# 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:** 66
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1303 "2022-08-02T19:38:45Z")
“Where are the pliers? I want to change the channel.” ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1304 "2022-08-02T19:42:31Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > ALWAYS. Several screwed-up purchases taught me to use them long ago. I always keep my eye on my order. I lost a number of canvas bags because the bagger thought it was for the person in front of me. THEN the store wanted to charge me 10 cents apiece for plastic bags because they screwed up. Pissed me off it did. ---
**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:** [August 2, 2022, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1305 "2022-08-02T20:59:36Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I spent some time in the LA area in the late 80s. To navigate that very large and dense city there were a series of books available for subsections of LA county. Thomas Guides! I had L.A. and Orange Counties. And later got one for Ventura County. ETA: I was surprised they weren’t a country wide enterprise. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1306 "2022-08-03T02:13:32Z")
Taping a TV show on a VHS tape. ---
**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:** [August 3, 2022, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1307 "2022-08-03T03:22:58Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > I was surprised they weren’t a country wide enterprise. We had them for Phoenix metro but, so far as I know, not Tucson. ---
**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:** [August 3, 2022, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1308 "2022-08-03T03:50:09Z")
8-track cartridges. They were popular in home stereo units and car stereos, but by the 1980s, they were obsolete. I remember a friend of my nephew picking one up at our house in the mid-90s and asking, “What’s this? A video game?” ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1309 "2022-08-03T05:24:46Z")
8-tracks were awesome, until they changed track in the middle of a **KERCHUNK** song. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1310 "2022-08-03T06:57:32Z")
“I can see para – **KERCHUNK** – dise by the dashboard light …” ---
**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:** [August 3, 2022, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1311 "2022-08-03T16:22:47Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > Taping a TV show on a VHS tape. And having to manually set it up to tape! None of this easy peasy dvr business. You couldn’t tape two shows at the same time, and you had to be on the channel of the show you wanted to tape. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1312 "2022-08-03T17:06:09Z")
On my first VCR, none ofthe channels were preprogrammed. IOW, you turned a know ever so slightly right or left until Channel # was looking good, and then you locked it in. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1313 "2022-08-03T17:07:21Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I spent some time in the LA area in the late 80s. To navigate that very large and dense city there were a series of books available for subsections of LA county. Most people didn’t own a whole set, people would trade them around to get the one where they needed to go. Development was happening fast enough at the time the books didn’t stay up to date for long. GPS must have killed the company making those books. lol, ninjaed… I was going to say Thomas guides also … the libraries used to be full of old ones and we’d use them in social studies to see how this town or that grew or shrank in size and find other pertinent info… ---
**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:** [August 4, 2022, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1314 "2022-08-04T15:09:33Z")
We had one of those too. There were tiny little gear-type wheels that you had to move with a little toothpick-type thing. Our VCR was on a shelf underneath the TV, so I had to lay on the floor to program it. ---
**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:** [August 4, 2022, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1315 "2022-08-04T18:09:51Z")
I don’t know if this has been mentioned, but: “Punch-A-Bug!” ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1316 "2022-08-04T23:53:24Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > “Punch-A-Bug!” A. It’s “Bunch bug” or “Punch buggy”. B. I never heard of it in childhood, or early adulthood. I found out about it from kids a generation younger than me. So, for me, this was a vice-versa situation to this thread. ---
**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:** [August 4, 2022, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1317 "2022-08-04T23:59:24Z")
We always said “Punch-A-Bug” where I grew up. I suppose the saying depends on your region. And Beetles were more numerous then. Even the new Beetle has been discontinued. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2022, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1318 "2022-08-05T00:05:18Z")
The cat knocked a glass inkwell onto the hard floor. What a mess! And, now, where am I going to get another inkwell? ---
**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:** [August 5, 2022, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1319 "2022-08-05T00:15:40Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > We always said “Punch-A-Bug” where I grew up. I suppose the saying depends on your region. “Slug Bug!” ---
**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:** [August 5, 2022, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1320 "2022-08-05T00:21:53Z")
I had to google that punch bug thing. I’d never heard of it before, and I’m old. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2022, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1321 "2022-08-05T02:50:26Z")
Ditto. Never heard of that game, regardless of what it’s called. Boomer speaking. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2022, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1322 "2022-08-05T03:10:50Z")
Listening to the Wolfman late at night in Northern Idaho when the am radio signal would bounce off the atmosphere and bring us stations from LA, San Diego and sometimes even Mexico. [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=65) [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=67)