Very OT: How Old is Grandma?

limey said:

Stay with this -- the answer is at the end -- it will blow
you away... One evening a grandson was talking to his
grandmother about current events. The grandson asked his
grandmother what she thought about the shootings at
schools, the computer age, and just things in general. The
Grandma replied, " Well, let me think a minute, I 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 had yet to walk on the moon. Your
Grandfather 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 I, "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 people who closed
their front doors when 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 the Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches
on our radios. And I don't ever remember any kid blowing
his brains out from 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 store 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. If
you wanted to splurge, you could spend your nickel on
enough stamps to mail one letter and two 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..... and how old do you think I
am ???..... Read on to see -- Pretty scary if you think
about it, and rather sad at the same time.

Grandma is Only 58.
Born in 1946...

Not all of this is correct. There was TV in 1946 and frozen
food, too, but TV was something you saw at the 1939-1940
World's Fair and the choice of frozen food was very limited
and expensive.

Several of my friends who were about twenty years old at the
time, lived with their boy friends, before or instead of
getting married.

Yogurt has existed for a long, long time, probably going
back for several centuries.

Sanka instant coffee was available at the time. And "grass"
was smoked, only it was called "reefers". There was a film
called "Reefer Madness", shown to High School seniors before
graduation, to keep them from starting to smoke the stuff.

--
Margaret Suran Why is it that inside every older person is a
younger person, wondering what the heck happened.

"limey" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Makes for fun reading but there are a few exaggerations.

Penicillin was produced and used during WWII, large amounts
of it went ashore on D-Day 1944.

Nescafé was invented in 1938.

Birds Eye Frosted Foods were first sold to the public in
1930.

Gabby

These sorts of things always bother me. They give the
impression that the good old days were better than life
today. I'm sure that in some ways life was better and in
other ways it was worse. There's so much in here, and I
don't have much time at the moment, but I'll get started and
see where I get.

In 1946, racism was rampant. We love to go on and on about
how great the schools were, but those were great schools for
White people. If you were Black or poor or handicapped or
had a problem learning something that required extra help,
you got the worst possible education and dropped out.

Teen pregnancy was a problem. Your choices were forced bad
marriages, illegal abortion or a life of poverty and
ostracism on the outskirts of society. Rape was more often
than not blamed on the victim. Her life could be ruined
because of it. Rape victims had good reason not to tell
anyone what had happened to her because of the likelihood of
that being worse than telling.

They still had violence in those days. The diseases people
were afraid of were far worse than AIDS. People got
gonorrhea and syphillis somehow

marriage.

Young people may have called older people Mr., Mrs., and
Sir, but there was still plenty of disrespect for elders.
For that matter, not every elder person deserved respect.
I'm thinking of my elementary school teachers. We called
them Miss and Mrs. They were horrible people and horrible
role models.

Before gay-rights and dual careers and group therapy, many
many people were unhappy to the point of alcoholism and
suicide from trying to fit themselves into marriages and
roles that made them miserable.

The line about lives being governed by the Ten
Commandments, good judgment and common sense is so absurd
as not to need comment. Grandma's memory is going. Are we
to believe there was no murder, theft, adultery or bad
decisions in those days? There was corruption back then
too. Read a history book.

Lots of those families who spent time together in the
evenings were miserable in each others' company.

I'm 46.

--Lia

limey said:

Your Grandfather and I got married first and then lived
together. Every family had a father and a mother.

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

Quoted message said:

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.

Quoted message said:

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

Quoted message said:

Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a
Pepsi were all a nickel. If you wanted to splurge, you
could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail one
letter and two postcards.

Quoted message said:

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..... and how old do you think I am ???..... Read on to
see -- Pretty scary if you think about it, and rather sad
at the same time.

Quoted message said:

Grandma is Only 58.
Born in 1946...

limey said:

Your Grandfather and I got married first and then lived
together. Every family had a father and a mother.

And not every family had a mother and a father. Divorce was
available in many areas (my parents were divorced) and there
were families where one or the other parent died.

--
Susan N.

There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who
understand binary and those who do not.

Well, the only thing I can say about my OT post is that at
least we got away from politics. I was sent it in an e-mail
by a friend - so much of it *was* correct that I didn't
check all of it. Just take it for what it was - a light-
hearted post by me that I just thought others might enjoy.
Believe me, I'm a lot older than that 58-year old Grandma
(and probably am in your generation, Margaret), so I'm now
ready to see the funny side of everything. Life's too short.

