[Nfbmo] Fw: A little long, but a good thing to read.

[DanFlasar at aol.com]

This post claims that the grandmother was born in  1952 and then goes 
through a list of things she didn't grow up with.    It's just not true.
    I've seen this go around so many times that I can't  really let it go 
another time without clarifying it:
 
 
television    television was invented in 1938 and made  significant inroads 
into homes in the early 1950s.
penicillin 'discovered' in  1928, it was purified and released in 1940 - in 
common use in WWII
polio  shots   Bogus - the early 50s were when polio shots were  introduced.
frozen foods   mostly  true
Xerox     True, though the electorstatic process was  known much earlier, 
but not in general use
contact lenses     There were glass contacts available but they were 
expensive and painful -  true
Frisbees    ...  ever heard of a  discus?
the pill        True, not till the  60s though there were trials in the 50s

credit  cards      Diner's Card was introduced in the mid-50s,  as were 
department store cards
laser beams or ...   true -  lasers were discovered in the early 60s
ball-point  pens      Wrong - they were in use by the RAF in 1941  and went 
on sale in 1945/  O ised the,om the 50s - they were given out as  
advetising gimmicks 
Man had not yet  invented:
pantyhose         likely  true
air conditioners     wrong - invented much earlier  but not in common use 
till the 50s in stores and homes much  later  
dishwashers   wrong again  they were available in  modern kitchens in the 
50s
clothes dryers    wrong again -  they were available in the 50s
and the clothes were hung out to dry in the  fresh air and   - some still do
man hadn't yet walked on the  moon.   true  first moonwalk in 1969/

Your Grandfather and  I got married first, and then lived together.  
undoubtedely true
Every  family had a father and a mother.    except for those whose  father 
died in the war or the divorcees
We were before  gay-rights,   Yes - it was perfectly okay to beat  
homosexuals up for any reason
computer-dating,   True
dual careers, ...   uh... ask Rosie the Riveter - a  lot of women never 
went back to the home after WWII
daycare centers,    true
and  group therapy.   No idea
Our lives were governed by the Ten  Commandments, - as long as you were a 
Christian and/or believed in  God.  Plenty of atheists, agnostics as well as 
Buddhist, Taoists,  Confusionists, Shintoists, Hindus and Muslims, not to 
mention Mormons. But no  Scientologists!
 
good judgment,   ... hopefully
and common  sense.   ... as long as  you agreed with the conventional  
wisdom.

We were taught to know the difference between right and  wrong  ...  as 
people still are
 
 and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions ... except  for 
owning up to lynching,m segregation, spousal abuse and smearing the  
reputations of trade unionists during the anti-American hearings.


Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger  
privilege.  True then, true now

Draft dodgers were those who closed  front doors as the evening breeze 
started.   - completely untrue -  term had been in use since the civil war.  And 
there indeed were  conscientious objectors on religious and moral grounds 
throughout WWI and  WWII   - Quakers and 7th Day Adventists as well as 
pacifists.

condominiums.   Probably right - the idea still sounds  bizarre

We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CD's,   true
 electric typewriters  ... nope, they began to emerge in the  later 50s
yogurt,   ... unless you went to those strange and rare 'health  food' 
stores
or guys wearing earrings.   - just pirates
We listened to Big  Bands, Jack Benny  ... sorry this whole thing is about 
10 years out of  date.  Jack Benny left the radio in the late 40s, though 
Big Bands are  still around.  
 
 and the President's speeches on our radios... These began to be  carried 
on TV in the early 50s - they are still carried on radio
And I don't  ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to 
Tommy Dorsey...  
    Lawrence Welk or Mantovani, perhaps....
If  you saw anything with 'Made in Japan' on it, it was junk.  True till 
the  70s - at least for cars
The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your  school exam.   - 
nope it's an old term traceable to the 20s
Pizza  Hut,   ... true 
McDonald's,    First McDonald's were in CA in the  mid=50s.  They were 
common by 1958
 and instant coffee were unheard of.  Nope - instant coffee was a  WWII 
spin-off
We had 5 &10-cent stores where you could actually buy  things for 5 and 10 
cents   - true, and I miss them!
nickel  Ice-cream cones,  True
nickel phone calls,    True, but not for long
rides on a streetcar,   Streetcars had disappeared from most  cities by 
1958 - buses took over at the same time as the rise of car ownership  in the 
early 50s
 and a Pepsi were all a nickel.   true
And if you didn't  want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough 
stamps to mail 1 letter  and 2  postcards. - true, but email was *really* 
expensive!
You  could buy a new Ford Coupe for $600, but who could afford one?   Okay, 
 this is something out of the 40s!   Very out of date for the  50s
Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon. - Actually, I saw it  cheaper 
in the 60s but true
In my day:
"grass" was mowed, - still  is
"coke" was a cold drink,  - still is
"pot" was something your  mother cooked in and  - still is
"rock music" was your grandmother's  lullaby.   - Nope.  Rock music 
originated from the blues and  moved into white popular music in the early 50s - 
see Carl Perkins and  Elvis Presley
"Aids" were helpers in the Principal's office, - Yep - AIDS  didn't show up 
until the mid '80s
"chip" meant a piece of wood or ice that  the ice man brought, l- Pleas!!  
Icemen had disappeared in the30s!

"hardware" was found in a hardware store and.   - still  is
"software" wasn't even a word.     true 
And we  were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a 
husband to  have a baby...
um...... she didn't actually need to have a *husband* then either..
 
 
How old do you think she is?   Given the numerous anachronisms in  this 
post, she would have to have been born in the late 30s.   This  whole thing is 
about 15 years out of date.  And I think I read it 20 years  ago and the 
lady was born in 1935


I bet you have this old lady in mind. You are in for a  shock!    Nope
to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same  
time.
Scary no, sad, depends on how you remember the  50s.


This woman would be only 59 years old, Born in 1952.


THE YOUNG ONES WON'T BELIEVE IT     - I'm 62 and I  don't buy it either.



I get that this is intended to exhibit  how the culture has changed, for 
the better and the worse in so many ways, but  it doesn't ring true for a lot 
of people..   Human nature hasn't  changed at all.
    And, aside from the anachronisms in the above list, it  may very well 
be true that this sweet young lady (I'm still older, damn it!) did  see the 
world that way, then she was blessed.  And I guess I saw the world  that way 
too.  Things change - but as always we depended on each other then  and we 
still do.
 
      And someday, our grandkids will send  telepathic iMails about how 
they grew up before you could get 3D TV in the home,  that you could get music 
from something called the web, there were only two  policial parties in the 
US and there used to be something called winter, and  people only had one 
flying car per home.
 
Dan
Dan