Questions that make you feel old.

[Green_Fairy]

kay see, all the ignorance of today's youth about past pop-culture needs to be fixed. i'm all for 20th century history to be taught. not just dates, but fads and technology, too. who says history has to be hundreds of years old?

on another note...i remember seeing an elderly lady chastising her teenager (i'm guessing) grandaughter because the kid didn't want to vote. the older gal said something along the lines of "we fought for your right to vote, damn it. you're going to vote and make an educated decision about who you're voting for. i'll not have our struggle pushed aside because you're too 'busy' with getting your nails done."
i cheered on the inside.

[Treasure]

"Who's Hitler?"



My mom actually got this one when she was Subbing in a 7th grade foreign language class - and they were watching a movie (in the language of the class) about a Jewish kid hiding from the Nazi's - she tried explaining the story line, b/c the class was confused.



*ok so that doesn't exactly make me feel old, but its one of those that makes you go

[Magpie]

I've played a Pong knock-off. Granted, this was 10 years ago because my dad's a packrat, but I've played it. Only console game I've ever lived with. (Can't really say "owned", because it was most definitely his, but y'know).

I used to get frustrated because we couldn't rent videos because they were all VHS. (I was too young to understand the format issues, and my dad was one of those who said "hey, this is good technology, I'll get this one, because VHS isn't going to last").

[protege]

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.

My parents didn't even *get* cable until the mid-1980s They figured, that 13 channels were good for anyone and that cable (as it existed then) and their kids were usually outside playing. Of course, cable wasn't exactly common either--very few people had it in my neighborhood. Also uncommon, were VCRs--we didn't get one until the late-1980s, and even then it was about $400

Also not in my household until the late-80s, was a microwave Up until then, my mother was a housewife. After she went back to work, she simply didn't have enough time to work 9 hours, and then take care of the house. Now, they can't imagine not having a microwave

[telecom_goddess]

My parents didn't even *get* cable until the mid-1980s They figured, that 13 channels were good for anyone and that cable (as it existed then) and their kids were usually outside playing. Of course, cable wasn't exactly common either--very few people had it in my neighborhood. Also uncommon, were VCRs--we didn't get one until the late-1980s, and even then it was about $400

Also not in my household until the late-80s, was a microwave Up until then, my mother was a housewife. After she went back to work, she simply didn't have enough time to work 9 hours, and then take care of the house. Now, they can't imagine not having a microwave

Growing up as a kid we had a rotary phone, a black and white tv with no remote (the turn a dial type), no microwave, no stereo, analog clocks (my kids can't read 'em), no cable, no vcr, no electronics really of any kind.

You bet I have the opposite of that in my life now

[drunkenwildmage]

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

I'll be 25 in October.

When we first got cable.. We have a A/B switch, and had a total of 24 channels.. 12 on the A side, and 12 on the B Side..

[draggar]

"Who's Hitler?"



My mom actually got this one when she was Subbing in a 7th grade foreign language class - and they were watching a movie (in the language of the class) about a Jewish kid hiding from the Nazi's - she tried explaining the story line, b/c the class was confused.



*ok so that doesn't exactly make me feel old, but its one of those that makes you go

That actually makes me sad. IMO when I was in the 7th grade we had already had history courses that went over WWII. I call this a fail on the education system.

When we first got cable.. We have a A/B switch, and had a total of 24 channels.. 12 on the A side, and 12 on the B Side..

One of our controllers was a slider - you slid it from side to side for the channel you wanted.

I remember the first generation "remote" controls, too. it was a "remote" control with a 20 foot cable on it that plugged into what you needed it for.

Of course, we also had those switches for the video game system.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I was talking to a girl at the place I was working at when it was the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down and mentioned that I had seen it on tv at the time. She looked at me and said "I wasn't born then."

I was in high school. We had a German exchange student who brought in a piece of the wall.

What is Tetris?

McDonald's had plastic bucket Happy Meals for Halloween?

Here.

And my brother worked for McD's for 7 years. We had every Happy Meal toy and bucket they made. (Edit: My mom still has a couple of the buckets. She gets them out every Halloween.)

FTW.

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

My cousin's daughter, whom I babysat since she was 2 months old (I was a junior in college), will be 15 in October, and is graduating middle school next month. Another cousin's youngest is finishing high school; I was the flower girl in their wedding in 1982.

[Magpie]

That actually makes me sad. IMO when I was in the 7th grade we had already had history courses that went over WWII. I call this a fail on the education system.

I would, except that there's always one idiot who is that stubbornly opposed to learning anything that he gets his way.

[Seshat]

My parents didn't even *get* cable until the mid-1980s

It was after 2000 before I got cable.

[BookstoreEscapee]

It was after 2000 before I got cable.

When I lived in PA (2000-2001) I had the most basic of basic cable (it let me watch TV). I had the same channels you'd get with the old dial TV - channels 2-13. I did have a couple channels that sort of snuck through for some reason - the Family Channel (Fox, at the time; now it's ABC Family) and TV Land (which was a bit fuzzy but watchable). This all cost a grand total of 11 bucks a month.