Dora

On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 10:51:20 -0400, "limey" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Your Grandfather and I got married first and then lived
together. Every family had a father and a mother.

My mom is the same age, exactly. At age 20 she was 2 months
pregnant when she married my dad & was also living with him.
They were divorced 10 years later.

Denise, Brian & Wyatt (May 31, 02)

How much Healthy Choice ice cream can I eat before it's no
longer a healthy choice?

Besides the inaccuracies for the date you give, you also
forget about how long it would take for "Grandma" to grow up
enough to have strong enough memories to retain this depth
of detail-- after all, she would have been a freshman in
high school when Kennedy was elected.

limey said:

Stay with this -- the answer is at the end -- it will blow
you away... One evening a grandson was talking to his
grandmother about current events. The grandson asked his
grandmother what she thought about the shootings at
schools, the computer age, and just things in general. The
Grandma replied, " Well, let me think a minute, I was
born, before television,

Broadcast electronic television in the US started in NYC
(the inaugural broadcast was from the World's Fair and
featured FDR and RCA head David Sarnoff) in the spring of
1939 (at around $700, an RCA Victor receiver cost the same
as a Chevrolet)...the UK was ahead of us, the BBC having
started regular transmissions in 1936, and thousands of sets
had been sold to British consumers by the time WWII broke
out (September 1, 1939). Various forms of broadcast tv had
been around since the late 1920's...the concept of
television was widely known and spoken of in the popular
press...most folks thought it was only a matter of "time"
until tv became common...

Quoted message said:

penicillin,

Penicillin was the "miracle drug" of WWII...that is when it
first became somewhat widely available...

Quoted message said:

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,

Mechanical air conditioning was invented by Carrier in the
early 1910's...it's first use was in printing and textile
and chocolate/confectionary plants. By the 20's it was
used in movie theaters...the Chrysler building (1934) in
NYC was the first centrally air conditioned office
building, and Chrysler Airtemp a/c was installed in the
"21" Club in NYC that same year. Home air conditioning
units (both window and central) were available in the mid
- 30's. Some Pullman railroad cars of the New York Central
Line had air conditioning installed by 1934, and Greyhound
buses had it by 1940. The 1940 Packard was the first car
available with factory - installed a/c; Cadillac and
Chrysler followed in 1941....

The *concept* of air conditioning was widely known and even
enjoyed by some in 1946, like many other things it just took
time for it to become inexpensive enough to become somewhat
widespread.

dishwashers, clothes dryers, and

Quoted message said:

the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air

Automatic dishwashers and clothes dryers were available by
the late 30's...there is a famous Westinghouse movie ad
short of Bette Davis demonstrating a dishwasher c. 1935...

and man had yet to

Quoted message said:

walk on the moon. Your Grandfather and I got married
first and then lived together. Every family had a father
and a mother.

Rates of teenage unwed pregnancies were shockingly high back
in "the day", even by modern standards....

Venereal diseases, prostitution, and out - of - wedlock
pregnancies were a major concern of government back in
the 30's, and things only got much worse with the advent
of WWII...

Quoted message said:

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

I dunno...ever watch any crime melodramas (Jimmy Cagney,
etc.) from the 30's...???

Quoted message said:

We were before gay-rights, computer-dating, dual careers,
daycare centers,

Dual careers and daycare centers were common features of
WWII America....

and group therapy.

Quoted message said:

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 people who closed
their front doors when the evening breeze started.

You'd be surprised by the number of guys who dodged the
draft during WWII....

Quoted message said:

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,

FM radio was available in major metropolitan areas by
1940...it was one of those "future" things that few folks
had but everybody knew was "just around the corner" (like tv
and air conditioning...).

Tape decks using magnetic tape were still in the post WWII
future (Ampex, 1948, and Bing Crosby was the one who pushed
for it's development - he wanted to record his radio shows
in advance for later broadcast instead of doing them live
so's he could devote more time to his golf game...), but
recorders using reels of magnetized wire were available,
even to the consumer willing to pay the high price of such
a thing....

[...]

--
Best Greg

In article <[email hidden]>,

limey said:

Grandma is Only 58.
Born in 1946...

Then she's wrong. She wasn't born before penicillin was
discovered (1928), for a start.

And the Good Old Days were never that good.

Miche

--
If you want to end war and stuff you got to sing loud. --
Arlo Guthrie, "Alice's Restaurant"

Quoted message said:

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

This thing is probably best seen in the light of what seems
to be its history. My father remembers seeing an earlier,
simple version of this in the late 60s or early 70s without
the Grandma-Grandson set-up. (It was set up as a riddle,
with the title "How Old Am I?".)

