# 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:** 35
**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, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/683 "2021-11-29T16:08:09Z")
Another cold war memory: American newspapers used to publish outrageous quotes from the Russian newspaper Pravda. Like this one (paraphrased - it’s been a LONG time since I read this): “American college football is a bloody sport that the government uses to harden and prepare the people for war. Players are routinely killed during the games.” ---
**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, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/684 "2021-11-29T16:12:53Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > 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. Educating kids on “Duck and Cover” was before my time: > **[Duck and cover](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_and_cover)** > > "Duck and cover" is a method of personal protection against the effects of a nuclear explosion. Ducking and covering is useful in offering a degree of protection to personnel located outside the radius of the nuclear fireball but still within sufficient range of the nuclear explosion that standing upright and uncovered is likely to cause serious injury or death. In the most literal interpretation, the focus of the maneuver is primarily on protective actions one can take during the first few cruci... Lots of **[good examples of duck-and-cover educational films on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%22duck+and+cover%22)**, many of which seem inexplicably cheery and upbeat. Not sure what changed between the 50s/60s and 70s/80s, but I grew up during the latter period. We never received duck-and-cover training, but were still concerned about nuclear war. Maybe because the concept of mutually assured destruction meant that civilian areas would be targeted along with military areas, and duck-and-cover doesn’t much matter when you’re a mile from ground zero under a megaton detonation? These days “duck and cover” training appears to have been superceded by “run/hide/fight” training, which kids from the 50s to the early 90s wouldn’t be familiar with. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/685 "2021-11-29T16:18:24Z")
midi files ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/686 "2021-11-29T16:49:27Z")
Yeah, “0” for operator. . . I can’t remember the last time I used that or heard anybody say anything about it. It used to be a common thing. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/687 "2021-11-29T17:43:59Z")
Now I’m reminded of [using your hat to protect yourself from “heat flash”](https://vestisferrea.tumblr.com/post/123539312846/if-you-are-caught-outdoors-in-a-sudden-attack-a) in the event of a nuclear attack. I grew up at the tail end of men routinely wearing hats, and another thing young un’s probably wouldn’t recognize were the [hat clips](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XlY43FGB-0k/WUEhDM8Kd2I/AAAAAAAABKM/DwmpZL0TXSswcrNinOTDdAyz8Mc7J-SvACLcBGAs/s1600/hat.jpg) on the backs of church pews. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/688 "2021-11-29T18:00:23Z")
> [@tullsterx](#): > > Yeah, “0” for operator. . . I can’t remember the last time I used that or heard anybody say anything about it. It used to be a common thing. Likewise. Now I’m wondering when it stopped working. I just tried it on my cellphone, and I got a recording giving me the numbers for various services, such as police, directory assistance, international calls, customer service, and a couple of others. Then it repeated in Spanish, gave some kind of identifier, and hung up. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/689 "2021-11-29T20:16:34Z")
I remember listening to Car Talk on NPR. And I remember that puzzler too. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/690 "2021-11-29T20:57:58Z")
Some kinds of wild foraging > [@OttoDaFe](#): > > I grew up at the tail end of men routinely wearing hats, and another thing young un’s probably wouldn’t recognize were the [hat clips](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XlY43FGB-0k/WUEhDM8Kd2I/AAAAAAAABKM/DwmpZL0TXSswcrNinOTDdAyz8Mc7J-SvACLcBGAs/s1600/hat.jpg) on the backs of church pews. So that’s what those are! ---
**Author:** ![Didi44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/691 "2021-12-01T04:16:45Z")
Lead tinsel. Yep kids, we’d decorate the Christmas tree with thin strips of lead, carefully one strand at a time. Then after Christmas, carefully remove them and place them back in the box for next year! Oh…and when it was taken off the market, we continued to use our diminishing stash of the ‘good stuff’, mixing it with the new lighter stuff that didn’t hang as well. I remember my Mom making us wash our hands after hanging tinsel because it turned our hands black. Ahhhh…the good old days! ---
**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:** [December 1, 2021, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/692 "2021-12-01T04:24:23Z")
Playing with mercury in grade school science class. ---
**Author:** ![Didi44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/693 "2021-12-01T05:44:31Z")
My Dad had small bottle of mercury and I played with it as toy, letting squish between my fingers. Yep…didn’t affect me at all! ;-p Oh and the chemistry sets with real chemicals and the hobby shop where you could buy them! ---
**Author:** ![tavaritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71e660/32.png) [@tavaritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavaritz)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/694 "2021-12-01T12:08:02Z")
> [@Didi44](#): > > Oh and the chemistry sets with real chemicals and the hobby shop where you could buy them! I remeber those and am still wondering what did they thought when they started market them. I had one and made hydrogensulfide for my mothers delight. Made hydrogen and burned some of my hair. Made both sulphuric- and nitricacid and went to my mother asking some cotton and my father got curious. That experiment we did outside. My father couradged me and my mother accepted. Fun times. I was ten IIRC so it was -71. Seems right. I still have this finnish book written by Ilmari Jäämaa: Kokeilijan ja keksijän kirja. Freely translated as Exprimentist’s and Inventor’s Handbook. You can think it as a precursor for the Anarchist Cookbook. When I read it today I realise that most of the chemicals that are used there one cannot purchase easily nor can one purchase the precursors. I mean that making even nitric acid today at home is almost impossible. I mean legally. One legal way that comes to mind is by starting purifying air for nitron. All fertilizers are too impure to be usable. ---
