# 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:** 34
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2021, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/663 "2021-11-19T22:58:25Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > [@Railer13](#): > > > > Those metal band-aid boxes made a great stash box. > > So did the old heavy plastic 35mm film containers. I still have a few of the little screw top _metal_ canisters that were replaced by the plastic ones (in the early 80’s?). ---
**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:** [November 19, 2021, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/664 "2021-11-19T23:39:21Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Fixing an electronic device by hitting it. “This TV is like my brother-in-law. You have to hit him to get him to work too.” –Redd Foxx ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2021, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/665 "2021-11-19T23:56:37Z")
On my tenth birthday, I received a telegram. ---
**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:** [November 20, 2021, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/666 "2021-11-20T13:58:44Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Dude, are you a sysop? Was at one time, had _4_ 2400 baud modems coming in 😄 ---
**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:** [November 20, 2021, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/667 "2021-11-20T14:03:09Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Yeah I think my first was 20 MB. I would have to zip and un zip stuff to go from one application to another. Some days I really regret ever learning anything at all about computers 😝 ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2021, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/668 "2021-11-20T21:34:11Z")
The distinctions between nauseated/nauseous, compliment/complement, uninterested/disinterested. Shall/will has been gone so long I won’t even mention it, and is a different category anyway ---
**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 29, 2021, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/669 "2021-11-29T00:59:43Z")
Fear of nuclear war. Even when watching cheesy entertainment like this [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/IOU6ax1C99s/hqdefault.jpg "Greatest American Hero : Eve of destruction (FX)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOU6ax1C99s) Or this [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/s93KC4AGKnY/maxresdefault.jpg "Wargames Ending") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s93KC4AGKnY) it was all very real. ---
**Author:** ![ThatCanadianGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@ThatCanadianGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThatCanadianGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/670 "2021-11-29T01:53:52Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > Fill up your gas tank and the station would give you a free drinking glass. I seem to recall some giving away encyclopedias – a few pages at a time each week, one page covering one subject. If you missed going for a fill up one week, your encyclopedia was incomplete. At the end of 2 or 3 years, you’d have the full encyclopedia. When I was REALLY young, the first few years of my life, I remember having to leave empty milk bottles outside the door. In the morning, there would magically be a new bottle full of milk. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/671 "2021-11-29T11:28:01Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Fear of nuclear war. > > Even when watching cheesy entertainment like this The non-cheesy entertainment was, at the time, rather terrifying: > **[The Day After](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_After)** > > The Day After is an American television film that first aired on November 20, 1983 on the ABC television network. The film postulates a fictional war between the NATO forces and the Warsaw Pact over Germany that rapidly escalates into a full-scale nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union. The action itself focuses on the residents of Lawrence, Kansas; Kansas City, Missouri; and several family farms near American missile silos. The cast includes JoBeth Williams, Steve Gut > **[Threads (1984 film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threads_(1984_film))** > > Threads is a 1984 British-Australian apocalyptic war drama television film jointly produced by the BBC, Nine Network and Western-World Television Inc. Written by Barry Hines and directed and produced by Mick Jackson, it is a dramatic account of nuclear war and its effects in Britain, specifically on the city of Sheffield in Northern England. The plot centres on two families as a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union erupts. As the nuclear exchange between NATO and the Wa... ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/672 "2021-11-29T12:04:37Z")
And earlier: > **[On the Beach (1959 film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Beach_(1959_film))** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > On the Beach is a 1959 American post-apocalyptic science fiction drama film from United Artists starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, and Anthony Perkins. Produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, it is based on Nevil Shute's 1957 novel On the Beach depicting the aftermath of a nuclear war. Unlike in the novel, no one is assigned blame for starting the war, which attributes global annihilation to fear compounded by accident or misjudgm... ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/673 "2021-11-29T12:14:53Z")
> [@tavaritz](#): > > Very old one: No potatoes in spring. First new potatoes were available mid June and old potatoes were finito in late February early March. There were lots of seasonal fruit & vegetable that today is year round. The first time I ever drove a truck (before that an icecream van was the biggest) was when I was asked to take three tons of new potatoes, freshly dug in late January from a farm in Wales to Covent Garden. Covent Garden is a tourist attraction these days, but then it was a fruit and veg market which opened at 4 am. I got there in the evening and it was very much clenched bum time as I threaded my way through the narrow streets with trucks parked on pavements unloading. The spuds were all in 1cwt (112lb) hessian bags which were unloaded by hand. I then had to go to another store, where I was loaded with fruit in wooden boxes to go back to Wales. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/674 "2021-11-29T12:29:20Z")