My older brother says he saw a version of it in the mid 90s
(just after the rash of school shootings) with the set-up.
Given this context, and assuming the general age of
"Grandma" was around sixty ten years ago, many of the
chronological discrepancies aren't so egregious. (The rose-
colored tunnel-vision remains, however.) It also helps
explain the somewhat rambling nature of her discourse. (The
Tommy Dorsey suicide line was probably added around 1985.)

(By the way, notice that "Grandma" doesn't answer the boy's
question. This is probably because the framing device of the
conversation was tacked on later.)

Quoted message said:

The Grandma replied, " Well, let me think a minute, I was
born, before television, penicillin, polio shots, frozen
foods, Xerox, contact lenses, Frisbees and the pill.

Commercial availability of TV - 1939; penicillin - 1941;
frozen foods
- 1930; Xerox - 1906 (xerography - 1949); contact lenses -
1900 (invented 1880); the Pill (1960).

Quoted message said:

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 had yet to walk on
the moon.

The term "credit card" existed in 1890 and there were brass
credit tokens in 1910, but revolving credit via card started
in 1951; ball point pens were invented in 1938 and had
become ubiquitous by 1960; practical a/c, electric
dishwashers and dryers were invented in 1909, 1893 and 1915,
respectively.

Quoted message said:

Your Grandfather 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 I, "Sir"- - and after
I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a
title, "Sir."

Quoted message said:

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

This line was likely added in the early 90s. (Except for the
rich, dual-career households were the majority until the
late 40s. First daycare center: Buffalo, NY - 1900; first
practitioner of group therapy: T. Burrow in 1925 [but the
practice developed extensively treating WWII vets].)

Quoted message said:

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.

Enough has been pointed out about the rosy-vision used here.

Quoted message said:

We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.
Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with
your cousins. Draft dodgers were people who closed their
front doors when the evening breeze started.

These three seem to be added on, due to the change in the
structure of the sentences and the playfulness of the words.
(I must admit to liking the middle one.)

Quoted message said:

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

Another 1985-1995 addition.

Quoted message said:

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

FM was active in major cities by 1942. Plain yogurt was
available in them between the turn of the century and about
1930. The electric typewriter was invented in 1902.

Quoted message said:

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

This puts "Grandma"'s childhood pretty squarely in the
1940s. The Big Band sound was pretty much over as a radio
mainstay by 1950, as was Benny (although he continued to do
his radio show until 1955, his focus on radio was over by
'52). The "President" most known for his radio addresses was
FDR, who died on April 12, 1945.

Quoted message said:

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

Again, a later addition.

Quoted message said:

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.

This would be true for a high-schooler in the early-40s or
before. By the fifties, it was common slang for kissing.

Quoted message said:

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

Come on-- instant coffee was commercially available in 1916.

Quoted message said:

We had 5 &10-cent store 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.

National City Lines had a judgment placed against them in
1949 for effectively destroying the nation's major streetcar
lines. The price of a streetcar was generally higher than a
nickel by 1935. The Bell system converted their nickel
payphones to dime machines between 1951-1961.

Quoted message said:

If you wanted to splurge, you could spend your nickel on
enough stamps to mail one letter and two 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.

Ah, the vagaries of slang. The next section was added
probably around 1990. (However, "coke" was slang for cocaine
as early as 1915 and was also a term for a coal byproduct,
and "pot" had a number of slang meanings ranging from "girl"
to "carbeurator" to "toilet" to "dial" to "poker winnings
for a particular hand".)

Quoted message said:

"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.

"Aides" would be helpers, "chip" is another poker term.
From what I understand, the term "software" was invented in
1960 or so.

Quoted message said:

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.....
and how old do you think I am ???.....

Well, for everything "Grandma" said to be literally true,
in 2004 the old girl would have to be 102 (to be born
before the invention of the electric dishwasher). For it to
be generally true in terms of a typical whitebread
middleclass life and based on other clues, she would
probably have been born between 1925 and 1935: call it
1930, which would make her 74. (Which might explain why she
doesn't mention the Depression, having only been a small
child during the worst of
it.) I can't imagine anyone born after 1940 who would
espouse this drivel, or forget to mention the great
positive social changes started during WWII which
expanded through the 50's, 60s and 70s.

