# 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:** 58
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2022, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1143 "2022-07-06T22:47:59Z")
Replacing points, distributer cap, rotor and plugs a few times a year. The plugs where a hellish experience on some vehicles, but you had to do what you had to do. There are many things I don’t miss at all. But now I walk in the snow 6 months out of the year. At least we have a lot better boots. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2022, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1144 "2022-07-06T22:59:00Z")
I was 12 yo got on the roof and installed an antenna. Our neighbors called the sheriff ( small town) . I got yelled At but the antenna was up! ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2022, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1145 "2022-07-06T23:03:12Z")
Driving a car without power steering, did you get a work out cranking that wheel! ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2022, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1146 "2022-07-06T23:16:14Z")
being your parents’ remote control …slightly annoying when you had 7 channels … obnoxious as hell when you got the cable box with 40… I sprang the extra 3.50 for the remote because I was tired of it lol ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2022, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1147 "2022-07-06T23:19:49Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > Driving a car without power steering, did you get a work out cranking that wheel! Three on the tree, and manual brakes too. It’s a wonder any of us survived. That’s what I learned in. It was ‘my’ truck when I was 12 yo. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2022, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1148 "2022-07-06T23:23:54Z")
Manuel Typewriter. Using one would take some explanation. Dot matrix printer. Imagine a under 20 dealing with sprocket fed paper. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2022, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1149 "2022-07-06T23:35:07Z")
One of my drinking buddies has a mailbox housed in one of these: [![](https://cdn.britannica.com/16/136116-050-C7263D79/pots.jpg) ](https://cdn.britannica.com/16/136116-050-C7263D79/pots.jpg) I’m guessing people from other than CA and FL might have trouble as well. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1150 "2022-07-07T00:20:38Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I’m guessing people from other than CA and FL might have trouble as well. Smudge pots. From Nebraska. I read a lot. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2022, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1151 "2022-07-07T00:26:41Z")
Correctamundo! Those things were an early source of income for high school students back in the day. Up all night tending the dirty, stinking things but you got excused from 1st period. Still stunk all day, but you had some cash. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2022, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1152 "2022-07-07T00:34:04Z")
It helped that my '65 non-PS Rambler had a wheel about the size of a ship’s helm. As my BIL (on whom be peace) used to say, “Mister leverage is our friend.” ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1153 "2022-07-07T00:38:13Z")
Has anyone mentored separating white and color paper for recycling? But goldenrod paper, specifically, wasn’t recyclable at all. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2022, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1154 "2022-07-07T00:46:11Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Has anyone mentored separating white and color paper for recycling? Recycling? What’s recycling? We threw things Away. Nobody bothered asking where Away was. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2022, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1155 "2022-07-07T01:56:53Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Replacing points, distributer cap, rotor and plugs a few times a year. The plugs where a hellish experience on some vehicles, but you had to do what you had to do. The fussiness of carbureted cars. Getting in on a cold morning, pushing the accelerator pedal to the floor once to set the choke before starting (maybe even a few times on _really_ cold mornings\*\* to get the accelerator pump to squirt in some extra fuel). Except maybe the choke is maladjusted, and the engine starts to stumble because it’s not getting enough fuel - so you have to pump-pump-pump the accelerator pedal to get the accelerator pump in the carb to deliver extra fuel and keep the beast alive until it warms up enough to start doing a decent job of vaporizing the fuel you’re giving it. Cars these days are all fuel-injected with electronic throttle control. Just turn the key (or push the button), and the computer handles it all for you. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2022, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1156 "2022-07-07T01:57:42Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > Driving a car without power steering, did you get a work out cranking that wheel! Try driving a tractor without power steering. Much worse than a car! ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1157 "2022-07-07T02:57:43Z")
Litters of “Free To Good Home” puppies in the classified ads of the newspaper. Half a column of them, sometimes. Probably a good thing that those days are gone now, but puppy abundance could be a wonderful thing. When I was a candystriper (okay I’ve already lost about one-eighth of the readers?), we didn’t have fitted sheets for the hospital beds: we learned how to knot a flat sheet under the ends of the mattress to keep it on. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1158 "2022-07-07T05:29:05Z")
the “load\*8,1” bit you had to do on a c64 to load a program A lot of the kids didn’t get why the adults in the room cheered/laughed when it showed a version of it at the beginning of GTA vice city (which rockstar actually made games for as DMA designs) at the E3 reveal ---
**Author:** ![Mortimus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Mortimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mortimus)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1159 "2022-07-07T06:00:37Z")
Dial tones and busy signals. Or that weird spooky “off hook” noise! ---
**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:** [July 7, 2022, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1160 "2022-07-07T07:42:57Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Recycling? What’s recycling? We threw things Away. Nobody bothered asking where Away was. We just burned stuff in the backyard. Then, in the '60s, had an incinerator installed in the basement. Burned everything that could be burned, until it became illegal. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1161 "2022-07-07T11:42:22Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > Try driving a tractor without power steering. Much worse than a car! Yeah. The family owned a mobile home park back in the 60’s-70’s had an old Massey Fergason with a bucket on it. A bucket that was built for a bigger tractor. I was a big kid, but man was that thing hard to steer. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1162 "2022-07-07T12:32:03Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Not from childhood but not long after: “Instant on” TVs. Now I have to wait for the &#^@!\* TV to boot up. Time was, you had to wait for the valves to warm up - same with the “wireless”. [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=57) [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=59)