This is an interesting stroll down Memory Lane, something to divert attention from the pandemic, caregiving, bills, and even cold weather.
How many of these old items can you recognize?
https://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/how-to-tell-if-youre-old
There's a list available on the forum where I found this; I'll post it tomorrow if all the items haven't been identified.
Have fun!
They think you're old if you've ever used a Brannock device to measure your foot -- a device that's still used everywhere today?
OK, maybe I'm old because I know it's called a Brannock device. ;-)
We're really lost so much in practicality of automobile design over the years. If only cars were designed by and for the people who use them, not for what designers want...or what will increase the base cost of a car.
CWillie, it does take you back in years, doesn't it? I could remember so much that's gone. I felt as if I was mentally thinking like a child again...or may that's just normal for me????
Glad, welcome to the club! Which ones stumped you? I had to go through the list about 3 times but there was one that I just couldn't remember.
I do remember the washers with hand wringers, and I remember the mangles we used to iron sheets. Iron sheets? Does anyone today iron sheets? Or does anyone still hang clothes outside to dry?
Riverdale, a very insightful response!
NHWM, I thought so too. Went a bit farther on the website and found another list. Now I'm remembering that I still have the dolls we played with; there are so many memories I couldn't let the dolls go.
My sister and I had those little bendable dolls, made of rubber or something. They were ballerinas, so we made up dances and had our own vision of sugar plums as we engaged in fantasy dreams.
MJ1929, I wasn't aware what the foot measuring device was called; thanks for that info.
I'm wondering if decades from now people will look back and wonder what all the techno gear is. And I agree about 20 year olds; they face such a different current and future lifestyle that the changes are I think really drastic. I'm glad I grew up when leisure time meant swimming, biking, playing "kick the can", roller skating, jumping rope (how I enjoyed that), shooting marbles, and just having fun, not being inside staring at a screen.
GA - I was never allowed to use the wringer washer, there were enough accidents involving these that our medical book had an entry on wringer injuries.
And of course I hang out my laundry, that's why I had to iron my cotton sheets before I put them away for the winter 🤣
Of course, if I am in any doubt, there is always looking in the mirror!
Colleen
My grandmother had a party line. My cousin and I would get into trouble for listening in on the line.
Great list, I only missed one but it dawned on me as I was reading the other posts... on the list is a car cigarette lighter, right?
What about the car ashtrays?
They were disgusting!
I would cringe when people would dump them out anywhere! So gross! 🤮
Speaking of cars. Did you have an 8 track? LOL
Did you have a horn for your bicycle? A banana seat?
Remember how many reels were available for our view-master? I had tons! My favorites were the wildlife animals and sea life, especially the variety of sharks! I still remember so many details about sharks! LOL
My grandmother had a view-master and an entire shoebox of reels for it. I loved them.
Grandma had different things for us to play with, toy telephone, (probably so I wouldn’t play on her party line with my cousin), pick up sticks, tiddlywinks, jacks, wooden wind up spinning top, yo-yo, cards and a jump rope.
I had fantastic grandparents. Grandpa built us things. He made us stilts.
I became so good at walking on stilts that I could walk all the way around the block! So much fun!
I still use a potato masher like that (5) and every good shoe store has that device to measure your feet (9). I own 3 washboards and I have frequently used one of them (15). Meat mallets (21) are still used by many cooks. But I don't know what #4 or #19 are, anyone want to enlighten me?
We had a washboard and a large tub and a wringer washer hand operated in the basement. The laundry got hung with wooden clothes pegs on a line, from the back porch to a pole at the bottom of the garden . In the winter the sheets came ih stiff as a board and could be stood up on their own in the kitchen. But they smelled wonderful.
Oh I'm old. I don't need a quiz to tell me that. 😊
I have my husband’s grandmother’s washboard. I have my great aunt’s white enameled coffee percolator.
I wish that I had my grandmother’s ice cream machine. She made incredible ice cream. Mom must have given it away. I do have grandma’s sewing machine. She gave me that before she died.