In its original @ 1970 form, the "How old am I?" person
would have been in his or her 40s (if one wasn't too much of
a stickler for precise detail), which would have been a
shocker for an average teenager who read it at that time.

"Julia Altshuler" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:gz%xc.820$zz.56@attbi_s04...
: Are we to believe there was no murder, theft, adultery or
: bad decisions in those days? There was
corruption
: back then too. Read a history
book.................................
: I'm 46.
--Lia
:

lia, you can believe whatever you want.
ime, however, those were simpler times!

rosie i'm 55.

"Julia Altshuler" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:gz%xc.820$zz.56@attbi_s04...

Quoted message said:

These sorts of things always bother me. They give the
impression that the good old days were better than life
today. I'm sure that in some ways life was better and in
other ways it was worse. There's so much in here, and I
don't have much time at the moment, but I'll get started
and see where I get.

Thanks Lia, you said everything I wanted to say except
better =)

-Jay

Margaret Suran said:

limey said:

Stay with this -- the answer is at the end -- it will
blow you away...

(snippage)

Quoted message said:

Not all of this is correct. There was TV in 1946 and
frozen food, too, but TV was something you saw at the 1939-
1940 World's Fair and the choice of frozen food was very
limited and expensive.

Several of my friends who were about twenty years old at
the time, lived with their boy friends, before or instead
of getting married.

Yogurt has existed for a long, long time, probably going
back for several centuries.

Sanka instant coffee was available at the time. And
"grass" was smoked, only it was called "reefers". There
was a film called "Reefer Madness", shown to High School
seniors before graduation, to keep them from starting to
smoke the stuff.

(snort) I remember seeing that film, Reefer Madness. Yes, of
course if you smoke "grass" you're going to turn into a
floosy and lose control and do

was smoking the stuff in the early '70's.

My grandparents, who were straight off the boat from
Scotland in 1921 - they saw it all. Horse drawn carriages
and gaslights to cars and electricty, telephones. I don't
have to refer back to 1946 (which is when my long lost/now
regained love was born) to know what went on back then. I
hear it from my parents and heard it from my grandparents.
I'll be 44 on 7/26 but I sure feel as though I'd lived way
back when, several times. Nothing surprises me.

Jill

Margaret Suran <[email hidden]> got [censored] and typed
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

limey said:

Stay with this -- the answer is at the end -- it will
blow you away... One evening a grandson was talking to
his grandmother about current events. The grandson asked
his grandmother what she thought about the shootings at
schools, the computer age, and just things in general.
The Grandma replied, " Well, let me think a minute, I 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 had yet to walk on
the moon. Your Grandfather 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 I,
"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 people who closed their front doors when 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 the Big Bands, Jack
Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios. And I
don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out from
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 store 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. If you wanted
to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps
to mail one letter and two 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..... and how old do you think I am ???..... Read on
to see -- Pretty scary if you think about it, and rather
sad at the same time.

Grandma is Only 58.
Born in 1946...

Not all of this is correct. There was TV in 1946 and
frozen food, too, but TV was something you saw at the 1939-
1940 World's Fair and the choice of frozen food was very
limited and expensive.

Absolutely fascinating.

Quoted message said:

Several of my friends who were about twenty years old at
the time, lived with their boy friends, before or instead
of getting married.

I love it.

Quoted message said:

Yogurt has existed for a long, long time, probably going
back for several centuries.

According to The Nanny, Fran's mom invented frozen yogurt in
the 1950s but was never marketed <huge grin>

Quoted message said:

Sanka instant coffee was available at the time. And
"grass" was smoked, only it was called "reefers". There
was a film called "Reefer Madness", shown to High School
seniors before graduation, to keep them from starting to
smoke the stuff.

AHA! I knew it. They all did the same things we've done but
it was much

had (all we can count) 7 husbands. She made marrying well an
artform in Illinois. I can recall a comment made by a member
of Congress stating that she is a unique individual. Makes
me wonder... I need to call her.

Michael
--
Deathbed statement...

"Codeine . . . bourbon." ~~Tallulah Bankhead, actress, d.
December 12, 1968

Julia Altshuler said:

These sorts of things always bother me. They give the
impression that the good old days were better than life
today. I'm sure that in some ways life was better and in
other ways it was worse. There's so much in here, and I
don't have much time at the moment, but I'll get started
and see where I get.

Well said. It's ironic that this rosy picture of the world
was posted on Usenet as well. No Usenet in 1946...

--
Tony (44)

Hark! I heard [email hidden] say:

Quoted message said:

limey said:

Your Grandfather and I got married first and then lived
together. Every family had a father and a mother.

