Words we no longer use

[Cynette]

Originally Posted by whytheheckme

Tin Foil
Mercury Thermometers

What?!? I'm not allowed to call it "tin foil" anymore? Just 'cause it isn't tin, doesn't mean I don't call it that! It's way easier to say than Al-u-min-eee-um! And we still have mercury thermometers - and a spill clean-up process in case one breaks!

On another note - I think this thread needs to go away! It is making me feel very very very old!

[KathieK]

library paste - an edible white thick paste (not like the white glue we use today) with a stiff brush that went through the cap. It was edible. Well, maybe not, but we all ate it anyway.
typewriter ball - used in a Selectric IBM typewriter, it moved across the page as you typed, and contained the letter characters. To change fonts, you put in a different ball.
word processor - a standalone machine dedicated to word processing.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Roller Skate keys
PF Flyers
Pen Pals
Spark Gap Transmitters! Don you're killing me!

[Pavan Dave]

CRT Monitors. They are going away faster and faster ... not extinct yet...
Goodbye - I can't remember the last time I heard that phrase. I think "adios" or "later" has become replaced goodbye.

On another note, when I have documents with small boxes to fill in, I pull out my father's typewriter from the 1800s and blow some dust off, and get to typing. I always enjoyed the half key because it made my paper look less cluttered in certain areas and it bugs me that there is no half space key on my keyboard sometimes.

[Taylor]

USSR
The British Empire
Persia
Siam
Constantinople
DUAT
Bacteriology
Leaded Gasoline
McDLT (keeps the hot side hot, and the cold side cold)
Hot wax - radio personality term for music so popular, with so much airplay, it would melt the records

[KathieK]

SWAK (sealed with a kiss), in reference to how a letter envelope was "sealed"
sealing wax (often used on my letters when I sent them to my pen pals!)

[65_Xero_Huskie]

Originally Posted by KathieK

SWAK (sealed with a kiss), in reference to how a letter envelope was "sealed"

But i hear swak all the time.

Hand Crank - Used to Start old cars (Model T. Which surprisinly could run on ethanol....And it took how long to make cars that run on ethanol?)

[KathieK]

Originally Posted by 65_Xero_Huskie

But i hear swak all the time.

Oops, it probably IS still being used, in IMs and text messages, huh? I was just thinking of ancient times when I and others actually hand-scribed letters on stationery to people that we put into the mailbox. Hmm.. stationery - still used, but on its way out?

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by KathieK

To get us started:

• icebox (refrigerator that kept food cool through use of ice blocks)

This one is still used, by making a come-back just this year actually in pop culture:

Originally Posted by Omarion Song Lyrics

(but I got)I got this icebox where my heart used to be
(but I got)I got this icebox where my heart used to be
No woah, I'm so cold, I'm so cold, I'm so cold, I'm so cold
No woah, I'm so cold, I'm so cold, I'm so cold (2x)

http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.n...25720700134707


I have never heard the term "SWAK" in my life before btw.. lol

I learned something new today. w00t!

[Cynette]

Originally Posted by KathieK

library paste - an edible white thick paste (not like the white glue we use today) with a stiff brush that went through the cap. It was edible. Well, maybe not, but we all ate it anyway.

Wow, between sniffing the purple paper and eating the paste, its amazing that we are still alive!

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Pen Pals

Originally Posted by KathieK

SWAK (sealed with a kiss), in reference to how a letter envelope was "sealed"
sealing wax (often used on my letters when I sent them to my pen pals!)

Originally Posted by KathieK

Hmm.. stationery - still used, but on its way out?

As long as there are little girls, there will be pen pals, and stationery which as been SWAK. As a matter of fact, I just bought two boxes of stationery last night for my "big" girls, my daughter and our foreign exchange student. They have promised to send each other "real" mail, because they know that e-mail just isn't the same!

[Billfred]

<off-topic>

Originally Posted by boiler

Constantinople

That's Istanbul, not Constantinople.
</off-topic>

[JaneYoung]

cologne

and it is such a fun word to say and to spell.

Edit: You dotted your stationary with cologne before you put it in the envelope and SWAK'd. Yup. Can't do that with email. Nope.

[65_Xero_Huskie]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

cologne

and it is such a fun word to say and to spell.

Uhm, I use cologne every day (i also wear it)

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

cologne

and it is such a fun word to say and to spell.

Say it like a real German: Köln....

[4throck]

No offense, but a lot of these words are either still used or were only made obsolete recently. I'm 17 and I know/remember/have a lot of these things.