Another Remember When....

[Guest guest]

Remember When...

" Fender skirts! " What a great blast from the past! I hadn't thought about

fender skirts in years. When I was a kid, I considered it such a funny term.

Made me think of a car in a dress.

Thinking about fender skirts started me thinking about other words that quietly

disappear from our language with hardly a notice. Like " curb feelers " and

" steering knobs. "

Since I'd been thinking of cars, my mind naturally went that direction first.

You kids will probably have to find some elderly person to explain some of these

terms to you.

Remember " Continental kits? " They were rear bumper extenders and spare tire

covers that were supposed to make any car as cool as a Lincoln Continental.

When did we quit calling them " emergency brakes? " At some point " parking brake "

became the proper term. But I miss the hint of drama that went with " emergency

brake. "

I'm sad, too, that almost all the old folks are gone who would call the

accelerator the " foot feed. " Here's a phrase I heard all the time in my youth

but never anymore " store-bought. " Of course, just about everything is

store-bought these days. But once it was bragging material to have a

store-bought dress or a store-bought bag of candy.

" Coast to coast " is a phrase that once held all sorts of excitement and now

means almost nothing. Now we take the term " worldwide " for granted. This

floors me.

On a smaller scale, " wall-to-wall " was once a magical term in our homes.

In the '50s, everyone covered their hardwood floors with, wow, wall-to-wall

carpeting! Today, everyone replaces their wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood

floors. Go figure.

When's the last time you heard the quaint phrase " in a family way? "

It's hard to imagine that the word " pregnant " was once considered a little too

graphic, a little too clinical for use in polite company. So we had all that

talk about stork visits and " being in a family way " or simply " expecting. "

Apparently " brassiere " is a word no longer in usage. I said it the other day

and my daughter cackled. I guess it's just " bra " now.

" Unmentionables " probably wouldn't be understood at all.

It's hard to recall that this word was once said in a whisper

" divorce. " And no one is called a " divorcee " anymore. Certainly not a " gay

divorcee. " Come to think of it, " confirmed bachelors " and " career girls " are

long gone, too.

Most of these words go back to the '50s, but here's a pure-'60s word I came

across the other day - " rat fink. " Ooh, what a nasty put-down!

Here's a word I miss - " percolator. " That was just a fun word to say.

And what was it replaced with? " Coffeemaker. " How dull. Mr. Coffee, I blame

you for this.

I miss those made-up marketing words that were meant to sound so modern and now

sound so retro. Words like " DynaFlow " and " ElectraLuxe. " Introducing the 1963

Admiral TV, now with " SpectraVision! "

Food for thought - Was there a telethon that wiped out lumbago? Nobody

complains of that anymore. Maybe that's what castor oil cured, because I never

hear mothers threatening their kids with castor oil anymore.

Some words aren't gone, but are definitely on the endangered list. The one that

grieves me most - " supper. " Save a great word - invite someone to supper -

discuss fender skirts. :-)

~ " We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a

little of each other everywhere. " ~

~ " If I could reach up and hold a star for every time you've made me smile, the

entire evening sky would be in the palm of my hand. "