And not every family had a mother and a father. Divorce
was available in many areas (my parents were divorced) and
there were families where one or the other parent died.

Yup -- the original post was cute and all, but not
very accurate.

My grandmother (born 1910) was divorced, and lived with her
second husband before she married him. *Shrug* She was still
an excellent cook who taught me to love artichokes, smoked
oysters, and a good steak:

Olive-Cheese Puffs

2 C. grated cheddar cheese ½ C. soft margarine 1 C. flour ½
tsp. salt ¼ tsp. pepper 1 tsp. paprika Dash cayenne pepper
Stuffed Green Olives

Mix well, mold 1 tsp. around a stuffed olive. Bake 15 min.
at 450° F.

--
J.J. in WA (Change COLD to HOT for e-mail) ~ mom, vid
gamer, novice cook ~ ..fish heads, fish heads, eat
them up, yum!

"Margaret Suran" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Several of my friends who were about twenty years old at
the time, lived with their boy friends, before or instead
of getting married.

I always knew you were part of the rebel crowd!

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Sanka instant coffee was available at the time. And
"grass" was smoked, only it was called "reefers".

!!!! Margaret!!! Your rfc Innocent image has been tarnished
!!!! forever! Why
oh why am I so shocked that you would know grass was smoked
*and* called reefers! Of course, if Barb were around she
would probably chastise me for my naivity :-).

rona (repeating, "Margaret is an innocent, Margaret is an
innocent" over and over again)

--
***For e-mail, replace .com with .ca Sorry for the
inconvenience!***

Gregory Morrow said:

You'd be surprised by the number of guys who dodged the
draft during WWII.

This was does surprise me. How did they go about it? What
sorts of excuses were there? How did one beat the system?
I'd thought everyone pretty much signed up and went.
Thinking about it now, I believe it. I guess I never
thought about it.

--Lia

Margaret Suran said:

limey wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Well, let me think a minute, I 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.

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Grandma is Only 58.
Born in 1946...

Not all of this is correct. There was TV in 1946 and frozen
food, too, but TV was something you saw at the 1939-1940
World's Fair and the choice of frozen food was very limited
and expensive.

Several of my friends who were about twenty years old at
the time, lived with their boy friends, before or instead
of getting married.

Yogurt has existed for a long, long time, probably going
back for several centuries.

Sanka instant coffee was available at the time. And
"grass" was smoked, only it was called "reefers". There
was a film called "Reefer Madness", shown to High School
seniors before graduation, to keep them from starting to
smoke the stuff.

Penicillin was discovered in 1929, but not widely used as an
antibiotic 'til WW II (1939-45).

Credit cards in their present plastic form are relatively
recent, but Western Union issued metal 'discount' cards in
1914, and there were many metal charge cards by the mid-late
30's. Charge *accounts* are as old as commerce.

Willis Haviland Carrier received a patent for 'Apparatus for
Treating Air' in 1906.

A hand-crank 'dishwasher' was presented at the 1893 world's
fair, 'though practical, electric, home appliances didn't
appear 'til the 50s.

Inflation isn't era-specific.

When she was born, the average price of gasoline was 21
cents a gallon. By the time Grandma was old enough to
drive (1962), it was 31 cents. Perhaps Grandma's memory
is slipping.

Tommy Dorsey died in 1957 when Grandma was 11. His popular
radio broadcasts were well in the past, along with most of
the "big band" era performers'. Grandma might have
listened to Elvis, whose "Heartbreak Hotel" was a #1 hit
for 8 weeks in 1956. Rock&Roll was the popular music of
her teen years. FM broadcasting was begun in the 30s and
by the mid-late 50s was heard all over the US from
hundreds of stations. (The first affordable [$50]
transistor radio was for sale in 1954.)

When Grandma was using 3-cent stamps to mail a letter, she
was 12 or younger.

The non-technological issues aren't era-specific. If Grandma
thinks she remembers everyone living like the Nelson family,
she is wrong.

Technological change has indeed accelerated at an
unprecedented rate in the past 100 years or so. For all of
human history until the mid-19th century, travel was limited
to walking speed (1-4mph) or horse power (10-15mph over
distance). Invention of the railroad, automobile, airplane,
supersonic jet, and spacecraft boosted that to 30, 50, 100,
800, and then 20,000 mph or more in an astonishingly short
time. The changes commercial electrification brought
starting in the 1890s would be impossible to comprehend 150
years ago.