Did you know.....

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Did you realize, the people going to college now---

Have never seen coke cola in glass, have never seen coke cola without a screw off cap?

They have never seen a TV that you had to get up and go turn the controls by hand?

They have never heard: "Where is the beef" or "I can't belive I ate the whole thing".

A manual typewriter is beyond their their knowledge, as is a vehicle with a clutch.

A record is a stastic, not an 11 inch piece of vinyl that makes sound.

They do not know of a world with out AIDS?

They do not realize that CD first stood for "certifacte of deposit", not compact disc.

They do not realize that a stock market under 2000 was normal.

The "beach boys" were some guys they went to school with.

"John F. Kennedy" and "Martin Luther King" were live people, not figures of history like George Washington.

Am I feeling old? No, I am feeling privileged.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), January 11, 2002

Answers

I'm there too, Mitch!!!

When CD's first were popular, I kept wondering why all these young folks were so interested in putting money in the bank, kept wondering how they got so well off so soon already!!! I seriously thought that, gosh, maybe the younger generation has hope!!!

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), January 11, 2002.


It really hit me one day when we were driving through Kansas City and passed an American Bandstand restaurant. My daughter thought it was cool that they had all those "Black CDs" on top of the building.

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), January 11, 2002.

I had to explain to my 18 year old niece what "carbon paper" was. On our e-mails we can "cc" to people, but she didn't know what it stood for.

-- Charleen in WNY (harperhill@eznet.net), January 11, 2002.

Yep, Mitch, I'm feeling old!!! :) I can remember when we used to walk by the tv and dad would ask us to change the channel. It seemed like we stood there forever till he decided on something to watch! A couple years ago I had to explain to my nephew what an 8-track tape was. And Annie, I can relate about the CD. When my nephew said he was "burning" a CD, the first thing I thought of was why he would to that. Shoot, I'd take it before I would let him burn it up. He looked at me like I lost my mind. Ya just never think you're ever going to get that old or out of touch.....such is life!

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), January 11, 2002.

I work with a couple of younger college age guys who tell me how weird us "old people" are. If we are so weird why do I roll my eys and laugh at the things they have going on today.I'm sorry but somewhere along the way things were lost to all these new things. I can't believe that in this day kids are allowed to drop out of school before they are 18 I would have thought a law would have passed on that years ago. I do meet some great kids though but there are a few who need to get back into school or stick to a job long after they have decided that work is hard and boring.

-- george (bngcrview@aol.com), January 11, 2002.


We stopped at a gas station near Floresville, Texas about 5 years ago and got a coke in a glass bottle with a flip top lid. I still have the bottle. I do miss those icy cold bottles; I can just barely remember when they were common, before cans.

And I came across an old piece of carbon paper some months ago. My kids said, "What's that, Mom?" I demonstrated how to use it, and they thought it was the neatest thing going!

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), January 11, 2002.


I don't agree that today's kids don't know what a clutch is but here's one close to that. I had one of those cathartic moments a while back with my son. We were talking about driving a manual transmission vehicle and he said he hadn't drivenone since I'd taught him how to drive one when he was fifteen. I mentioned that the first two cars I'd had were three speeds on the column (three on the tree, as we used to say). Not only did he not know what I meant, it also took a lot of convincing and explaining before he finally believed me. He thought I was trying to pull his leg at first.

I was telling this story to a friend a while back and he said he'd had a similar experience when he said something to his kids about paper straws. They absolutely didn't believe him. Straws were always plastic to them.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), January 12, 2002.


About 15 years ago, a boy about age 10 walked up to the counter at the laundramat/dry cleaners that I worked at, and asked if he could use the phone. I told him that he sure could and turned the desk phone around to face him so he could dial his number. He just stared at it. I asked him if he knew the phone number he needed and He replied that he did. And he stared at the phone. I asked him if there was something else he needed and he looked up at me and said he didn't know how to dial that phone. The phone was a rotary dial phone. The boy had never seen anything but a push button phone. I must say, I felt old. I showed him how to dial and made him do it himself. Maybe one day he will tell a story of how how some "old" woman showed him how to operate an antique phone. :)

-- JoAnn in SD (floosie_61@yahoo.com), January 12, 2002.

My mother is a recently retired second grade school teacher. She says it's getting harder every year to teach kids to tell time because they get so little practice...most clocks at their homes are digital.

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), January 13, 2002.

Sheryl's story reminds me of a 1st grade teacher I know. When any kid comes in with a digital watch, she confiscates it until the child knows how to tell time the regular way.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), January 14, 2002.


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