# 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:** 74
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1463 "2022-12-02T10:57:24Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > My mom used to shop at the City of Paris in the 1940s. She said some of her suits cost $60. In today’s dollars? > Dang. Over $1200. Wowie. I don’t remember ever actually buying anything on our trips except lunch at the Woolworths counter. We just went to look! I went with my grandmother, who had a more childlike sense of wonder than my urbane parents, who preferred things like A.C.T. plays and modern art museums when we went to The City. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1464 "2022-12-02T10:59:14Z")
I remember sonic booms too. Lockheed AFB was only a few miles away. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2022, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1465 "2022-12-02T18:21:12Z")
My mom was a single “working girl” and had worked her way up to executive secretary. She always shared apartments with other “girls” so she had decent spending money. That certainly didn’t last after she married my dad! I remember sonic booms, too. Also, those weird configurations in the sky after a rocket launch. I was out jogging one evening, and there had been a launch from Edwards years after the last previous one. Some people were gathering on the sidewalk and were talking about it with some trepidation. I just jogged passed and said: “Mohave!” I assumed they were people who’d moved to the area after the heyday of the launches. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1466 "2022-12-02T22:13:12Z")
Daddy, please buy me a transistor! ---
**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:** [December 2, 2022, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1467 "2022-12-02T23:48:41Z")
“On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a [Japanese transistor radio](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQMub1YAzvE).” ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2022, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1468 "2022-12-03T05:12:33Z")
Drive in movie theaters. Not totally extinct, but down over 90%. In the late 1950s, there were 4,000 drive-in movie theaters in the United States. Today, there are only about 300 left in operation. ---
**Author:** ![Mortimus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Mortimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mortimus)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2022, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1469 "2022-12-03T05:40:11Z")
There’s a drive in theater not far from here. When Covid hit they did some quick thinking and bit of a pivot. They had to close the main theater building but they wisely opened up their adjoining drive in theater. This was in spring when it was still pretty cold to be sitting outside in a car watching a movie. But they did it and folks ate it up, watching movies while quarantined in their cars. They also rented out their facilities to several churches for their services, same idea. Drive in church. The local drive-in is sort of a novelty to be sure but they seem to do a pretty solid biz. ---
**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:** [December 3, 2022, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1470 "2022-12-03T16:18:59Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Drive in movie theaters. Drive-ins still exist, but I don’t think those heavy metal speakers that you take off a pole and hang on your window still do. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2022, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1471 "2022-12-10T01:17:15Z")
Advertising searchlights. They were frequently used at store openings, new car lots, big sales and movie openings. You could see them for miles. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2022, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1472 "2022-12-10T01:46:51Z")
SRA cards in the classroom. And the rules for moving up a color, which varied by teacher. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2022, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1473 "2022-12-10T01:52:23Z")
I had forgotten all about those! ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2022, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1474 "2022-12-10T01:55:40Z")
The last drive in in my area closed in 1998 , and by then they had already switched to a special radio station for the audio. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2022, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1475 "2022-12-10T01:55:56Z")
No, but until bluetooth, they appeared to be the deathknell of drive-ins. The crummy sound of the speaker wasn’t that much better than the sound in theaters, until stereo, but there was still some audience for the “experience” of the drive-in. It still killed about 9 in 10. The ones with projectors that could display 70mm, and provide a superior picture lasted most often. Albeit, until Dolby digital came in. That was when sound got so good people couldn’t take the mono speakers anymore. Then came bluetooth. Once drive-in provided sound that connected with the car’s sound system through bluetooth, drive-in wasn’t completely dead after all. FWIW, though, the heyday of drive-in was really the 1950s and early 60s. I was born in 1967, and I’ve been to drive-in movies maybe 7 times, once mainly to take advantage of a double-bill, and another because I was dating a guy who had free passes. ---
**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:** [December 10, 2022, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1476 "2022-12-10T02:55:12Z")
Playing Oregon Trail on a Commodore PET in elementary school. ---
**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:** [December 10, 2022, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1477 "2022-12-10T07:16:17Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > No, but until bluetooth, they appeared to be the deathknell of drive-ins. The crummy sound of the speaker wasn’t that much better than the sound in theaters, until stereo, but there was still some audience for the “experience” of the drive-in. It still killed about 9 in 10. The ones with projectors that could display 70mm, and provide a superior picture lasted most often. > > Albeit, until Dolby digital came in. That was when sound got so good people couldn’t take the mono speakers anymore. > > Then came bluetooth. Once drive-in provided sound that connected with the car’s sound system through bluetooth, drive-in wasn’t completely dead after all. > > FWIW, though, the heyday of drive-in was really the 1950s and early 60s. I was born in 1967, and I’ve been to drive-in movies maybe 7 times, once mainly to take advantage of a double-bill, and another because I was dating a guy who had free passes. I last went to a drive in movie on the 80s, but by then the theater broadcast FM sound you could pick up over your car stereo. If they showed more than one movie, the sound for each one would be transmitted over its own frequency. ---
**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:** [December 10, 2022, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1478 "2022-12-10T07:46:22Z")
Yeah, I’ve never been to a drive-in, but it was my understanding that once most people had FM radios in their cars (at a guess, late 1970s), drive-ins retired the window speakers for low-power FM transmitters. Although I also don’t know much about Bluetooth, the fact that BT devices have to pair up, i.e., establish a two-way connection, makes it seem an unlikely, and perhaps even impossible, choice for a one-to-many transmission application like drive-ins. ---
**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:** [December 10, 2022, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1479 "2022-12-10T13:51:48Z")
Also, like I said, it was the 80s. Bluetooth didn’t exist then. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2022, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1480 "2022-12-12T04:57:40Z")
When I was still in grade school and could read the paper, want ads seperated positions wanting men or women for a job. In my mother’s day, they even seperated ads by race. And when in grade school we girls had to wear dresses. Only on gym day could we wear slacks. ---
**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:** [December 12, 2022, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1481 "2022-12-12T15:30:56Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > And when in grade school we girls had to wear dresses. Only on gym day could we wear slacks. Boy do I remember that! We could only wear pants under our dresses if it was really cold outside. We had to take them off when we got to school. That would have been in the mid to late 60s for me. By the time I was in 5th grade (71) I was able to wear pants. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2022, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1482 "2022-12-12T16:24:09Z")
So I must be about six years older than you. I graduated high school in 1973. It was sometime when I was in junior high we got to wear pants any time. [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=73) [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=75)