50 Things Only Baby Boomers Understand
One of the things we have as we age is memories. There are certain things that only baby boomers can talk to each other about with a full understanding of what it is we are talking about. If we try to talk about these same things to people our children’s age we just get that look that says “what the hell are you talking about old man.”
But these memories I am sure most of us look at with fondness and maybe bring a smile to our face. I ran across this list of 50 things that only people our age will remember and understand, here they are. It was a random survey.
My 2 favorites are Skate Key and no Swearing On TV.
1) “Having one phone, connected to a wall, located in the hall of a 1,300-square-foot house with two parents and two children. And one TV in the living room. The great room and entertainment room was the backyard!”
3) “Schools that would have drills when we were little. Whether it was for tornadoes or nuclear bombs, the drill was the same. You’d be safe under your desk! LOL!”
4) “Parents disciplining their children and not being their ‘friend’,”
5) “How special Mr. Green Jeans was,”
6) “The national anthem on TV at 1 a.m.,”
7) “A milkman driving the milk truck around delivering glass bottles of milk to your doorstep,” said Tina Benefield.
8) “Hello this is the operator,”
9) “5 1/2-day workweeks,”
10) “What it is like to go to a drive-in movie!! and walk to the snack bar! and make out with your boyfriend in the back seat!!”
11) “Odd and even days to get gas during the OPEC oil embargo,”
12) “Nurses/Nursing Assistants only able to wear white dress/white stockings/white shoes,”
13) “Cliff diving on ‘Wide World Of Sports’,”
14) “A typewriter,”
15) “Howdy Doody,”
16) “Watching your favorite TV shows at the exact time they were on. Especially ‘Ed Sullivan’ and the ‘Wizard Of Oz’ once a year. You had to be home to watch your favorites,”
17) “Water from the faucet! Paying for water would have insane!!!”
18) “Eat what’s in front of you or don’t eat at all,”
19) “Tin foil on rabbit ears and TV remotes that were connected to the TV with a cord,”
20) “Gathering at that lucky neighbor’s house on Sunday nights to watch ‘Bonanza’ on their color TV!”
21) “The assassination of JFK!”
22) “When mail would come twice a day,”
23) “No answering machines, beepers or cell phones. How did we survive?
24) “Fibber McGee’s closet,”
26) “Good customer service,”
27) “K-tel,”
28) “Party lines,”
29) “Burma Shave signs,”
30) “Rotary dial telephone service,”
31) “Life before calculators,”
32) “L S M F T I remember hearing that slogan when I was little. Can you Baby Boomers guess it? Hint Tobacco — I don’t smoke, but all the movies made in the 50s showed people smoking,”
33) “Mr. Magoo,”
34) “Catholic females wearing “chapel caps” for Mass,”
35) “The Miracle on Ice,”
36) “Carbon paper,”
37) “Air raid drills in NJ, during the 1950s — having to get under your desk in school or behind a sofa at home with all the shades and curtains pulled, no lights on. Then you’d hear an airplane fly overhead and be terrified it was a bomber,”
38) “Phone numbers that began with a word… (example: BUtterfield 8-2345),”
39) “Watching the launches of the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo rockets on television in school or at home every time there was one, and then watching them splash down on return. Also, the whole world watching and praying for the Apollo 13 astronauts,” .
40) “On a lighter note, the ladies always dressed up to go shopping, dresses or skirts/blouses/sweaters, heels with seamed nylons, hats/gloves. Men wore ties and jackets,”
41) “Skate key,”
42) “Not being allowed to wear pants to school — how very dated!”
43) “An icebox, not a refrigerator!”
44) “Being able to play outside all day without having to check in with a cell phone — and your parents aren’t the least bit worried about it. The world was a safer, nicer place,”
45) “I remember a time when there was no swearing on TV shows or in movies. Today every other word is f$$k, so distasteful,”
46) “Title IX — effective June 23, 1972,”
47) “Hospital wards run by a Matron where everything was done & run like clockwork — cleaners arrived at 7 and had to be out before doctors started their rounds at 10 sharp. Nurses were caring and did what they were trained for,”
48) “A percolator to make coffee,”
49) “‘Walking Tall’ film,”
50) “Secret Sam, six fingers (toy) and — remember when they promoted her this way? — Bendable Barbie,”
I’m sure everyone can add their own special memory, for me since I was from New York it would be Steeplechase Park at Coney Island.
One Response
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