# 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:** 72
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2022, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1423 "2022-09-27T17:00:11Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > And if you keep it cold it goes flat faster since less CO2 is dissolved in the soda.   Are you sure about that? Gas solubility typically decreases with temperature. ---
**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:** [September 27, 2022, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1424 "2022-09-27T17:04:10Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Are you sure about that? Gas solubility typically decreases with temperature. You are correct: [![](https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/docs/documents/1148/solubility-co2-water.png) ](https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/docs/documents/1148/solubility-co2-water.png) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2022, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1425 "2022-09-27T17:42:19Z")
Well I wasn’t sure after your post and had to look for more information. It’s not as simple as @Machine_Elf’s graph would indicate. In a sealed bottle partially filled with soda, with an air space above it dissolved CO2 in the soda decreases as a result of maintaining pressure equilibrium with the CO2 in the air space in the bottle. The air space was depressurized when the bottle was last opened and it will absorb CO2 from the soda to return to the necessary pressure (is absorb the right word there?). I’m still not quite clear on the explanation for why colder temperatures result in less dissolved CO2 in the soda under those conditions but I think it’s because more CO2 must end up in the air space to maintain the pressure equilibrium at colder temperatures. Note to self: The air space will be above the soda no matter what the bottle orientation is except maybe under 0G or acceleration conditions. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2022, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1426 "2022-09-27T20:17:14Z")
Back in 1960s-70s, my grandmother’s Zenith TV had an ultrasonic remote like that, and the non-channel button turned it on or off and cycled the volume: soft, medium, loud, off. I was around ten years old and had no idea how it worked until one day someone dropped a couple of quarters into a marble ashtray on her coffee table, and the channel changed. At first she was worried the set was broken, but when the quarters worked more or less consistently, we realized that somehow the sound was doing it. I looked closely into the thing and saw that each button was connected to a small bellows that blew air through a tiny hole in a piece of metal. It was a two-tone whistle. No electronics, no battery, no infrared, no wires. Purely mechanical. (Interestingly, all the references to Zenith’s Space Command remotes say that they used aluminum tuning forks, not a whistle mechanism. Maybe I misinterpreted what I saw back then or am misremembering now. Or I’m right and I just didn’t find the documentation in my quick Googling.) ---
**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:** [September 27, 2022, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1427 "2022-09-27T22:06:26Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Back in 1960s-70s, my grandmother’s Zenith TV had an ultrasonic remote like that, and the non-channel button turned it on or off and cycled the volume: soft, medium, loud, off. I have heard apocryphal stories of people’s dogs changing the channel because of the tags on their collars jingling as they walked past. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2022, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1428 "2022-09-27T22:54:01Z")
Maybe not apocryphal. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1429 "2022-09-28T10:33:02Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Back in 1960s-70s, my grandmother’s Zenith TV had an ultrasonic remote like that, and the non-channel button turned it on or off and cycled the volume: soft, medium, loud, off. Hah! Although I thought it was a Zenith, I was wrong. I found the exact model remote she had. It was an Admiral. When I learned that Zenith used tuning forks, not whistles, I began to doubt myself. I’m pleased to see I’m not going crazy. (Or, at least, that _this_ is not evidence of it.) [https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-1960s-magnavox-phantom-tv-455118231](https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-1960s-magnavox-phantom-tv-455118231) ---
**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:** [September 28, 2022, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1430 "2022-09-28T15:28:14Z")
Have we mentioned blotting paper? Or maybe it still exists. ---
