Things that have become obsolete in our lifetime

[cantlogin]

Manual shift transmission linkages on the steering column.

 

[jollystomper]

CoBoL

Not true. A ton of mainframe code - which is still the backbone of many large companies - run it, it works, and the original programmers are retiring at an increasing rate. There is still a demand for the skills. Even to covert it to another language requires understanding how it works.

 

[REWahoo]

Church keys

 

[frank]

my current desktop. enforced obsolescence.

 

[donheff]

CoBoL

I remember learning it at University as part of my finance major. Never used it in the real world.
It was such a pain having to punch holes on the cards, only to have the computer spit out a huge report with all my errors. That put me off computer programming for good

Punch cards may be out but COBOL is still running the world.

 

[JOHNNIE36]

I would beg to differ about the station wagon.... look at the Honda Venza and a few other whatever they are called now.... that is a station wagon if I ever saw one.... just raising it up a bit does not change what it is...

I was kind of surprised myself when we registered our new Toyota Prius V that is classified as a "Station Wagon". Also, if I'm not mistaken, when we owned a Chevy Surburban it was classified a station wagon. Those are still made and wonder how they are classified in todays market. Maybe "large station wagon".

 

[JOHNNIE36]

omni, one or two grocery stores I frequent still ask "paper or plastic"? I would prefer to see plastic grocery bags go by the wayside. Lots of stores are promoting the BYOB (bring your own bag).

 

[LRDave]

Slide rules
TV dials
Drive-In theaters

In the town nearest to where DW and I will be retiring, the ONLY theater is of the drive-in type. As long at it is not too cold or rainy, it is actually pretty nice to attend a movie there! It is usually first-run stuff. You can bring your own food and the non-driver can enjoy a refreshing adult beverage.

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

Typewriters are still useful for government forms and are in use around the world in 2nd/3rd world countries. Not likely to go out of use for another couple of decades.

 

[Koogie]

Manners.... to a large degree.

 

[eytonxav]

The ability to tell non-politically correct jokes in public

 

[ERD50]

Church keys

Hey! I use one almost every day. Most craft beers are not twist-off, and my home-brew is bottled in capped bottles (though I'm putting more and more of it in 'mini-kegs' that fit in a standard non-converted fridge).

I even use the pointy end from time to time for some canned things.


edit/add: Separate from above, but I actually hate the word 'obsolete' as it is too broad-brush to be useful, IMO. There are two very different forms of obsolete - one where the item has fallen out of fashion, or has been commonly replaced by something more cost effective or easier or 'modern', but the item itself is still usable. A slide rule still works, if you know how to use it.

The second form is where the item really can no longer be used in any practical sense. An analog cell phone for example - when the systems went digital and switched off the analog network, the analog phone is what I would call truly obsolete - it really cannot be used as a phone anymore.

I wish that two different words were used for these. Why do we have so many synonyms (yet no synonym for the word 'synonym?), and still so many words with multiple meanings? I thought maybe Esperanto would be better at this, since it was designed to have more regular rules, but I was disappointed to learn that the Esperanto word for 'palindrome' was not spelled the same forwards and backwards - that would have made it easier to remember.


-ERD50

 

[JoeWras]

Cursive writing. (It's not being taught in school any more).

This saddens me.

I was looking at my dad's physics notebook from yesterday. It was from 1942. His writing was astoundingly beautiful. I'm ashamed by my terrible cursive. Even in the 70's cursive was going away as home typewriters became reality.

So, when we read old American documents, we chuckle at the "f" shapes used for "long s" ("congrefs").

Your grandchildren won't chuckle at a few minor changes in cursive usage. They will be bewildered and will just see chicken scratch.

 

[calmloki]

Wood splitting guns. Maybe my dad just liked things that go boom, but it was great entertainment pounding a closed end cylinder packed with black powder and newspaper wadding into the end of a log, joking about the length of fuse to use, and walking to the chosen "safe" spot to wait for the explosion.

 

[Midpack]

Similar thread from last Fall FWIW... http://www.early-retirement.org/for...es-are-already-obsolete-to-you-now-63473.html

 

[RunningBum]

Elevator operators ("Third floor, Ladies' lingerie")
Paper catalogs.

I wish they were, but I still get a few jamming my mail box.

