rogerl Loc: UK (Harrogate, North Yorkshire)

We Are Survivors (for those born Before 1940. ..)

We were born before television, before penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses, videos and the pill. We were before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and ballpoint pens, before dish¬washers, tumble driers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip-dry clothes ... and before man walked on the moon.

We got married first and then lived together (how quaint can you be?). We thought fast food' was what you ate in Lent, a 'Big Mac' was an oversized raincoat and `crumpet' we had for tea. We existed before house husbands, computer dating and sheltered accommodation was where you waited for a bus.

We were before day care centres, group homes and disposable nappies. We never heard of FM radio, tape decks, artificial hearts, word processors, or young men wearing earrings. For us 'time sharing' meant togetherness, a 'chip' was a piece of wood or fried potato, 'hardware' meant nuts and dolts and 'software' wasn't a word.

Before 1940 ‘Made in Japan' mean junk the term 'making out' referred to how you did in your exams, 'stud' was something that fastened a collar to a shirt and going all the way' meant staying on a double-decker bus to the terminus. In our day, cigarette smoking was fashionable; grass' was mown, ‘coke' was kept in the coalhouse, a ‘joint' was a piece of meat you ate on Sundays and ‘pot' was something you cooked in. 'Rock Music' was a fond mother's lullaby, 'Eldorado' was an ice¬ cream, a gay person' was the life and soul of the party, while 'aids' just meant beauty treatment or help for someone in trouble.

We who were born before 1940 must be a hardy bunch when you think of the way in which the world has changed and the adjustments we have had to make. No wonder there is a generation gap today ... BUT
By the grace of God... we have survived!

NOTLguy Loc: Niagara on the Lake, Ontario

And may you live to see many more "cute changes" to the English language.

Cheers

viscountdriver Loc: East Kent UK

This is all correct except perhaps 'crumpet'.We in the RAF had a different idea what that was.

Add Loc: S.W.Florida

And you survived WW II and the "Blitz".

tony336 Loc: Lincolnshire .England.

Well I was born before the war and lived in London I was only a nipper when Hitler bombed me in the blitz and again when he got me with a V1 flying bomb! I suspect it was personal ! Anyway I survived all that only to see the country I loved turned into a haven for those who would kill me now . I am not sure anything is better but we are a dying breed .