# 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:** 46
**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:** [March 21, 2022, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/903 "2022-03-21T20:12:25Z")
> [@bump](#): > > My parents had a Sears card that I recall, and several gas cards- Exxon, Chevron, and Philips 66 (I think). When I was a kid, my mother normally filled up at a Standard/Amoco station, because that was where she had a card for. Nowadays, I don’t pay much attention to what “brand” of gas station I fill up at; and I suspect this is the norm. > [@bump](#): > > 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”. Or just “Pump #6,” because I pulled up to the pump, filled up with gas, looked to see which pump number it was, and then went in to pay. ---
**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, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/904 "2022-03-21T20:13:40Z")
At least in my neck of the woods back then, there were always signs saying to pay first then pump. I guess there was an issue with people just filling up and driving off without paying. ---
**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 21, 2022, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/905 "2022-03-21T20:15:43Z")
> [@bump](#): > > My parents had a Sears card that I recall, and several gas cards- Exxon, Chevron, and Philips 66 (I think). I had so many department store credit cards before they began taking Mastercard/Visa – The Broadway, Bullocks, May Company, Macy’s, Robinsons, Nordstroms. I. Magnin, Joseph Magnin\*. And nearly all of those stores are gone! Now, it’s pretty much just Macy’s. I liked the variety because different stores emphasized different styles. - The only Joseph Magnin I went to was a little satellite store inside a hotel near LAX. For a tiny store, they had so many things that appealed to me. Their buyer was really on my wavelength. > [@Tibby](#): > > Classrooms in my grade 4 – 6 school in the 60s had cloakrooms. Yeah, ours was called a cloakroom, too, but it wasn’t a room. It was a space at the back of the room with a cut out door way (with no door) on either side. Hooks inside for hanging. Being SoCal, we didn’t have a lot of apparel to hang. But in the first grade, me, Christy D’Amico and Janet Donais had the same Sears carcoat. One day we managed to all get the wrong coat when we went home. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2022, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/906 "2022-03-21T20:21:27Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > [@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. Bank of America was still issuing ATM cards as recently as 2020. They may have stopped now; mine expired in December and I don’t remember getting a replacement. ---
**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, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/907 "2022-03-21T20:36:18Z")
Traditionally children are locked in the cloakroom on Venus (by other kids) and forgotten when the sun comes out after the seven years of rain (at least in my school) ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2022, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/908 "2022-03-21T20:45:24Z")
Margot! Is that you? Always wondered what happened after… ---
**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 21, 2022, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/909 "2022-03-21T21:05:56Z")
Ahhh, the cloakroom. In first grade we hung the shortest guy in the class on a hook by his underpants. The teacher returned to the room and said, “come out of the cloakroom” and we all took our seats, except for Mitchell. ---
**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, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/910 "2022-03-21T21:14:50Z")
She was a year or two ahead of me, but I knew her 😉 ---
**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:** [March 21, 2022, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/911 "2022-03-21T21:26:35Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > 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 I had a chair! In fact, I spent so much time there (I had a mouth on me) that the teacher would glower my name, and I’d drag my heavy iron desk back to the Cloak Room… ---
**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, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/912 "2022-03-21T23:06:35Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > When I was a kid, my mother normally filled up at a Standard/Amoco station, because that was where she had a card for. Just remembered: When my father was a starving college student on the GI bill he and my mother would sometimes drive from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara to eat at her parents’ house. They didn’t have the cash to eat at a restaurant or buy groceries but they did have a Richfield credit card to get gas and could pay it off when the stipend came in. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/913 "2022-03-22T01:06:52Z")
And cigarette vending machines ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/914 "2022-03-22T01:23:42Z")
My desk in fourth grade had an inkwell. It was just a hole sized to hold a standard ink bottle. We had ball points by then. My sister is thirteen years older than me and I love to tell her grand kids how she got her ponytails dunked in the inkwells! ---
**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:** [March 22, 2022, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/915 "2022-03-22T02:14:27Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > 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! We had a cloakroom in 2nd grade, with doors that came down like garage doors. When a kid misbehaved, the teacher (a total bitch) would lock them into the cloakroom, where it was totally dark and airless. It wasn’t unusual for a kid to pee or poop in their pants in the cloak room. Then everything smelled. ---
**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 22, 2022, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/916 "2022-03-22T09:57:08Z")
> [@gwendee](#): > > And cigarette vending machines This makes me wonder, why did cigarette vending machines go away? ---
**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:** [March 22, 2022, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/917 "2022-03-22T10:52:07Z")
Cigarettes can no longer be sold to minors. And they’re no longer cheap. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/918 "2022-03-22T11:26:03Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > > [@gwendee](#): > > > > And cigarette vending machines > > This makes me wonder, why did cigarette vending machines go away? As alluded to by **panache45** when states started legislating age restrictions kids would get around it by buying smokes out of a vending machine at the local bowling alley or laundromat. For a while they had the system beat. I have seen cig vending machines in a small handful of taverns and at the local casino. And it’s $10 a pack! ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/919 "2022-03-22T13:13:32Z")
I knew it had to be something other than simply age restrictions, because where I live there have been age restrictions on the sale of cigarettes for my entire life.( Many stores ignored them when I was a teenager, but they existed) Turns out that in 2010, the FDA prohibited vending machines anywhere other than “qualified adult-only” facilities (where no one under 18 is _ever_ permitted) , the definition of which specifically excludes places that sell or serve alcohol and leaves casinos\* as possibly the only sort of establishment that can commonly have vending machines. Locally , my city prohibited cigarette vending machines anywhere other than a bar in 1990 so it seems they aren’t legal anywhere here. \* Although I’m not sure how casinos (where I have seen vending machines relatively recently ) get around the alcohol thing. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2022, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/920 "2022-03-22T13:24:20Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > I have seen cig vending machines in a small handful of taverns and at the local casino. And it’s $10 a pack! I visited our new local casino a few weeks after it opened. I assisted an elderly gentleman trying to use his debit card to purchase a pack of smokes from the vending machine. 11 dollars a pack! ---
**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 22, 2022, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/921 "2022-03-22T14:09:33Z")
There’s another dated term - “carcoat”. You don’t hear that much anymore. If I remember correctly, they were coats that came to mid-thigh. I can still hear my grandma say, “I’ll get you a nice carcoat for school”. She loved carcoats. ---
**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 22, 2022, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/922 "2022-03-22T14:22:54Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > I have seen cig vending machines in a small handful of taverns and at the local casino. And it’s $10 a pack! A bargain! I haven’t seen a cigarette vending machine since about the mid-2000s here in Chicago, and a pack of Marlboros or Camels at the store here is edging up to $15. My observation is that they seem to have gone away with indoor smoking bans. [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=45) [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=47)