My grandmother wasn’t a pack rat. She didn’t like clutter. She kept a very tidy home.
We had a Formica table in our kitchen.
We had a party line when I was a kid. I asked my very logical father if we "could" listen to the other people and he said "yes." He was not known for long and involved answers to things like that. Can we? Yes, was the answer. However, I think he meant that we technically could, but really should opt not to. My mother was livid at his lack of clarity!! I remember only wealthier people had a "private line." The rest of us had party lines.
I assumed the store from #16 was Kmart.
FreqFlyer, there is a cigarette lighter, no. 10.
The ones I just couldn't place are nos. 29 and 32.
#32 is Silly Putty.
Water balloon fights were a big thing for kids too.
Slip and slide! Or just playing in the sprinkler!
Disappearing ink! We thought that was so cool!
Penny candies too!
Wax lips
Those little bottles filled with sweet liquid
Pixie straws
Jaw Breakers
Bazooka bubble gum
Okay, who remembers green stamps or the yellow top value stamps?
My job was to place them in the books for my mom, my aunt and grandmother. They gave me a bowl of water and a sponge to place them in the book.
What about Sears catalog? That was big when we were kids too?
Smoking was big! People smoked everywhere, in banks, grocery stores, doctor’s office and hospitals!
And remember jumping rope, the little ditties we sang, or skating on roller skates that strapped on, frequently came off and were major contributors to skinned knees?
MysteryShopper, your comments brought back memories of another tradition that's probably only being continued in small areas. We lived close to a very small sort of country store. Around Halloween we would walk over and buy "lips" and other "decorations." They were made of wax, I think. We had fun altering our appearances, and for years I haven't remembered those wax lips. But I see NeedHelpWithMom remembers them too.
I remember green stamps and I think there were red ones too. I found some when going through my parents' files as I'm slowly cleaning out their house. I think they arose from WWII rationing, or am I wrong?
Sears - there was a large (for its day) Sears store close to where I worked, so I would walk over on my lunch hour. Peanut and other nuts were sold, fairly fresh, and the fragrance of heated peanuts was sooo tempting. The whole store smelled like roasting peanuts!
There was a small elevated alcove that was a book haven, and definitely a treasured destination. When I now think of the Borders flagship store, 2 stories of books and music, I realize how that little alcove in Sears was at that time a beacon to me, to see all the different books, and what a wonderful selection there was. Compared to Borders though, it was just a tiny postage stamp of a store, but it still had its own aura.
Does anyone remember giving Valentines at school? I also worked close to a Woolworth's and especially remember the card section. It was like visiting an art gallery to wander through and pick out Valentine's Day cards.
GladI'mHere, nutcrackers bring back such memories, not just of the charming and beautiful ballet, but of a holiday tradition. Mom and Dad would buy pounds of walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds and sometimes Brazil nuts just before Christmas. We'd sit down in the kitchen and crack the nuts, using the nutcracker and picks. I still have them but haven't used them for awhile. They have such a strong affiliation with Christmas.
And that reminds me that it's time to stock up and starting making holiday fudge. Yummmmmmmm!
(I'm trying to keep up with items that haven't been explained, but I get dizzy going back and forth in the messages. If anyone hasn't identified something, please feel free to raise the issue again.
And cider mills: we grew a lot of our own produce but the apple tree wasn't very cooperative. So we'd pile into the old station wagon and drive to the local cider mill. Mom brought several 1/2 bushel baskets to be filled, and she even had the labels written out for the kinds of apples she wanted.
Northern spies were her favorites for apple pies and turnovers....and now I'm really getting the urge to bake.
Another tradition was for Mom to make pancakes on Sunday, creating various shapes for more decorative delights. After eating, we'd sit down with Dad and he'd read the comics, or "funnies" to us. Good old days, and I really miss them.
I also remember going shopping with Mom. Last stop was a real butcher shop, with lots of sawdust on the floor. Butcher shops to my knowledge are now sections of chain stores, as opposed to independent shops.