Thursday, August 14, 2008

I'm the August Featured Relative of the Month


Today’s Riddle
(answer at the bottom)
I first heard this riddle from my grandmother when I was a little girl, so it‘s a very old one:
You throw away the outside, cook the inside, eat the outside and throw away the inside. What is it?

Featured Relative of the Month -- Me!!
Being born in August meant I always knew I was getting school supplies and clothes for my birthday. Yay, a pencil case!

As an adult, any large purchase made around the time of my birthday counted as a present. I remember at least twice getting new car tires.

Photo: 1946, 4 years old

The following is from the Internet (where else?). I’ve made some additions and changes.

I Was Born In 1942 B.C. (Before Computers) Grampy, too.
I was born in 1942, the first full year of World War II. It was before television, before penicillin, before polio shots, frozen food (except ice cream), plastic, Xerox, contact lenses or Frisbees.

I was born before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams or ballpoint pens; before pantyhose, dishwashers, clothes dryers, electric blankets, air conditioners, permanent-press clothes -- and my children were born before man walked on the moon, handheld calculators or home computers. Spam came in a can, not in a computer.

In my time, rabbits were not Volkswagons. Designer jeans were scheming girls named Jean, and having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.

‘Fast’ food was what you ate during Lent, a 'Big Mac' was an oversized raincoat, and outer space was the back of the movie theater.

I was before Polaroid cameras or disposable diapers. Gay meant happy. I was before day care centers, group therapy or nursing homes. I didn’t have FM radio, cassette tapes, electric typewriters, artificial hearts, word processors, yogurt, and the only guys wearing earrings were pirates in stories and movies. ‘Time sharing’ meant togetherness - not computers or condominiums; a chip was a piece of wood; hardware was stuff sold at a hardware store, and software wasn't a word yet.

In the 1940s, "Made in Japan" meant junk, and "making out" referred to how you did on your exam. Pizza, McDonald's and instant pudding weren’t heard of yet.

I hit the scene when there were 5 & 10 cent stores where they sold lots of things for 5 or 10 cents. Ice cream cones sold for a nickel, or a dime for 2 scoops. For a nickel you could also ride a bus, make a phone call, buy a bottle of soda or enough stamps to mail one letter and two postcards. A movie ticket cost ten cents, you could stay all day if you wanted to watch the double feature again, and there were cartoons and a newsreel before the main feature.

You could buy a new Chevy coupe for about $600, but who could afford one? A pity, because gas was 11 cents a gallon.

In my day, cigarette smoking was considered ‘fashionable’ (meaning recommended on radio and magazine ads by doctors and movie stars), grass was mowed, Coke was a cold drink and pot was a pan you cooked in. Rock music was a grandma's lullaby and Aids were helpers in the Principal's office.

Toothpaste tubes were made of metal, radios had tubes in them that had to warm up for several minutes before it would work, cars had knobby dashboards made of unpadded steel, and there were no seatbelts.

"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest, having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot, taking drugs meant the orange-flavored chewable aspirin your mother gave you when you were sick.

Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-moe", mistakes corrected by simply exclaiming, "Do Over!", catching fireflies in a jar could happily occupy an entire evening, and getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.

Other people born in 1942 include singers Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Bobby Rydell, Michael Nesmith and Paul McCartney, Mousketeer Annette Funicello, author Michael Crichton, actor Harrison Ford, boxer Muhammed Ali, and Barack Obama’s mother.

Riddle answer: An ear of corn

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

No Way!
I thought the craziest was toothpaste in a metal tube! How do you get it out?
And 11 cent gas would be nice.
Very nice blog post, and I hope you have a happy birthday!

Anonymous said...

You got me on the riddle.
Happy Birthday from your

Two-Tired spouse, or was it four tires?

By the way, computers are an inspired invention to do genealogy.

I look forward to the next episode.
from "genealogy assistant"

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday!

I never knew so much about the way the world worked back then. History classes leave so much to be desired. Thank you for sharing all that wonderful information! I'm sure you miss the Good Old Days.
Congratulations on a very nice post.

Love,
B