# 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:** 45
**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:** [March 20, 2022, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/883 "2022-03-20T11:45:01Z")
I think kids today would be in awe of the hyper-realistic graphics and game-play of electro-mechanical Pong: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/oWGUUymg_cY/maxresdefault.jpg "1974 MARX TV TENNIS ELECTROMECHANICAL PONG GAME TENIS ELECTROMECANICO") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWGUUymg_cY) and draw poker: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/IUBVWRjp4Ps/hqdefault.jpg "1971 Draw Poker Electromechanical Game!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUBVWRjp4Ps) ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2022, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/884 "2022-03-20T19:29:14Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > You’re driving around frantically looking for an open gas station and praying you have some change so you can call home and tell your parents where you are. I remember regularly getting $.50 worth of gas in high school. Sometimes, when were really skinnt, we’d get a quarter’s worth…but only from Bernie at the Standard station. He’d graduated from our high school about 10 years earlier and catered to us. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2022, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/885 "2022-03-20T19:38:18Z")
I worked at a self serve gas station overnight shift in high school. After each car finished and left I’d drain the few ounces out of the hose into my gas can, Never had to buy gas. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2022, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/886 "2022-03-20T23:31:58Z")
Uncle Walter saying “That’s the way it is.” Putting up with the mumps for two weeks because they didn’t have the vaccine yet. (A couple of my friends got some serious damage from the mumps.) MTV playing music. TB tests. You didn’t want to fail this one. All the moms being excited about the new Rubella vaccine. I just knew I’d have to get another shot. You had to get parental permission to take a sex ed class in school, but STD education was mandatory. Everything started shaking and I thought it was the Russians bombing us. Turned out it was just a dumb old earthquake. Insects and birds everywhere. ---
**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:** [March 21, 2022, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/887 "2022-03-21T01:20:45Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I remember the “LOAD” command, but I always, after loading, started the program simply with “RUN”, no SYS call necessary. Man, I’m really late on this, and perhaps it was already answered, but most programs came with a line of basic with the proper SYS call or had some sort of auto-start implemented. SYS 49152 (HEX $3000) was one of the more usual SYS addresses, but 32768 ($8000) was also popular, as was 8192 ($2000), and probably some others ones I’m forgetting. Just don’t SYS 64738. (Resets the C64). I can’t for the love of me remember which games required you to explicitly type the SYS call. I assume probably earlier ones, because I only have the vaguest memory of having to explicitly type one of those addresses after the program finished loading. But I do occasionally remember getting some warez, loading it, typing RUN and nothing happening, typing LIST and nothing being listed, and then trying through trial and error figure out which memory of the usual memory locations to SYS. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2022, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/888 "2022-03-21T01:37:49Z")
I have an emulation box that lets you play a list of old systems and computers and I loaded a c64 game just to show him what you had to remember to load anything on a c64 luckily the program types it in for you because all I remember these days is the load "\*"8,1 part … he was " you really had to do that every time? I was like yep …the before windows pcs were worse … ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2022, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/889 "2022-03-21T01:48:35Z")
Yeah, a few years ago (~2018), I went to some store to buy something, and the credit card system was totally out of commission, and the store had broken out the “knuckle busters”, complete with the little carbon copy forms, etc… I made a point to show my kids how it worked, etc… and pointed out that it was how credit cards worked when I was younger- up through middle or high school, IIRC. While we’re on the subject of mechanical credit card machines- there were two types, weren’t there? One was a sort of frame that had a section that slid left and right, and there was another, that had a body, and a lever sticking out of it. From the perspective of child me, it looked like a knife sticking out of a cake, or a big chunk of cheese. Was that a credit card machine too? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2022, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/890 "2022-03-21T02:06:47Z")
> [@bump](#): > > From the perspective of child me, it looked like a knife sticking out of a cake, or a big chunk of cheese. Was that a credit card machine too? I think that one was for store charge cards , not credit cards that you could use at different stores like whatever Mastercard and Visa were called back then. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2022, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/891 "2022-03-21T03:20:41Z")
Heck, that might be one of those things younger people might not know about- store-specific charge cards. I mean, you can sign up for store cards but these days, they’re just a credit card with some sort of points system that is geared toward that particular store. Can you even get a store specific charge card anymore? Or for that matter, a ATM card that isn’t a debit card? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2022, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/892 "2022-03-21T04:17:49Z")