**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:** [December 1, 2021, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/695 "2021-12-01T15:22:15Z")
> [@Didi44](#): > > Oh and the chemistry sets with real chemicals and the hobby shop where you could buy them! My common complaint. I used to be able to get all kinds of interesting chemicals for experiments, like sodium silicate (good as a glue and for making “crystal gardens”) Ferric Ammonium Sulfate and Sodium Ferrocyanide (mix them in solution to make Prussian blue). magnesium strip (light it and it burns with a white flame you can’t even look at), Cobalt Chloride 9use for making "weather sensors), and the like. I could buy replacements at the local auto parts store. Now all that is gone, I suspect because everyone’s afraid of lawsuits from injuries. So kids’ chemistry kits now tell you how to make different varieties of Slime, or how to make Bath Bombs, or something similarly uninteresting and harless. When we were kids our volcanos weren’t made of baking soda and vinegar! We made mound of ammonium dichromate and lit it. It sent out plumes of smoke and burning jumping sparks and made its own “lava”. Who knew that it was carcinogenic? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/zBfe4DXfHa4/maxresdefault.jpg "Ammonium Dichromate Volcano - Cool Chemical Experiment") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBfe4DXfHa4) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/s5u-doG--ho/maxresdefault.jpg "Volcano Reaction - Ammonium Dichromate Decomposition") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5u-doG--ho) If you want a taste of real chemistry hobby labs – and how you could learn science from it, have a look at the Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments, available in several places online > **[The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments - Free Download of a Banned Book](https://sciencenotes.org/the-golden-book-of-chemistry-experiments-free-download-of-a-banned-book/)** > > Here's The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments, by Robert Brent. This controversial children's book was banned at one time because the experiments were deemed too dangerous. > **[Brent\_GBC.pdf](https://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/Brent_GBC.pdf)** > > 41.39 MB Build your own science lab out of kitchen implements and (then)easily available household chemicals. Create Chlorine in your lab, create plastic from sulfur and cast it. Make Orlon in your basement. Taste aids and bases! ---
**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:** [December 1, 2021, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/696 "2021-12-01T16:33:50Z")
OMG! 😲 I’m 60+ and I’ve never heard that! IMHO, you win the thread. ---
**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:** [December 1, 2021, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/697 "2021-12-01T17:17:20Z")
Of course, there’s the (in)famous AC Gilbert [U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_U-238_Atomic_Energy_Laboratory) offered in 1950. Among other things it contained - alpha source ([Po-210](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Po-210)) in the form of a wire - [beta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_particle)-[alpha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_particle) ([Pb-210](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pb-210)) - pure [beta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_particle) (possibly [Ru-106](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ru-106)) - [gamma](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_ray) ([Zn-65](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zn-65)) plus four unranium-bearing ore samples, [autunite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autunite), [torbernite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torbernite), [uraninite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uraninite), and [carnotite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnotite) from the “[Colorado plateau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_plateau) region” It failed to sell well, most likely due to the high price, $530 in 2020 dollars. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/698 "2021-12-01T17:40:57Z")
LOAD “PACM\*”,8,1 > **Summary** > > extra text for discourse ---
**Author:** ![Slytherin24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Slytherin24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slytherin24)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/699 "2021-12-01T19:05:18Z")
When I was your age we didn’t have streaming or DVDs. We had VCR and these places called video rental stores. ---
**Author:** ![Slytherin24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Slytherin24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slytherin24)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/700 "2021-12-01T19:06:38Z")
😆 love the Blazing Saddles reference ---
**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:** [December 1, 2021, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/701 "2021-12-01T19:35:09Z")
> [@Didi44](#): > > Oh and the chemistry sets with real chemicals and the hobby shop where you could buy them! Loved my Gilbert Chemistry Set as a kid. Never got into any trouble with it. I did, however, cause a Big Rip in a few alternate universes with my Gilbert Astrophysics Set. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/702 "2021-12-01T21:26:54Z")
> [@Slytherin24](#): > > When I was your age we didn’t have streaming or DVDs. We had VCR and these places called video rental stores. I grew up before VCRs. As previous posters wrote, if you missed this year’s showing of _The Wizard of Oz_, you had to wait for next year. I remember buying a 15-minute black-and-white silent version of one of my favorite movies (_Marooned_ (1969), with Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna, David Janssen, James Franciscus and Gene Hackman) so that I could watch it on my family’s movie projector. [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=34) [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=36)