# 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:** 47
**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 22, 2022, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/923 "2022-03-22T14:43:04Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > 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. Like pedal pushers. Carcoats also usually came with an attached hood and those toggle buttons. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2022, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/924 "2022-03-22T14:46:58Z")
Are there studded tires any more? ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/925 "2022-03-22T15:25:07Z")
We actually had the rival service, SelecTV. I seem to recall ON having to go after people who pirated the signal with home-made boxes. You could get the parts (and even the plans, I’m told) at any good electronics store. A couple of years later, we got cable in our neighborhood. It had the rectangular box with a row of selector buttons and a tuning dial at the end. That got a workout when I was trying to watch the Playboy channel, which Mom didn’t spring for. ---
**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 22, 2022, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/926 "2022-03-22T15:29:33Z")
> [@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’d feel let down if I didn’t get to pull a mechanical handle (that looks like an old car cigarette lighter) waaay out. After I had to plug in forty quarters… ---
**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, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/927 "2022-03-22T15:29:51Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > We actually had the rival service, SelecTV. I seem to recall ON having to go after people who pirated the signal with home-made boxes. You could get the parts (and even the plans, I’m told) at any good electronics store. It seemed not a household here in Chicago among my dad’s friends didn’t have a homemade ON-TV descramber in it. All I remember of ON-TV is trying to get a glimpse of _Porky’s_ when my parents weren’t home. ---
**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 22, 2022, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/928 "2022-03-22T15:44:45Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I haven’t seen a cigarette vending machine since about the mid-2000s here in Chicago Pennsylvania has some laws in place regarding tobacco sales. One regulation is: \*Prohibits vending machines to be in any place where an underage purchaser can gain access without the supervision of a parent or guardian. Also, some stores are now requiring an ID check for any/all tobacco sales. This morning at a Dollar General a guy in his 50s was told he couldn’t buy his cigs without ID. I was next in line, waiting impatiently while the argument went back and forth. Eventually I butted (hehe) in and asked if I could buy the cigarettes with my ID. So I did, then the guy gave me the cash and thanked me. ---
**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, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/929 "2022-03-22T15:47:40Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Also, some stores are now requiring an ID check for any/all tobacco sales That’s been the case here in Chicago for quite a long time, though which places enforce it varies. The 7-11 I buy my snus (a Scandinavian-style smokeless tobacco) does not ever card me, but the gas station downtown I go to IDs and scans me every single time. I’m 46. Same happened last week in Houston when I bought a pack of cigarettes for the first time in God knows how many years. I also still get carded at most places for NA beer. Even the true 0.0% stuff and not just the under 0.5% stuff. ---
**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 22, 2022, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/930 "2022-03-22T15:51:20Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I’d feel let down if I didn’t get to pull a mechanical handle (that looks like an old car cigarette lighter) waaay out. I never bought cigs from a machine, but I remember candy machines that worked that way. Now that I think of it, I can’t remember the last time I bought anything from a machine. Are there fewer vending machines in general nowadays than there used to be, or is it just that I don’t spend as much time in vending-machine types of places? (When I was a kid, I used to love vending machines, and elevators, and things like that where you could make things happen by pressing buttons. Nowadays, electronic devices like computers and smartphones are so ubiquitous that that kind of experience isn’t as special.) ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/931 "2022-03-22T15:55:02Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > It had the rectangular box with a row of selector buttons and a tuning dial at the end. That got a workout when I was trying to watch the Playboy channel, which Mom didn’t spring for. This reminds me of something, tuning in channels 2 and 13 at the same time. The secret combo to get a mostly scrambled Playboy channel. ---
**Author:** ![EnolaStraight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@EnolaStraight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnolaStraight)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/932 "2022-03-22T15:56:47Z")
I got a two-fer for ya! Just this past Sunday in the Porta-Cochere a customer was driving out with studs on WINTER TIRES! I haven’t seen winter tires in 30 years! NOT off-road knobbies for 4x4s, but winter treads for a passenger sedan’s standard-sized wheels. ---
**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, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/933 "2022-03-22T15:57:27Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Now that I think of it, I can’t remember the last time I bought anything from a machine. Are there fewer vending machines in general nowadays than there used to be, or is it just that I don’t spend as much time in vending-machine types of places? They’re all over hotels, still. Just used one last week. My grocery store has plenty of lottery ticket vending machines near the exit. The outdoor mall I was at last week had soda vending machines strewn about (all of them out of soda and water, much to my chagrin). They do still seem to be around. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2022, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/934 "2022-03-22T16:05:27Z")
I have to know where you’re located; I had to look up Porte Cochère – how cosmopolitan! ---
