Olden Days

[Jantha]

Exactly when were the "olden days"?

 

Earlier today, my son was talking about when the video game Sonic the Hedgehog came out.. and he referred to that time period as the olden days.

 

I always thought the olden days where a lot more olden than 1991

[cookieman15061]

[dem00n]

Is that you blackie?

[Steven Tari]

Yesterday"s

[The RandyMan]

The "olden days" were approx. Feb. 27, 1947 to April 17, 1961. Didn't you take history in high school?? It was the era between "Back in the beforetimes" and "back when."

[PartsPvt]

[Versatile]

IMO it's partly personal and partly media driven. There is a nostalgia about 'The Good Old Days' when allegedly life was better/happier with more certainties, less pressure, fewer hoodlums, more respect for the law etc. These perceptions seem to go in generations...and are getting shorter and shorter !!

 

For many people, even youngsters, the 60's were a halcyon period...particularly musically

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TommyK]

"The Olden Days" is always a matter of perspective. When I was a kid that meant farming with horses. When my kids were kids, that meant farming with gasoline (no diesel) tractors. For my grand kids, that means farming was done without benefit of GPS field maps.

 

Here's The Beloit College Freshman Mind-Set list for the class of 2014. http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2014.php

 

The first one has me taken aback. Do they not teach cursive any more?

 

I recently (last week) had a student ask me about research she was doing for a paper about the current candidates. She said she'd Googled them but couldn't find much about them. "What did you find at the library?," I quizzed. "I've used the computers at the library to Google," she responded. "What about old news paper artcles and books?," I asked. "Books?," she said.

 

5 floors of books and never opened one.......

 

This from a generation which doesn't realize records are recorded on both sides.... but that's another story.

 

Oh, all right, here it is:

 

Student returns LP to circulations counter. "How did you get along with the turntable? Did you find what you wanted?," asked the librarian. "No, " replied the student, "I got record play back thingy to work, but the song I wanted was on side 4 and there were only two disks in case." :(

[DanvillRob]

"The Olden Days" is always a matter of perspective.

 

You're right about perspective. I recall my father talking about WWII. I always felt it was such a LONG time before I was born, (1949). So when I was 15 years old hearing all about his experiences, it was only 18 years in the past.

 

I returned from 'Nam in 1970.....(40 years ago!) I'm sure my 31-year old son thinks that war was "Way in the past".

[milod]

Tommy...

 

Almost went to Beloit. Chose Grinnell instead 'cuz it was farther west. I think there likely were better guitar players there. <grin>

 

Actually I got into keyboarding all the time my last 2 years in high school. The teachers couldn't read my cursive even back then - and my printing wasn't much better.

 

So... computer fast keyboards were a godsend. Although... I had one Smith Corona copy of an IBM Selectric that couldn't keep up with the typing. They said it only handles up to 150 wpm and I'd gust a bit above that. The computer usually keeps up.

 

Olden days... Pre WWII. After that it was music I ended up listening to on the radio and playing.

 

m

[Californiaman]

Yeah Milod,

I figured you'd weigh in with a response along those lines.

Just after WWII. Them's olden days indeed.

[MrNylon]

The Old Days were, no mail zip codes, black and white TV's, and when my dad told about walking 5 miles to school, 5 miles back home, and both ways were up hill all the way.

[Jantha]

"The Olden Days" is always a matter of perspective. When I was a kid that meant farming with horses. When my kids were kids, that meant farming with gasoline (no diesel) tractors.

 

It sure seems to be. That's what made me want to post. When I grew up, I considered olden days to be about the same time period as you described. So it kinda made me laugh when my son referred to the 90's as the olden days.. then I realized it's all a matter of perspective and my perspective is aging quick

[Mr. Natural]

The Old Days were, no mail zip codes, black and white TV's, and when my dad told about walking 5 miles to school, 5 miles back home, and both ways were up hill all the way.

 

That's 5 miles both ways, up hill, IN THE SNOW.

[TommyK]

That's 5 miles both ways, up hill, IN THE SNOW.

... after feeding 200 steers, turning the sows out to feed and drink, vaccinating and castrating pigs, lettin' the sows back in, shuckin' 3 rows of corn, and grinding feed for tomorrow, then digging 10 rods of trench for draining tile. THEN he'd walk to school.

[eallenb]

... after feeding 200 steers, turning the sows out to feed and drink, vaccinating and castrating pigs, lettin' the sows back in, shuckin' 3 rows of corn, and grinding feed for tomorrow, then digging 10 rods of trench for draining tile. THEN he'd walk to school.

 

[laugh][laugh]

[jaxson50]

If you really want to confuse a young person ask them if they ever had a party line!!!!

Our was three rings!

Lets see how long it takes for the younger forum members to google that!

[Jantha]

If you really want to confuse a young person ask them if they ever had a party line!!!!

Our was three rings!

Lets see how long it takes for the younger forum members to google that!

 

I knew some people lived in a rural town on the outskirts of the city I live in.. they had a party line up into early to mid 90's. I found that kinda shocking for some reason.

[jaxson50]

Butch wax was still used by men.

[Versatile]

Anybody know what I mean when I say the word..Brylcreem..?

 

 

 

 

 

[Bender 4 Life]

Olden days? thats easy, sometime between when I broke my wrist falling off the public OUTHOUSE at my towns baseball field (better to watch the game, IF you could stand the "aroma") and when I fractured my skull being thrown into a "barn pole" by my favorite horse.

 

My Grandmother told me about HER "olden days" quite often.....for her, that meant pre WW1.

 

We sure do have it easy now.......

[TommyK]

My folks had a party line up into the 90's. Time was there were probably a half dozen people, mostly relatives, on the same party line. When they went from the dial-less phones and longs and shorts ringing scheme to a more modern rotary dial, they phone company would put you on a private line for an additional charge. My folks opted out. One by one all but two party-ers on my folks' line went private. Every time they'd as my folks if they wanted to have a private line (at additional cost), they'd say, "No thanks." They shared a line with my dad's aunt and uncle who lived a mile away. On rare occasions, we'd pick up and she'd be on the line. We'd say, "Oh excuse me," then hang up. When her phone would ring ours would not ring, it would just vibrate. I think my dad and great aunt had the last party line in the state. I think the phone company gave up asking and just switched them over at no additional charge. It was more hassle keeping them on the 'party' system.

 

I remember when Judge Green forced the divestiture of the phone company. This was when the phone company quit providing a free phone for you to use and you had to buy your own phone. When you ordered service you could get pulse (rotary dial) or digital (push button) service. The new fangled digital was an additional $10.00 to 'install' and $1.00/ month there after. I said, "No Thank You." You could purchase push button phones that, by sliding a switch on the bottom, would mimic a rotary dial. Eventually, the phone company quit asking if you wanted digital, and didn't charge extra for it.

[grampa]

Anybody know what I mean when I say the word..Brylcreem..?

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little dab'll do ya.

[TommyK]

Yup. I think I still have a tube of the stuff I took with me when I first moved away from home.... 30, mostly, odd years ago.

 

I heard that at one time the makers of Brylcreem took a survey. Most people had a 10 year's supply of the stuff in their medicine cabinets all wrapped up in a single tube. The stuff was so concentrated, they'd flooded their own market and sales went in the dumper. You can still find it on store shelves, but it is not your daddy's Brylcream. It'll take a little more than a dab to do ya.

[Rocky4]

Back when things were still black and white

 

Actually I remember my dad talking about when he was young. Listening to radio shows, collection scrap metal for the war, stealing watermelon (and getting shot at with salt), outhouses, coal furnaces, graduating from high school and having local factories and utility companies sending invitations to apply for work.