Small paper bags in the produce department, and those large rectanglar scales that the produce clerk would use to weight and price your produce selection.

One of my grocery stores still has the scales. Not the same ones, but these print out a bar code price tag so you can scan it with your hand held scanner so you can check out without emptying your cart, having scanned everything while shopping. Sure they are different, but so are cars and everything else.

Nut shops, candy shops, and bakery shops.

I've seen 2 candy shops, one was a kiosk in a mall and the other counter in a resort hotel. They still exist, maybe just re-sized. And I know that in my old home town there's a decent sized retro candy shop.

Books printed on dead trees.

omni

Books are quite definitely not dead, yet. For some they may be, but even after getting a kindle I've checked hardcopy books out of the library, since their e-book collection is small. And my son still buys hardcopy college textbooks.

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

How about film-based cameras? Though I would say that many of them still take better pictures than digital ones.

 

[easysurfer]

Not true. A ton of mainframe code - which is still the backbone of many large companies - run it, it works, and the original programmers are retiring at an increasing rate. There is still a demand for the skills. Even to covert it to another language requires understanding how it works.

Ah. Mainframes, JCL ... I still kept a couple of old textbooks just in case I need to holster up one last time one day like Garry Cooper in "High Noon"

 

[easysurfer]

Incadescent light bulb. Not totally gone yet, but walking the plank....

 

[Bestwifeever]

Not to mention all the things that came and went during our lifetime, like VHS players and tapes, and multiple generations of floppy disks and drives, dot matrix printers, etc., etc. Blink and you'll miss some of the tech advances.

 

[powerplay]

Service stations that pump your gas, check your oil and clean the windshield.
omni

Not going to be obsolete anytime soon in my state because it is the law. We are not allowed to pump our own gas. Very little oil checking and windshield cleaning though.

 

[powerplay]

Paper grocery bags.

omni

My city has made plastic bags illegal so you either bring your own reusable bag or you get a paper bag at the checkout counter. All grocery stores in the city have a large supply of paper bags.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

Not going to be obsolete anytime soon in my state because it is the law. We are not allowed to pump our own gas. .

One of many things I love about Oregon!!

 

[imoldernu]

Mechanical calculators
Air Raid Blackout shades, car light covers
Hoodsie Cup Movie Star Covers
Yo-Yo Demonstrators outside 5 & 10 cent stores
Planters Peanuts Peanut man
Electric rubber tired busses
Zeppelins
C Rations
Vegetable, Fish, Trash, Rag, Scissors, Junk, Garbage, Bread, Insurance, Tinker (man/men) who came in trucks or horse drawn wagons.
Fourteen Cent theater admission
Penny candy
Coca Cola (open the lid) coolers... w/opener on front. (not coin operated)
Key mounted ice and roller skates.... (double runners)
Wool snow suits and wool bathing suits.
Legal cherry bombs, ladyfingers, salutes
Gillette blue blades
Kerosene and wood kitchen stoves
Treadle singer sewing machines
Tojo, Hitler, Mussolini Telephone pole hate posters
Before school busses walking uphill both ways
Eating/chewing tar from the streets
Free range dogs
All Stores closed on Sunday... no Malls
Kate Smith - National Anthem
Stainless Steel Temporary Crowns... (still have 'em 55 years later)
Metal nib pens and inkwells
Fountain Pens (rubber bladder)
Limited number of brand names in everything from clothes to food, to household goods.
Open bin grocery market - rice, flour, beans etc. Nothing frozen.
Penny change inside Cigarette Packages from machines. ie. Lucky Strike two cents back from the quarter machine.
5 Cent Seeburg Juke Box Players at every booth in local soda shop.
Wax Lips and teeth
Scottie Dog Magnets
Ten cent comic books
Penrod, Tom Swift and "Little People Who Became Great" Books.
Old Radio Shows... no TV
Commercial "Jingles"...
Knickers
Men's Felt Hats
Playing "tops", "horse chestnuts", "stoop tag"
Music Words Sheets
Player Pianos
Carbide Lamps

... just for starters...

 

[imoldernu]

Similar thread from last Fall FWIW... http://www.early-retirement.org/for...es-are-already-obsolete-to-you-now-63473.html

I forgot!