# 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:** 67
**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 5, 2022, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1323 "2022-08-05T04:34:27Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > We always said “Punch-A-Bug” where I grew up. I suppose the saying depends on your region. Punch Buggy ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2022, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1324 "2022-08-05T04:49:24Z")
starsky and hutch and chips being popular tv shows for decades … ---
**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 5, 2022, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1325 "2022-08-05T13:43:16Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > 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. Oh. Yes indeed. I listened to all sorts of radio stations over the west half of the US when I was a kid. Coyle and Sharp, Crane at the Hungry Eye on KGO in SF. Some Canadian stations (including CHAT in Medicine Hat) as well as the long gone Mexican Border Blasters. XTRA! Listening to Blackhawk games from 2000 miles away. Etc. But standard consumer radios just stopped being capable of getting far off stations. Cheap little transistor things. “Real radios keep you warm at night.” ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2022, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1326 "2022-08-05T14:45:59Z")
My sister and I used to fight over who would had to up off the couch to change the TV channel ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2022, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1327 "2022-08-05T14:55:56Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > When checking out at the grocers, on an attended checkout with a rubber belt, do you use those plastic sticks to show where your order begins and ends? > > I remember when they always had cigarette advertising. Er… the first paragraph was more of a rhetorical question, although thanks for the responses. What I was trying to point out: A younger person might not understand is that these things were seen as advertising opportunities. And cigarette advertising. This would be an especially good advertisement since it would be an opportune time (while at the checkout) for the customer to turn around and grab a packet of cigarettes off of the rack of "last-minute items. So another item on topic would be packets of cigarettes on the “grabit” racks at checkouts. If this practice had continued, the spacer bars would now be advertising candy bars and tabloids. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2022, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1328 "2022-08-05T15:35:35Z")
> [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](#): > > My sister and I used to fight over who would had to up off the couch to change the TV channel My sister and I, who fought about everything, did not fight about that. Early on, it just meant that the person who got up got to control what channel we watched, and we didn’t always want the same thing. A little later, my father became an early adopter (early 60’s I think) of a Zenith remote control TV. It had four keys, each controlling a different function through the sound generated when the metal rod associated with it was vibrated by pressing (“clicking”) the manual key. We could cycle through the channels in either direction, but since there were only 5 at the time in our market, it didn’t take long. ---
**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:** [August 5, 2022, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1329 "2022-08-05T15:42:31Z")
I remember turning on the radio in the middle of the night just so I could hear the voice of a live human being who was awake in the same town as me. ---
**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:** [August 5, 2022, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1330 "2022-08-05T15:50:18Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > If this practice had continued, the spacer bars would now be advertising candy bars and tabloids. We still have spacer bars, and they still have advertisements on them. I couldn’t tell you what they’re advertising. Maybe realtors? ---
**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:** [August 5, 2022, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1331 "2022-08-05T15:57:18Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Maybe realtors? Around here either realtors or trying to sell people on the effectiveness of advertising on spacer bars. ---
**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, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1332 "2022-08-05T16:19:03Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > We could cycle through the channels in either direction, but since there were only 5 at the time in our market, it didn’t take long. We were lucky. We had 7 channels, and then we got two UHF channels … in the late sixties? early seventies? ---
**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 5, 2022, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1333 "2022-08-05T16:45:20Z")
We had two local channels. One VHF and one UHF. We got three or four Pittsburgh channels, depending on the weather. ---
**Author:** ![EDOK9Trainer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/838e76/32.png) [@EDOK9Trainer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EDOK9Trainer)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1334 "2022-08-07T06:44:48Z")
Used to play with a toy called Clackers. Made of glass. Were known to cause migraines in adults and were also known to shatter and put your eye out although I never lost an eye. ---
**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 7, 2022, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1335 "2022-08-07T14:00:44Z")
Actually made of hard plastic but still too easily shattered and hazardous. The section on the Wikipedia [article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clackers) on a revival in Egypt and its politics is interesting. “Quick, arrest those toy sellers for undermining the government!” ---
**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:** [August 7, 2022, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1336 "2022-08-07T14:35:45Z")
> [@EDOK9Trainer](#): > > Used to play with a toy called Clackers. Made of glass. Were known to cause migraines in adults and were also known to shatter and put your eye out although I never lost an eye. **Clackers** , I remember them fondly! Sure, I was one of the unfortunate ones who lost an eye to **Clackers** , but that didn’t deter me. Later, I lost my other eye to **Clackers** , but that didn’t deter me either. Later, I lost my testicles to **Clackers** (warning: don’t clack in the nude)…that kinda deterred me. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2022, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1337 "2022-08-09T14:04:49Z")
I remember those! They took them off the market after a few of them broke their strings and the hard plastic balls flew off at random and hit people on the head. ---
**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:** [August 9, 2022, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1338 "2022-08-09T14:11:37Z")
I’m not sure, but this might be the longest case name ever: > **[United States v. Article Consisting of 50,000 Cardboard Boxes More or Less, Each Containing One Pair of Clacker Balls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Article_Consisting_of_50,000_Cardboard_Boxes_More_or_Less,_Each_Containing_One_Pair_of_Clacker_Balls)** > > United States v. Article Consisting of 50,000 Cardboard Boxes More or Less, Each Containing One Pair of Clacker Balls, 413 F. Supp. 1281 (D. Wisc. 1976), is a 1976 United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin decision regarding a requested order from the United States government to seize and destroy a shipment of approximately 50,000 sets of clacker balls under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act because children could hit themselves with the balls. > The form of the styling... ---
**Author:** ![EDOK9Trainer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/838e76/32.png) [@EDOK9Trainer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EDOK9Trainer)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2022, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1339 "2022-08-09T17:18:33Z")
The glass ones were more dangerous. Shattering and injuring people. I had a couple glass ones shatter but at least it did not put my eye out. ---
**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 9, 2022, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1340 "2022-08-09T18:14:09Z")
My initial search on clacker balls indicated that the original ones were made of hard acrylic plastic. Which when shattered some might mistake for glass. But another, deeper search suggests that perhaps the very earliest ones were indeed made from glass before switching to acrylic which was the prototypical type. Glass? That’s some mighty fine toy design there, Lou. Still, not nearly a Bad Idea as lawn darts. ---
**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:** [August 9, 2022, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1341 "2022-08-09T19:16:27Z")
We used to drink and play yard darts with defense allowed once the other team was five points away from winning. No serious injuries, but it was ridiculous. ---
**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 9, 2022, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1342 "2022-08-09T19:36:11Z")
I’m wondering how many people have ever used the “choke” to help start the car? [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=66) [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=68)