But eventually it is likely to become true.
I am stunned that Marlon Brando got so fat.
Having fallen asleep at a time when even Buddy Holly was viewed by some as corrupting the morals of society, I would be utterly astonished at the existence of rap.
“Whaddyamean Pepe Le Pew is considered a stalker?! What the hell is a stalker?”
The RUSSIANS are our FRIENDS!!!
I think Mr. Van Winkle would be amazed to discover that air travel is now so cheap it’s entirely possible to fly to a different country simply for a change of scenery or somewhere to go at the weekend…
Also dead. “Son, fat and dead is no way to go through life.”
A bottle of bourbon costs WHAT!?!
Hey, Charo could play a mean guitar (I understand she plays classical guitar, too), and sing and dance. She does hokey pretty well, too, I admit, and she’s a publicity hound, but she definitely has talent.
On the other hand, the whole recycling thing. And environmentalism. “You don’t throw away plastics, aluminium, and newspapers.” Worry about the effects of pollution on the world. This was all non-existant in the 1950’s.
The tabloid industry. Back in the 1960’s nobody knew about who was zooming who (think JFK)
Heh. There’s one glaring omission from this thread. If I had fallen asleep in the 1950s and woken up today, I would be shocked (and probably appalled) that nobody smokes!
Oh, no – the tabloids were there, but their emphasis was different:
5 Year Old Girl Gives Birth to 12 Year Old Boy
…and like that.
Have some coffee and wake up fully, Rip. The lack of smoking in today’s world hasn’t been forgotten. Two examples:
If we’re talking pop culture, I would think video games would be my biggest surprise. They’re not just a new technology, but a whole new medium of expression. Did anyone predict in 1955 that we would have this kind of interactive TV? That people would play with and chat with others “online” from all over the world? Some of these games are based on sports, which would be familiar, but a lot of them are fairly plot less violence simulations or weird fantasy role-playing games(And I say this as a lover of these genres). I wonder if I would be amused or horrified to discover how much of it is fairly realistic simulations of World War II. I suspect that the war might be a little too fresh in my mind.
Barista: What kind of coffee- latte, cappucino, mocha, espresso, americano? Do you want a tall, grande, or venti?
He’d be shocked that, not only are there vastly fewer cigarette ads, there are ads telling people not to smoke, or to quit smoking, some of which are sponsored by tobacco companies.
Interracial couples aren’t uncommon, and are allowed to get married. Interfaith couples are common as well.
It’s no longer socially acceptable to openly say that you don’t want people of certain races or religions living in your neighborhood or sending their kids to school with yours.
When you call someone on the phone, you’re not unlikely to end up talking to a machine instead of a person. Some people will even let a machine answer all of their calls, then call you back immediately afterward if they want to talk to you. You have to be faster at answering your phone, too- most people and answering machines will only let it go for 4 rings now, while they would have waited longer than that before answering machines.
A lot of people will know who’s calling before they pick up the phone.
Long-distance calls are not so much of a big deal, because they’re much less expensive than they used to be.
Many of the phone calls you get will be someone trying to sell you something.
What’s a Super Bowl? When did a football championship game become more popular than the World Series?
When did the NBA become so popular, and where did all those black players come from?
When did fart jokes become acceptable in children’s movies and TV shows? Hell, any movie or TV show.
I would look at the SDMB and be shocked that in the year 2007 we still don’t have shift keys that work correctly.
-Joe
The utter extinction of the very concept of “respectability”. That nowadays there’s seemingly no such thing as bad publicity. That there’s almost nothing a person can do that will make them unmarketable as a celebrity.
Up to and including murder.
I think Ruby’s would have stunned most people from the 50’s and early-mid 60’s straight into catatonia:
I was born in 1956 and I still remember where I was (the basement) and what I was doing (laundry) the exact second I heard that the Berlin Wall was coming down (my husband came downstairs and told me). I was shocked then.
Note if RVW is a man he’s in for a rather embarrassing surprise when he steps of the lockerroom to go for a swim at the Y 
.