their kids and pets indoors, so they don’t get eaten by gators. Or, more ominously, maybe people do have as many kids and pets as they used to, but they’re culled by the gators. Can’t argue with _survival of this fittest_, I suppose. 😰 ---
**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:** [November 4, 2021, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/525 "2021-11-04T09:49:53Z")
White dog shit, due to high levels of calcium in the diet. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/526 "2021-11-04T12:29:25Z")
I’ve heard that it was due to a lot of dog foods mixing in bone meal. ---
**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:** [November 4, 2021, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/527 "2021-11-04T14:18:26Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > White dog shit, due to high levels of calcium in the diet. That’s true! Now that I think of it, I haven’t seen white dog poop since I was a kid. Good observation! Another back of the station wagon story. My younger sister was always the “way back passenger”. She got car sick a lot and she was able to lay down back there. The rear window was quite fancy for the times. It was a power window that my dad could open and close while driving. Apparently one day on the way home from the cabin, my sister in the way back had her head hanging out of the rear window like a dog. My dad didn’t realize it and pushed the button to close the window. Her head got squished from under her chin to above her nose. I’m not sure how long she was stuck like that or who alerted my dad. I do remember she had a pretty bad bruise for a while. ---
**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:** [November 4, 2021, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/528 "2021-11-04T14:21:59Z")
I vaguely recall sleeping on the shelf behind the back seat in a sedan. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/529 "2021-11-04T14:41:09Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > Another back of the station wagon story… Our family vacations were always multi-week car trips in a huge station wagon. My dad cut down the legs of a wooden card table, and my sister and I would play games or draw at the “way back table”. Yes, there were plenty of stops because a kid (usually me) was carsick. ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/530 "2021-11-04T14:43:03Z")
Bus transfer tickets Draft numbers Ration cards Short Wave ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/531 "2021-11-04T15:59:00Z")
> [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](#): > > > [@Tibby](#): > > > > I liked it. I didn’t like being singled out in elementary school every year for a chest x-ray due to tuberculosis (TB) exposure. Only 2 other kids in school had to do so. It was embarrassing. > > It’s also news to me that some kids were X-rayed for TB in school. Huh. This was not routine for all kids, just the ones who had to be monitored for active TB because they’d tested positive. I believe this is still a standard protocol for people of all ages who have been exposed to TB, though I have no idea if it’s done in schools anymore. ---
**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:** [November 4, 2021, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/532 "2021-11-04T16:15:50Z")
In my case, a mobile x-ray truck came to my elementary school once per year, and students who tested positive for TB (3 out of ~300 students) were called out of class to get their chest x-rayed. I had a crush on one of the other positive kids, so it wasn’t all bad. ---
**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:** [November 4, 2021, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/533 "2021-11-04T17:48:15Z")
When I was a freshman in college, on February 2, 1972, none of the guys went to class that morning, because we were all listening to the radio as the draft lottery numbers were drawn. I was #263. ---
**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:** [November 4, 2021, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/534 "2021-11-04T18:02:06Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > This was not routine for all kids, just the ones who had to be monitored for active TB because they’d tested positive. In California at age 16, when I took my first job in food service I had to get a TB X-ray before I could work. ---
**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:** [November 4, 2021, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/535 "2021-11-04T18:09:05Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > Write protect rings Ooh, you reminded me of the write-protect labels that used to come with floppy discs. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Floppy_tabs_3x2.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Floppy_tabs_3x2.jpg) I remember using a paper hole punch to turn a one-sided floppy disc into a two-sided floppy disc. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/536 "2021-11-04T18:22:09Z")
You all know that cassette tapes also had write-protect tabs, right? [Wikipedia: Cassette tape](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Phonosilver-superferric-writeprotect-tabremoved.jpg) ---
**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:** [November 4, 2021, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/537 "2021-11-04T18:27:41Z")
Of course. After you made a mixtape, you snapped the write-protect tab to protect your deathless love-creation. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/538 "2021-11-04T18:33:33Z")
Really! That sounds, if nothing else, rather expensive. ---
**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:** [November 4, 2021, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/539 "2021-11-04T18:44:01Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > You all know that cassette tapes also had write-protect tabs, right? Yes, of course—both audio and video cassettes. And those tabs that came with floppy discs to make them _non_-rewritable occasionally came in handy for covering up the notches on cassettes to make them rewritable. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/540 "2021-11-04T20:05:13Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > She was supposedly a cousin of the Flying Finn. But not documented. Nurmi is an extremely common surname. I know a bunch of Nurmis, who are not related, and I don’t even know all that many people. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/541 "2021-11-04T20:35:12Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Our family vacations were always multi-week car trips in a huge station wagon. My dad cut down the legs of a wooden card table, and my sister and I would play games or draw at the “way back table” My memory is a little fuzzy, but my Dad, Mom my Brother, the family dog and I traveled from Chicago to Florida in a 1966 Chrysler station wagon. Grandma or a cousin was with us too. Luggage strapped to the roof. Was a bit crowded. Chevy Chase’s movie Vacation brings back some memories. ---
**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:** [November 4, 2021, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/542 "2021-11-04T22:21:15Z")
^ Where did you put Aunt Edna? 😆 [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=26) [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=28)