Words we no longer use

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by boiler

Bacteriology

What happened to bacteriology?

Hey Elgin, ever hear Bobby Vinton's 'Sealed With A Kiss' ?
http://www.lyricsdepot.com/bobby-vin...th-a-kiss.html

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by 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.

I loved that in college!!! The guys in the dorm mailroom always knew when I had mail.

[Cynette]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

I loved that in college!!! The guys in the dorm mailroom always knew when I had mail.

Ummm... men wear cologne and women wear perfume. Al, if you were getting cologne-scented letters while you were in college, no wonder the guys in the mailroom made comments about it!

[Al Skierkiewicz]

I thought there was both women's cologne and perfume. At least I remember that quandry when Christmas shopping years ago. They don't make it em like they used to!

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

I thought there was both women's cologne and perfume. At least I remember that quandry when Christmas shopping years ago. They don't make it em like they used to!

There is - far be it from me to create confusion or add to it.

[Steve W]

Mercury thermometers were mentioned. I remember getting mercury from them and at school and rolling it around in our hands. I guess that that explains a lot.

Elgin, can you explain why you have never heard of SWAK?

[artdutra04]

Audio Cassette: Music recorded onto magnetic ribbon enclosed in a plastic case.
Tape deck: Used to play audio cassettes.
Boombox: What people used to carry on their shoulders in public, thinking they were cool.
Streetcar: Electric trolleys (now called light rail trains).
Five and Dime: A convenience store where everything cost either 5¢ or 10¢. (Adjusted for inflation, 5¢ in the 1910's is about $1.00 today)
Pencil lead: The precursor to graphite.
Milkman: The man that would exchange your empty glass milk bottles on your porch for full ones.
Blue laws: When all businesses in Connecticut could not open on Sundays. (Although largely repealed, the sale of alcohol on Sundays in CT is still prohibited.)
Tracking Adjustment: When your VHS tapes became all screwy, you needed this to fix it.
Tin Lizzy: Slang for a Model T Ford.
Motoring: When driving used to be pleasurable. Often associated with pre-Eisenhower Interstate highways, such as Route 66.

Originally Posted by Alexa Stott

Betamax never really even took off, but my dad's friend still swears that Betamax is/was better than VHS. Needless to say, he was extremely disappointed that his Betamax player was stolen.

If you mention Betamax, we can't forget U-matic tapes.

[Cynette]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

I thought there was both women's cologne and perfume. At least I remember that quandry when Christmas shopping years ago. They don't make it em like they used to!

Ok, Al, just to be fair, I looked it up, and by definition, cologne is watered-down perfume or "eau de toilette." So it could be for men or women. But by American convention, cologne is for guys and perfume for the gals!


And Art IV! Since I still have audio casettes and boom boxes in use at my house to play those audio casettes and a casette deck as part of my antiquated stereo system, I really don't think they count yet!!! I also have a cheap VCR and yes it has tracking adjustment on it as well! I'll give you the Five and Dime though, now it is definately the Dollar Store!

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by mocat1530

Ok, Al, just to be fair, I looked it up, and by definition, cologne is watered-down perfume or "eau de toilette." So it could be for men or women.

I can remember a couple of really stinky colognes that women wore - they were of the heavy variety. Not that men's cologne is stinky. Far be it from me...*cough*

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

Blue laws: When all businesses in Connecticut could not open on Sundays. (Although largely repealed, the sale of alcohol on Sundays in CT is still prohibited.)

I protest this entry in the thread. Blue laws is a phrase often heard in South Carolina. Usually in anger when you want to buy something you need on a Sunday morning and are stuck until 1:30. (Or, alternatively, after 6 on Sundays.)

[KathieK]

Hark! - an exclamation my grandmother would say to us kids if we were making too much noise when she was trying to talk on the phone (the big black one with a rotary dial which was part of the party line when I was a kid). It basically meant, "QUIET!" in that context, although it was also used to get our attention. As in, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing".

[whytheheckme]

How about

Gee
as in
Gee Whiz!
or
Gee Whirlicers (dunno spelling on that one)

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by mocat1530

And Art IV! Since I still have audio casettes and boom boxes in use at my house to play those audio casettes and a casette deck as part of my antiquated stereo system, I really don't think they count yet!!! I also have a cheap VCR and yes it has tracking adjustment on it as well! I'll give you the Five and Dime though, now it is definately the Dollar Store!

I recorded tons of music from the radio onto cassettes as a kid, and I listened to the cassettes on a bona fide Walkman (oooh, another one for the lineup!) as recently as seventh grade. I still use VHS tapes for quickly recording television shows for my non-technology-inclined mother, although her VCR no longer has a manual tracking adjustment, as it automagically does it.

Oh how much I remember the joy or being four or five years old and figuring out that the "Tracking Adjustment" buttons on the VCR made the static go away.


Walkman: The original portable music player. Usually consisted of an audio cassette player and an AM/FM radio tuner, although later models substituted the cassettes for audio CDs. Almost entirely replaced by iPods in the middle of the '00s decade.

And a few more I just thought of:

Duck and Cover: Oh no, it's the flash! Quick, duck and cover!
Fallout Shelter: Underground bunkers built in public buildings in the Cold War era from 1940s to the 1960s from fear of an nuclear bomb attack.

[John Gutmann]

Originally Posted by Ogre

Along that same line (bad pun) dose anyone use 'dial tone' anymore? I remember picking up the phone and listening for a dial tome before I dialed, but not anymore now that everyone uses cell phones.

there is still such a thing as a house phone though........You still need to do it if dialing a fax machine or calling somebody on a landline. Though I think it is useless for people like my family to have a house phone. We all have cell phones. My mom just doesn't ever answer it.

Originally Posted by 65_Xero_Huskie

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?)

One of the Firefighters in my deptartment was talking the other day about how his first car he ever owned had a handcrank, and how his one friend broke his wrist starting his own car, and about why the electric starter was placed onto almost every car being sold in the 30's. It was apparently a saftey device, using a hand crank can cause kickback once the engine was started.
Wikipedia seems to agree....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_self_starter
Then they started talking about when gas was .17$ a gallon.

Originally Posted by mocat1530

Carbon copy - the true meaning of the "cc" found at the bottom of documents, from the time when the secretary (another word we no longer use as the person who provides the greatest assistance in an office) would place a sheet of carbon paper between two or more documents as they were typed, producing a duplicate.

You get a Carbon copy anytime you sign a reciept.......

-John

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

Not that men's cologne is stinky. Far be it from me...*cough*

Hai Karate, perhaps? Old Spice?

And John, gas was $0.24/gal when I was in school in the 70's.

How about the Indian Head test pattern broadcast before TV stations started programming for the day. Followed by the National Anthem and station ID. Yes there was a time when TV stations were not on 24/7. For that matter, add 'horizontal hold'. "We control your horizontal and we control your vertical..."