You can for at least some stores like Best Buy or Home Depot. They are actually issued by banks, though, which was common at least as far bank as the '90s but they are not Mastercard/Visa and can’t be used at unaffiliated stores.\* I think at some point prior to the 90s , the retailer actually issued the card, provided the credit and handled billing and payments. \* Although some stores have both a store credit card, only good at that store and a co-branded Mastercard/Visa , good anywhere that accepts Mastercard/Visa ---
**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:** [March 21, 2022, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/893 "2022-03-21T06:05:29Z")
I had a girlfriend in 1980 who’d married an alcoholic and gotten her credit rating trashed before she divorced him. She said she’d had a racket of going into Sears, applying for a Sears credit card and collecting the “free gift” being offered, then getting a letter a week or two later regretfully telling her she didn’t qualify. She’d turned her life around and wasn’t doing it any more because she figured it would be the last time and wanted something really nice she could use. ---
**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:** [March 21, 2022, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/894 "2022-03-21T11:31:35Z")
> [@EnolaStraight](#): > > Seeing this: > > [1985 - CBS Special Presentation - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTWzI66jGOE) > > Meant you were going to see Charlie Brown or some other bit of animation, like The Hobbit or Rikki Tikki Tavi or some such. Yep, that intro/music always got my heart thumping when it came on. ---
**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:** [March 21, 2022, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/895 "2022-03-21T13:42:12Z")
Ashtrays in cars - multiple ashtrays so that the driver and multiple passengers would be able to smoke. My current car didn’t come with an ashtray (I think it has a coin tray that says “this is not an ashtray” ---
**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:** [March 21, 2022, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/896 "2022-03-21T14:25:27Z")
My mother asked where the cigarette lighter port in my car was. She still has a cellphone charger that plugs into one of those. My teenage daughter had no idea what that was. In my car (2019) there is no such outlet, in my wife’s (2015) there is one but it’s hidden in the storage box between the driver and passenger seats and has no actual lighter, just a hinged plastic cover. My mother’s car (2011) there is an actual lighter and no cover. My daughter says she does not know anyone, adult or teen, who smokes. She actually does, but the people we know who do smoke don’t do it when kids are around. There is vaping in her high school, but apparently it’s a lot less visible than it was a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![2\_More\_Bits](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2_more_bits/32/4148_2.png) [@2\_More\_Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_More_Bits)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2022, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/897 "2022-03-21T14:46:14Z")
A few years ago I asked my credit union for (and received) an ATM-only card to replace the ATM/ Debit card they automatically provided. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2022, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/898 "2022-03-21T15:22:17Z")
I recall that back in the 1980s, they were all like that (store-handled), and they were only useful at that particular store. Gas cards were the same way. My parents had a Sears card that I recall, and several gas cards- Exxon, Chevron, and Philips 66 (I think). That’s another thing younger kids might not see; going into the gas station and telling the clerk that you want “$15 on pump number 6”. With the prevalence of debit cards these days, it doesn’t seem like paying cash for gas is nearly as prevalent as it once was. ---
**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:** [March 21, 2022, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/899 "2022-03-21T16:22:18Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Can you even get [. . .] a ATM card that isn’t a debit card? I tried to get an ATM card that wasn’t a debit card some years ago, and was told that it wasn’t possible; all the ATM cards had become debit cards. I suppose that might vary by bank and area, though. ---
**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:** [March 21, 2022, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/900 "2022-03-21T18:40:21Z")
Back to girls wearing dresses/skirts to school. I started kindergarten (public school) in 1966 and wore a dress every day until probably 3rd grade. Girls just didn’t wear pants to school back then. I can still remember my dad saying, “girls don’t wear pants to school” when I wanted to wear what I called my Monkee pants to school. They were gold and orange striped bell-bottoms. I was only allowed to wear pants under my dress when it was really cold out and then had to take them off when I got to school. I hung them up in the CLOAK ROOM. There’s another antiquated term that I’m sure no one uses anymore. Even back then it was antiquated. But that’s what we called the area we hung up our coats and jackets. I never did see anyone hanging up a cloak! ---
**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:** [March 21, 2022, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/901 "2022-03-21T19:45:15Z")
Classrooms in my grade 4 – 6 school in the 60s had cloakrooms. The school was built in the 19th century and the classrooms were dark and dingy, particularly the cloakrooms. Bagged lunches and milk cartons were also stored there. The odor was revolting. Disruptive students were sent in there for punishment. It was not pleasant. ---
**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:** [March 21, 2022, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/902 "2022-03-21T19:56:31Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > Disruptive students were sent in there for punishment. That is a memory I had completely forgotten about! Yes, teachers would banish us to the cloakroom as punishment. I don’t think there was even a chair in there. Ours didn’t smell particularly bad, but it was a strange place nonetheless [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=44) [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=46)