Now I have actual basic cable, but no movie channels. Which is fine with me...as long as I have Comedy Central and USA, and the regular networks, and I'm good. Now we pay $161 (for cable, phone and internet).

[Stormraven]

Let's see. I was around 4 at the time of the moon landing. Not much to add to what others have, but even with all of that, I still have trouble remembering that I'm turning 45 this year.

[SG15Z]

Now understand I'm only 21 and Galaga is sort of before my time. But when I mention it, everyone my age knows what I'm talking about. Teenagers? They wonder what the heck I'm talking about.

What's even sadder? I have CWs younger than me that have never seen Star Wars and have also never hear of fraking Casablanca! Casablanca! I can understand not seeing it (I only saw it last year for the first time), but not even hearing about it? That's just wrong. What makes it worse? They're favorite movie is Legally Blonde! And Casablanca doesn't sound "interesting" to them.

A crime has been committed here I'm sure of it!

[Jester]

Oh, where to begin......

...stick shifts are becoming hard to find...

They have been predicting the death of the stick shift since the automatic transmission was invented. And they have been wrong every single time. As long as there are car and driving enthusiasts, there will be manual transmissions. End. Of. Story.

"Yeah, I got my PS2 in 2003, I was 13!"

....I was graduating highschool.

I graduated high school in 1988. So hush up.

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

I remember not having cable, having only three networks, a couple of local channels, and PBS. And that's it.

I was talking to a girl at the place I was working at when it was the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down and mentioned that I had seen it on tv at the time. She looked at me and said "I wasn't born then."

The recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has everyone's attention down here in the Keys, since it could very well affect us in so many ways, and it is a common topic of conversation. Discussing it with a coworker, I mentioned something about it in relation to the Exxon Valdez oil spill. "What's that?" Until now, I told her, the largest oil spill in U.S. history, up in Alaska, in 1989. "I wasn't even born yet." She was born in 1991. The year I became legal to drink.

What is Tetris?

I remember when Tetris first came out in the arcades. I was playing it at the student union in college. I kicked ass at it. I still do.

McDonald's had plastic bucket Happy Meals for Halloween?

Okay, not sure if this is an age thing, since I never heard of Happy Meals in buckets. Sure, I don't frequent McDonald's (eaten there "food" twice in the last 8 years or so), but it's not like I don't watch tv and see their commercials. And yet, I never heard of this until I read it above.

Unfortunately I only got to see The Empire Strikes Back actually in the theatre.

I've seen all six Star Wars movies in the theater...in their original run. (I was 7 in 1977.)

"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.

Much like the Happy Meals in buckets, I've never heard of the Advent Children. I still have no idea what they are. I'll be 40 next month, so don't know if they were before my time or I just missed them.

i remember seeing an elderly lady chastising her teenager (i'm guessing) grandaughter because the kid didn't want to vote. the older gal said something along the lines of "we fought for your right to vote, damn it. you're going to vote and make an educated decision about who you're voting for. i'll not have our struggle pushed aside because you're too 'busy' with getting your nails done."

To be fair, the younger generation has a long history in this country of not voting. The older generation that chastises them? They didn't vote all that much when they were younger either. It's just another case of teenagers being teenagers, no matter what the calendar says. This crop of teenagers will grow up and most of them will end up voting.

(I was very much an exception to this rule, as I have voted in just about every election I could have, from the time I turned 18 and was allowed to. I was even involved in a political movement when I was 17, before I was even allowed to vote. Then again, I have always been political....I even ran for public office in 1992.)

...analog clocks (my kids can't read 'em)...

We had a unique upbringing with clocks. My mom has always had a taste for some artsy stuff, and we had two clocks in our house that had no numbers on them. One was merely a black face with one white circle at the twelve o'clock position (this is actually a rather famous Movado minimalist "museum clock which you have probably all seen a variation of--this one is virtually identical to the one we grew up with), and the other was a turquoise clock with twelve circles at the appropriate points, but no numbers. My mother still has both of these. Needless to say, the three of us do not need to see the numbers on clocks to know what time it is.

What's even sadder? I have CWs younger than me that have never seen Star Wars and have also never hear of fraking Casablanca! Casablanca! I can understand not seeing it (I only saw it last year for the first time), but not even hearing about it? That's just wrong. What makes it worse? They're favorite movie is Legally Blonde! And Casablanca doesn't sound "interesting" to them.

I hate to redundantly repeat myself, but this is typical for teenagers. For the most part, they tend to be into their own world, with a high focus on what is "in" and what is "popular." Just as many children have limited palates and only like a few boring dishes, but eventually grow to enjoy a wider variety of food, teenagers also usually grow out of their self-centered and pop hit ways, learning to appreciate more than when they wore such social and cultural blinders.

By the way, I still have never seen "Casablanca" or all of "Gone With the Wind."

[Fire_on_High]

Much like the Happy Meals in buckets, I've never heard of the Advent Children. I still have no idea what they are. I'll be 40 next month, so don't know if they were before my time or I just missed them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VII_Advent_Children