**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:** [September 28, 2022, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1431 "2022-09-28T15:37:26Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Have we mentioned blotting paper? Or carbon paper? Man, that was something I haven’t thought about in a few decades. But if you wanted two copies of something, it worked. I was floored the first time I saw a copier (at the library I think) ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1432 "2022-09-28T16:35:28Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > > [@commasense](#): > > > > Back in 1960s-70s, my grandmother’s Zenith TV had an ultrasonic remote like that, and the non-channel button turned it on or off and cycled the volume: soft, medium, loud, off. > > I have heard apocryphal stories of people’s dogs changing the channel because of the tags on their collars jingling as they walked past. My uncle had a set that would change channels if you opened a new 2-liter bottle of soda close to it. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1433 "2022-09-28T18:39:07Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Have we mentioned blotting paper? Or maybe it still exists. I’ve started to coach a 11 year old girl in math a few weeks ago, and she’s writing with a magical ink pen with a reservoir that can be easily and properly erased with the bottom end of the pen, like a rubber. In my school days, we still used to have separate ink eraser pens which we called “Tintenkiller” (ink killer) that neutralized the blue ink on the paper with its own transparent liquid, but it was always a mess writing over the erased part because now the ink would smear all over. This newfangled pen doesn’t have this problem. Oh, what fabulous times we live in! ---
**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:** [September 28, 2022, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1434 "2022-09-28T18:43:16Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > I was around ten years old and had no idea how it worked until one day someone dropped a couple of quarters into a marble ashtray on her coffee table, and the channel changed. At first she was worried the set was broken, but when the quarters worked more or less consistently, we realized that somehow the sound was doing it. We used to jiggle the dog’s leash (metal chain) to change channels. It was hit or miss. > [@cochrane](#): > > I have heard apocryphal stories of people’s dogs changing the channel because of the tags on their collars jingling as they walked past. Definitely _not_ apocryphal … other than leash vs. collar. > [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > she’s writing with a magical ink pen with a reservoir that can be easily and properly erased with the bottom end of the pen, like a rubber You make erasures with a condom??? I know. I know… ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1435 "2022-09-28T18:48:17Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > You make erasures with a condom??? I know. I know… I knew this would happen… 😆 ---
**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:** [September 28, 2022, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1436 "2022-09-28T18:52:06Z")
We had an English girl enroll in our SoCal high school. The first time she talked about knocking someone up, she got all kinds of shocked responses. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1437 "2022-09-28T18:52:53Z")
And then she asked someone for a rubber? ---
**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:** [September 28, 2022, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1438 "2022-09-28T18:56:24Z")
🤪 etc. ---
**Author:** ![sjankis630](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@sjankis630](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjankis630)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1439 "2022-09-28T22:17:29Z")
Lol. Out in San Francisco California in the late 1960s we got free Hotwheels cars. I wonder how much those would be worth today if I had never opened them and kept them as “investments”? I also wonder what my parents would have thought of me if I had taken every comic book and toy they bought for me and kept them brand new in the packaging? ---
**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:** [September 28, 2022, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1440 "2022-09-28T23:05:06Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > We had an English girl enroll in our SoCal high school. The first time she talked about knocking someone up, she got all kinds of shocked responses. When I was in high school a friend’s girlfriend’s had an exchange student from the UK staying with her. The girlfriend was walking with friend ahead of the female student and me. FGF had patch pockets on the back of her skirt and a bobby pin started working its way out the bottom of the pocket. The Brit called out, “Oh, [girlfriend]! You’re losing your grip!” We had to explain why us three Americans broke up. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2022, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1441 "2022-09-29T00:09:04Z")
> [@sjankis630](#): > > Out in San Francisco California in the late 1960s we got free Hotwheels cars. I wonder how much those would be worth today if I had never opened them and kept them as “investments”? Probably more than Beanie Babys ---
**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:** [September 29, 2022, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1442 "2022-09-29T00:20:51Z")
> [@sjankis630](#): > > Out in San Francisco California in the late 1960s we got free Hotwheels cars. I wonder how much those would be worth today if I had never opened them and kept them as “investments”? I have what I think must be an early Barbie doll. Unfortunately, not only did it not remotely occur to anybody to keep the box, but at some point in childhood I chopped her hair off. [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=71) [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=73)