One evening a grandson was talking to his grandfather about current events.
The grandson asked his grandfather what he thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general..

The Grandfather replied, "Well, let me think a minute, I was born before was born before:

' television

' penicillin

' polio shots

' frozen foods

' Xerox

' contact lenses

' Frisbees and

' the pill

There were no:

' credit cards

' laser beams or

' ball-point pens

Man had not invented:

' pantyhose

' air conditioners

' dishwashers

' clothes dryers

' and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and

' man hadn't yet walked on the moon


Your Grandmother and I got married first, .. ... ... and then lived together..

Every family had a father and a mother.

Until I was 25, I called every man older than me, "Sir".
And after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, "Sir."

We were before gay-rights, computer- dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy.

Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense.

We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.

Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege..

We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.

Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.

Draft dodgers were those who closed front doors as the evening breeze started.

Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends-not purchasing condominiums.


We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings.

We listened to Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios.

And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey.

If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan ' on it, it was junk

The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam..

Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.

We had 5 &10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents.

Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel.

And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards.

You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, . .. . but who could afford one?
Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon.

In my day:

' "grass" was mowed,

' "coke" was a cold drink,

' "pot" was something your mother cooked in and

' "rock music" was your grandmother's lullaby.

' "Aids" were helpers in the Principal's office,

' " chip" meant a piece of wood,

' "hardware" was found in a hardware store and

' "software" wasn't even a word.


And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby.

No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation gap. How old do you think I am?





This man would be only 65 years old.

-------------------------
We say grace and we say Ma'am and
if you aint into that we don't give a Damn.
-Hank Williams Jr. (Country Boy Can Survive) -circa 1981

I understand the point you're making, but does he and his generation share any of the blame for his screwed up children and grandchildren?

One thing I would like to nitpick...a 65 year old would have listened to the Beatles, Beach Boys, Chubby Checker, etc. etc., and not the big bands. That would have been of his parents' era.

And I think FM radio has been around for the lifetime of 65 year olds.

Edited: 03/11/2010 at 12:18 AM by B0zo

This article is screwed up about television too. A 65 year old today was born in 1945, and there was commercial TV broadcasting before that:

On May 2, 1941, 10 stations were issued a commercial television license by the FCC. The first television station begin commercial broadcasting on July 1, 1941 under the call letters WNBT. WNBT has served Connecticut, New Jersey and New York and has changed their call letters over the years resigning on what we know today as WNBC.

Is this article 10 years old or more?

A 65 year old was was in his teens and 20's during the height of the 60's sexual and drug "revolutions," so certainly would have known about (and probably experienced) pot.

This article seems more appropriate to apply to my 83 year old mother.

Edited: 03/11/2010 at 12:25 AM by B0zo

Additional errata:

Penicillin, frozen foods, and contact lenses all would have been invented and in use before the birth of a 65 year old.

Dishwashers were not widely in use until the 50's but were invented before the birth of a 65 year old.


I'm not saying this article is all wrong--just so far, most of it seems to be.

Edited: 03/11/2010 at 12:38 AM by B0zo

Okay, I won't pick on this article anymore. I understand in general things were much different in the 40's and 50's than they are now.

I remember marveling at a color TV in a store when I was a kid, and not having one in our house until I was a teenager, seeing the invention of the Super Ball, watching the Beatles do their first performance on Ed Sullivan, seeing the glorification of tobacco and alcohol and drunkenness on tv and in the movies, leaving our car unlocked with the keys in the ignition, not worrying about wearing seat belts, never hearing or understsanding the word "abortion" until I was in high school, going away and leaving our house unlocked and never thinking about locking it. But it was a mixed bag. Some things were ideal and others were not (speaking from the perspective of someone a decade shy of 65), and again, if that generation was so great, then how come their kids and grandkids are so screwed up?

But when the heck was gasoline 11 cents a gallon?

Depending upon how "air conditioner" is defined, you would at least have to be older than 82 to have been born before the invention of air conditioners that used freon, and more than 108 to have been born before the first working air conditioner.

I remember as a child experiencing air conditioning for the first time in a department store, so I think it's fair to say it was not widely used until the 60's, but the article refers not to use, but to invention, and it once again fails.

I agree with the article that anything that said "Made in Japan" was considered to be junk.

I don't remember Cokes ever being 5 cents, but I do remember them being 10 cents--same with telephone calls, though today calling is dirt cheap compared to the high cost of toll calls back then. And I do remember buying penny candy.

I also remember walking five miles to school in blinding snowstorms, uphill, both on the way to school and on the way home.

According to my research, "instant coffee" was popular with the soldiers in WWII, and was mass marketed during the 50's, so by the time someone who today is 65 years old was old enough to understand what coffee is, instant coffee would not have been "unheard of."

Edited: 03/11/2010 at 01:20 AM by B0zo

OK, for real I'm not going to criticize this article anymore. There's just too much there that is in error.

The ballpoint pen was invented in 1888, and I don't need to do the arithmetic to demonstrate that is well before the birthday of someone who is 65.

Ballpoint pens went ON SALE in 1945, the same year our 65 year old was born, so they were not only invented before he was born, but IN USE his ENTIRE LIFE.

Geeez....

Do you remember the toy Sixfinger?

The jingle went like this:

To this day I regret that I never owned a Six Finger.

What a cool toy.

Every old codger on the internet has copy/pasted this crap in one form or another, either to tout "the good old days" or to poke fun at those who do.

My dad's favorite saying used to be "they don't make'em like they used to." Now he adds a brief pause and says, "they make'em better." (He remembers when, if it lasted 100,000 miles, it was a GOOOOD car, and had been well cared for...)


http://www.suddenlysenior.com/goodoldaysgood.html

Don't ya just love old farts who discover some tired old crap we've all seen a million times, think it's really clever, and feel compelled to c/p it all over the internet? It's kind of like little kids and knock knock jokes. You could explain to them that it's old as dinosaur shyte, but it's probably easier to just say, "yes, that's very cool" and go about your business.

Do you suppose Lefty intended us to believe this was original? He certainly didn't cite a source...Isn't there a word for that? Taking credit for the work of another? I don't remember, but we can just say "stealing."

LOL

Hey, I have a "knock knock" joke for you.

*knock knock*

This is funny. The old folks like to pretend they were so much more "moral" and/or sexually innocent than people today, but guess why they were called "necker" knobs? (hint: driving more easily with one hand left the other hand free for other activities) Those knobs were pretty cool, though. You could spin even the hardest turn with one hand (power steering, wut's that?).

Once my pecker stops working, I'll no doubt remember myself as being a bastion of morality in my youth as well.

Note that the "old folks" said the same kind of crap when we were kids, and their "old folks" did the same, and so on....

Come on in and set a spell, young feller!

This is how I discourage knock knock marathons in my home. No matter how many times you say "knock knock," my response will be the same.