Questions that make you feel old.

[Mishi]

- Having a few people try and tell me that the only version of Transformers is the two movies and that the new animated series is a spin-off.
- "What's Beastwars? Is that like Yu-gi-oh?"

One of our recent family highlights was our 3 year old discovering Sonic (PC adaptation) and kicking her dad's butt in some of the levels.

[Sonoma]

We had a garage sale at my Mom's house a few weeks ago. Got to witness a young girl (9-10 years old?) looking at a rotary dial phone, and ask her Mom/Grandma "how do you dial it?" after being told it was a phone.

[Green_Fairy]

We had a garage sale at my Mom's house a few weeks ago. Got to witness a young girl (9-10 years old?) looking at a rotary dial phone, and ask her Mom/Grandma "how do you dial it?" after being told it was a phone.

when i was little (i'm 22 now), we had a rotary phone. whenever i had friends over, they would be amazed by it. we also had one of those old dial tvs that our super nintendo was hooked up to. friends were confused by that, too.
i was in one of the stores in our local mall and there was a tshirt with an NES cartridge on it and it said "blow me." bunch of kids gathered around looking at it, trying to figure out what it was.

also: powerpuff girls is on boomerang now.
...isn't boomerang the tv channel for old cartoons?

[AdminAssistant]

I get reminded of this every time I try to make a cultural reference to my students. I was trying to describe tonal sympathy and the use of music to my students. "Think about the Darth Vader theme from Star Wars." "Who?" *sigh*

[Aut]

(in the car) "What do you mean, 'crank down the window'? where's the button?"

Our Saturn has a crank window and it's a 2007. When Shadow is in the back seat, I wish they were power windows with locks. She has a fascination with the crank, especially when it's bitter cold and snowing.

Another thing from way back: Our first VCR with a remote. And the cord between the two draped across the living room.

Not being able to exchange videos with some good family friends because they had a Beta VCR and ours was VHS.

[Aut]

Oh, and there are instructions in the owners manual on how to operate a window crank.

[Andara Bledin]

I remember when our cable system only went up to 36 and then 98 and 99. Now I have 900 channels.

I remember when cable TV was still pretty uncommon in many larger cities, there were 7 regular stations and a handful of public stations, and when VCRs were still mostly rented, not owned.

I remember when having a portable phone was a huge deal and they came in their own suitcases.

Came out in my childhood/early teens:
VCRs and cassette tapes.

See, I looked into that for my own list, and they've been around a whole heck of a lot longer than most people realize. They were just not something people actually had, or had a reason to get until long after they'd actually hit the market.

I get reminded of this every time I try to make a cultural reference to my students. I was trying to describe tonal sympathy and the use of music to my students. "Think about the Darth Vader theme from Star Wars." "Who?" *sigh*

I know what you mean about cultural references. I had a co-worker who had never heard of The Princess Bride.

But to not know who Darth Vader is, you'd have had to be living under a rock!

^-.-^

[ArcticChicken]

"Think about the Darth Vader theme from Star Wars." "Who?" *sigh*

What have they been doing to their children?!?!? My Dad made sure to indoctrinate me early, when they were re-released in theatres. Unfortunately I only got to see The Empire Strikes Back actually in the theatre. But I just bought the DVD set, and we've got a 50" TV someone left in one of the apartments when he skipped out on the rent, so I'm looking forward to some quality time with Mark Hamil.

I know what you mean about cultural references. I had a co-worker who had never heard of The Princess Bride.

But.....but...The Princess Bride is the best movie ever!!

It was also released the year I was born.


I have a friend who is 19, and he is just enough younger than me to have missed out on most of my childhood icons. It's really weird every time I mention something and he's like "....what?", 'cause he's not that much younger than me.

[Cazzi]

I used to drive my daughter mad by singing away to the latest hits.
How do you know that she kept asking, you never listen to the radio.. Don't need to said I, they're all recycled!

I also remember watching the moon landing on TV... just

[Racket_Man]

I barely remember John Kennedy getting shot. (I was 3) and no he was not a member of the band The Dead Kennedys

Computers???? what were those???? warehouse sized machines with lots and lots of blinking lights and reel-to-reel tape banks, and 5M Multi-platter HDD the size of a a TUBE TV, impact printers the size of 2 teacher type desks

Calculators??? -- pencil and paper and your brain, except of course if you had one of those desk sized electic ones. got a real basic handheld portable one in HS that cost $75

TV stations we had the 3 networks (ABC, CBS AND NBC) 2 indy stations and one PBS. one of the indys was actually UHF (meaning a channel above 13)

Actual TVs - 12 inch B&W in the living room

Video tape - something only TV stations had and the player was as big your twin bed. home machines did not come out for me until the mid to late 70's

home phones - a device that was owned by MA Bell until the early 70;s and only came in a few models unless you were willing to pay big bucks per month. heck my aunt had your basic Bakalite rotary phone until the mid 90's (it was soo heavy and durable you could have beaten someone with it with no damage to the phone. weighted like 6 pounds)

[Fire_on_High]

"Who's that chick and what does she have to do with anything?"

...sounds innocuous, until you consider it was in reference to Advent Children.

[draggar]

"Paul McCartney was in a band?"

FTW.

My cousin's daughter had her sweet 16 birthday party the other week. I was an usher at their wedding.

"You mean there was another (Transformers, The Omen, Clash of the Titans, etc..) before this one?"

"What's a BBS?"

"What's a modem?"

"DOS is obsolete" (actually being taught in some computer schools)
"What is DOS?"

"What's Windows 3.1?"

one of the indys was actually UHF (meaning a channel above 13)

Don't get them started on the movie - it makes no sense to today's generation/ "What's the point of UHF?"

home phones - a device that was owned by MA Bell until the early 70;s and only came in a few models unless you were willing to pay big bucks per month. heck my aunt had your basic Bakalite rotary phone until the mid 90's (it was soo heavy and durable you could have beaten someone with it with no damage to the phone. weighted like 6 pounds)

I remember those. My parents finally got rid of theirs in the late 1980's when we got a cordless phone - you know, one of those with a 4'-5' antenna on it.

"What are answering machines?"

Of course, it won't be soon before someone can't fathom the idea of a "home phone".

[crazylegs]

"Wait - what's the Berlin Wall...?"

[Cat]

When I was a barista in the mall.....Tiffany was playing. (this was in the early 'oughts.') One of my coworkers turned to me and asked, 'who is this??' 'Tiffany, she used to play in malls all the time,' I replied. 'Who's Tiffany?'

Sigh

[InsanityInc]

I've been made to feel old before, but this really brought it home.

I was taking a medical transcription class a few years back. The case histories were on cassette tapes. *Most* of the class were older women, ranging from 30's to 50's. We also had a couple of younger, college age girls.

First day we had to use the tapes, the rest of us popped the tapes in, and started transcribing. One of the younger girls though.... she kept messing with the tape, and the deck. She ended up with a few people trying to help her and offering advice. The teacher's finding her another tape thinking something's wrong with it. Next thing she says "I've never used one of these. I don't know how." Immediately all of us sprouted grey hairs, and stooped over in a hunch on our canes.