**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 22, 2022, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/935 "2022-03-22T16:08:41Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Carcoats also usually came with an attached hood and those toggle buttons. Peacoats! – why “pea” coats I don’t know. But they still sell them. > [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Are there studded tires any more? Definitely. > [@kayaker](#): > > Eventually I butted (hehe) in and asked if I could buy the cigarettes with my ID. So I did, then the guy gave me the cash and thanked me. I would think that could potentially get the store clerk in a whole lot of trouble. > [@EnolaStraight](#): > > I haven’t seen winter tires in 30 years! > > NOT off-road knobbies for 4x4s, but winter treads for a passenger sedan’s standard-sized wheels. Where do you live? I bought a car two years ago. I decided on all-weathers, in large part because usually if the roads are bad I can just stay home; but summer and winter tires were definitely a possibility. And they’re all over the place on a fast google search. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/936 "2022-03-22T16:10:16Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Are there fewer vending machines in general nowadays than there used to be, or is it just that I don’t spend as much time in vending-machine types of places? Walk on a college campus sometime. They are everywhere. ---
**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, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/937 "2022-03-22T16:11:47Z")
They are still around- there are still snack and beverage machines in hotels and offices and soda/water machines are pretty common at other places. But there’s a difference in what’s sold in them. I haven’t seen a newspaper vending machine or one that sells just candy and gum in years - but now I see plenty selling headphones and charging wires. I’ve even seen a vending “convenience store” in a hotel or two, selling over-the-counter medication an toiletries. ---
**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 22, 2022, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/938 "2022-03-22T16:13:48Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > why “pea” coats I don’t know. But they still sell them. [Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pea_coat#Etymology) sez: > According to a 1975 edition of _[The Mariner’s Mirror](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mariner%27s_Mirror)_ , the term “pea coat” originated from the [Dutch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_language) or [West Frisian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Frisian_language) word _pijjekker_ or _pijjakker_ , in which _[pij](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pij)_ referred to the type of cloth used, a coarse kind of [twilled](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twill) blue cloth with a [nap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nap_(textile)) on one side. _Jakker_ designates a man’s short, heavy coat.[[12]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pea_coat#cite_note-12) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/939 "2022-03-22T16:14:54Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > We actually had the rival service, SelecTV. I seem to recall ON having to go after people who pirated the signal with home-made boxes. You could get the parts (and even the plans, I’m told) at any good electronics store. We had a service, I don’t remember the name, but it beamed HBO to areas that didn’t have cable yet. The workers at Raytheon (then called Hughes Aircraft) would make counterfeit boxes and antennas that would let you descramble HBO without a subscription. We bought one, which lasted until cable came to our neighborhood, and they stopped broadcasting HBO over the air. ---
**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 22, 2022, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/940 "2022-03-22T16:17:51Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I would think that could potentially get the store clerk in a whole lot of trouble. Not according to her. She sold me a pack of cigarettes and I had state issued ID. What I do with them after the sale doesn’t affect her and only potentially affects me if the guy in his 50s is actually under 21. Similarly I once was flying from Puerto Rico to Florida. The dude in the next seat had a severe fear of flying and boarded the plane pretty buzzed. With drink service the flight attendant sold him one drink, but later refused him another. I ordered a few and resold them to him. When we were deplaning he gave me a big hug. ---
**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 22, 2022, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/941 "2022-03-22T16:22:26Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > The workers at Raytheon (then called Hughes Aircraft) would make counterfeit boxes and antennas that would let you descramble HBO I was at a buddy’s house in Pittsburgh one night drinking/smoking/etc when we heard a commotion outside. It was 2 am. His next door neighbor had an extension ladder set up against a telephone pole. We went back inside and minded our own business. Cable went out for a few minutes, then came back on. From that moment on my buddy had HBO. Years later HBO sent him a bill for years of service. He called them, denied doing anything illegal. They stopped sending him bills. ---
**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 22, 2022, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/942 "2022-03-22T16:44:25Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > With drink service the flight attendant sold him one drink, but later refused him another. I ordered a few and resold them to him. When we were deplaning he gave me a big hug You’re lucky he wasn’t an angry, violent drunk. [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=46) [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=48)