> [@ThatCanadianGuy](#): > > When I was REALLY young, the first few years of my life, I remember having to leave empty milk bottles outside the door. In the morning, there would magically be a new bottle full of milk. I also have an early memory of leaving empty milk bottles out, and a milk delivery van coming early in the morning to deliver full glass bottles with foil tops. And the cream rose to the top of the milk! ---
**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:** [November 29, 2021, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/675 "2021-11-29T13:02:39Z")
I must live in a strange place, because I can get milk delivered in glass returnable bottles today (and have for many years while our kid was younger). I live within 20 miles of downtown Boston. Is this really so unknown these days? I mean it’s expensive, but available. Maybe people mean it’s no longer the default method of getting milk. ---
**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 29, 2021, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/676 "2021-11-29T13:41:25Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > The non-cheesy entertainment was, at the time, rather terrifying: You want really terrifying? The 1965 film **The War Game** , requested by the BBC but considered too scary and subversive. It was finally broadcast by them twenty years later. In the meantime, it had been shown other places and got a reputation. I saw it in the 1980s and was freaked out by its stark and bleak depiction of the aftermath of a very limited nuclear war on Great Britain. This film undoubtedly influenced the later _Threads_ and _The Day After_. That latter film, for all its impact, still feels like a prettied-up shadow of _The War Game_. > **[The War Game](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Game)** > > The War Game is a 1966 British pseudo-documentary film that depicts a nuclear war and its aftermath. Written, directed and produced by Peter Watkins for the BBC, it caused dismay within the BBC and also within government, and was subsequently withdrawn before the provisional screening date of 6 October 1965. The corporation said that "the effect of the film has been judged by the BBC to be too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting. It will, however, be shown to invited audiences..." > The f... Part of the film’s impact is its stark, black-and-white documentary style. It really does look as if they shot it after the bombs dropped on the UK. The fire departments and police try to deal with the problems with impaired and limited resources. The imposition of strict martial law itself is scary. But the worst part are the panning shots across the rows of survivors, sitting still or rocking back and forth, their eyes vacant in shock, covered with black stains that might be mud or blood or keloid scars - the black and white helps by making this ambiguous. The people blinded by looking at the exploding bombs. _The Day After_ didn’t show or even hint at any of this. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/677 "2021-11-29T14:35:03Z")
> [@CastletonSnob1](#): > > When I was a kid, if we wanted to get on the internet and someone was on the phone, we had to wait until they got off the phone. When I was a kid, phones weren’t used to call people. They were used to call the places you expected the person to be. “Hi, Mom! Is Dad there?” “No, he went to the office.” “Hi, is Mr. JohnT there?” “No, honey, your father went to see his brother.” “Hi, Uncle Al! Is my dad there?” “Sure… let me get him for you… John! Come grab the phone! It’s your kid!” ---
**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 29, 2021, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/678 "2021-11-29T14:53:52Z")
Yeah. Back in the day, one question you never asked someone you were calling was “where are you?” - because you knew where they were. [https://www.cartalk.com/radio/puzzler/im-asking-you-now](https://www.cartalk.com/radio/puzzler/im-asking-you-now) ---
**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 29, 2021, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/679 "2021-11-29T15:25:42Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > When I was a kid, phones weren’t used to call people. > > They were used to call the places you expected the person to be. Do kids today understand Bart Simpson prank-calling Moe’s Tavern? ---
**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:** [November 29, 2021, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/680 "2021-11-29T15:48:45Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Is this really so unknown these days? I mean it’s expensive, but available. Maybe people mean it’s no longer the default method of getting milk. My impression is that it is not widely available and that many “kids today” would be completely unaware of the practice. We had milk delivered when I was a kid (1960s) but I haven’t seen it as an option in any of the places I’ve lived since. Perhaps I could get it where I live, but I’ve never seen a milk truck in these parts. Okay, I just googled it. It can be done. (We don’t drink much milk, maybe a pint every two weeks) > **[Smith Brothers Farms](https://www.smithbrothersfarms.com/how-it-works)** > > Smith Brothers Farms provides the freshest milk and local food delivery in Seattle and the Puget Sound to more than 50,000 homes every week. ---
**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 29, 2021, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/681 "2021-11-29T15:52:04Z")
Agreed. I suspect that younger folks can understand that “The Day After” is scary - but without the active USSR/US rivalry going on, can they understand that even offhand references to nuclear war in (say) “Night Court” evoked a sense of fear and dread. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/682 "2021-11-29T16:02:28Z")
Reminded me - Ace Comics, yes comic books, had a series called “Atomic War”. \*Those dastardly commies…" The comics are available at [archive.org](http://archive.org) [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=33) [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=35)