# 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:** 75
**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:** [December 12, 2022, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1483 "2022-12-12T16:40:43Z")
Yeah, that’s right around when the shift was; though I expect the exact time depended on where and in what social group you were. I went to a boarding school for high school, graduating in '69 (insert bad jokes here.) We were only allowed to wear jeans for Saturday cleaning duties. IIRC, I showed up fo my first day of college in a dress. By the end of the year – that is, by 1970 – I had a wardrobe that was becoming heavy on teeshirts and jeans. As I think I’ve mentioned before in this thread, I bought the tees in the men’s underwear department. They were just starting to be accepted as outerwear. (They were also sold in packs of 3 for, again IIRC, $5; and $5 was also about the cost of a new pair of jeans. Of course minimum wage was about 1.65.) ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2022, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1484 "2022-12-12T17:01:49Z")
One overheard at work recently: “My Dad was in the Falkland Islands war.” Young person (though older than the one whose Dad was a veteran), had never heard of the Falkland Islands or the war, and didn’t understand why the UK would go to war with Argentina or why Argentina would invade some random islands. It seemed like he thought the whole thing was some sort of joke or put on, but couldn’t quite figure out what the angle was. ---
**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:** [December 12, 2022, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1485 "2022-12-12T17:07:39Z")
In the words of Robin Williams: “If there’s no oil there, those people were fighting over sheep!” ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2022, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1486 "2022-12-14T16:39:24Z")
Scouting (i.e. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts) was a lot bigger when I was a kid. At its height of popularity, Boy Scouts had a membership of over 4 million in 1973. Nowadays it under a million. ---
**Author:** ![JenM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@JenM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JenM)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2023, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1487 "2023-02-04T20:46:45Z")
Work, dial phone, “get up and change the channel”, HBO when it was the only cable channel and you flipped a switch on your TV to turn it on when you turned to channel 2, Pong, a time when you had a choice between regular gas and unleaded gas at the pump. ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2023, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1488 "2023-02-04T23:20:30Z")
Petting the reindeer on Boston Common at Christmas time. Eating roasted chestnuts out of a newspaper cone, sold by vendors on Boston Common in the winter. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2023, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1489 "2023-02-18T22:10:48Z")
I had a girlfriend when I was younger who could squeak with her voice and turn the TV set in the den on or off. The first time it happened with me around, I found this out accidentally since we weren’t in the den to watch TV. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2023, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1490 "2023-02-18T23:48:37Z")
When I was a kid we had a TV we bought at an estate sale that would turn itself on apparently at random. Before we figured out the “sonic control” thing, my sister said the thing might be haunted (I think she was joking, though). ---
**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:** [February 19, 2023, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1491 "2023-02-19T00:53:26Z")
In the summer time we had to drink water from garden hoses in the summer because it was a hundred degrees out and we were supposed to play outside all day. ---
**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:** [February 19, 2023, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1492 "2023-02-19T03:28:01Z")
We sometimes drank from the hoses. But if it was closer, we drank from the creek. ---
**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:** [February 19, 2023, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1493 "2023-02-19T06:01:03Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > In the summer time we had to drink water from garden hoses That unique plastic taste. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1494 "2023-02-19T06:33:12Z")
lol no they didnt … we still hear them once a week lol in fact until they actually announced the successor to the stealth a few months ago we were told 2 things 1 was taking pictures of anything flying without permission is a federal offense and 2 no it was not a ufo and that’s all we needed to know about it for now > [@JenM](#): > > , HBO when it was the only cable channel and you flipped a switch on your TV to turn it on when you turned to channel 2 We just were discussing this recently… when wtbs showed all the reruns from the 50s-70s in the 80s and most people were "I watched this when I was a kid and being only 20 and 30s ---
**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:** [February 19, 2023, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1495 "2023-02-19T07:19:05Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > In the summer time we had to drink water from garden hoses in the summer because it was a hundred degrees out and we were supposed to play outside all day. > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > We sometimes drank from the hoses. But if it was closer, we drank from the creek. We had evaporative coolers and way back then they were single-pass on the water instead of recirculating as they are today. We’d drink from the drain hose because it came out _cold_. We did not mention this to our mothers. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2023, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1496 "2023-02-20T17:45:03Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > But if it was closer, we drank from the creek. I don’t think anyone in Ohio will be doing THAT anytime soon… ---
**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:** [February 21, 2023, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1497 "2023-02-21T21:40:00Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I went to a boarding school for high school, graduating in '69 (insert bad jokes here.) I also graduated high school in 1969. On Friday the thirteenth (of June). I can still remember kneeling down to make sure the hem of my dress/skirt touched the floor. We didn’t get to wear pants (not jeans!) until my senior year (68/69). ---
**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:** [February 21, 2023, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1498 "2023-02-21T23:55:47Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > I also graduated high school in 1969. On Friday the thirteenth (of June). I can still remember kneeling down to make sure the hem of my dress/skirt touched the floor. We didn’t get to wear pants (not jeans!) until my senior year (68/69). Yup. We could only wear pants when on cleaning duty on Saturdays. That school didn’t make us kneel – but the one before that did. And the skirt had to not just touch the floor, but have two inches of fabric on the floor (early to mid 1960’s.) – we used to roll our skirts up at the waist when we went to town, as soon as we were out of sight of the teachers (we were supposed to stay in pairs, but didn’t have to stay with a teacher.) ---
**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:** [February 22, 2023, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1499 "2023-02-22T00:10:48Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > we used to roll our skirts up at the waist when we went to town I remember doing that in elementary school. The nuns used to check for it. ☹ ---
**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:** [February 22, 2023, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1500 "2023-02-22T16:30:39Z")
Got to thinking about my daughter’s math education when she was in middle school. No one uses the numberline any more as a teaching tool. That’s how I was taught addition/subtraction & positive/negative numbers, but even her teacher at the time had no idea what I was talking about. They had a thing with using physical objects that seemed way more round-about than the good old numberline that used to grace the wall near the ceiling in every arithmetic/math classrom I was ever in. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1501 "2023-02-23T17:32:36Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > This is true. My mother, for instance, kept buttons; even when the garment they came from was past repair or repurposing for anything other than rags. Surely, every woman over the age of 30 has a biscuit tin full of buttons? ---
**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:** [February 23, 2023, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-saying-your-age-whats-something-from-your-childhood-that-a-younger-person-wouldnt-understand/953138/1502 "2023-02-23T17:35:11Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Surely, every woman over the age of 30 has a biscuit tin full of buttons? Guilty. Both my mother’s and my mother-in-law’s. My granddaughter loves to play with them. So, two cookie tins full. [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=74) [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=76)