Meives Loc: FORT LAUDERDALE

This may be old to you, but I just saw it. Feel free to add your lost words.


FENDER SKIRTS AND SUPPER
I know some of you will not understand this message, but I bet you know someone who might. I came across this phrase yesterday. 'FENDER SKIRTS'


A term I haven't heard in a long time, and thinking about 'fender skirts' started me thinking
about other words that quietly disappear from our language with hardly a notice ike 'curb feelers'


And 'steering knobs.' (AKA) 'suicide knob,' 'neckers knobs.'

Since I'd been thinking of cars, my mind naturally went that direction first.
Any kids will probably have to find some older person over 50 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.' Many today do not even know what a clutch is or that the dimmer
switch used to be on the floor. For that matter, the starter was down there too.




Didn't you ever wait at the street for your daddy to come home, so you could ride the
'running board' up to the house?


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 his or her hardwood floors with, wow, wall-to-wall carpeting!
Today, everyone replaces their wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors. Go figure.



When was 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 cracked up. I guess it's just 'bra' now. 'Unmentionables' probably wouldn't be understood at all.
I always loved going to the 'picture show,' but I considered 'movie' an
affectation.



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 'Coffee maker.' 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 'Dyna Flow' and 'Electrolux' and 'Frigidaire'.
Introducing the 1963 Admiral TV, now with 'Spectra Vision!'



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 kids with Castor Oil anymore.



Some words aren't gone, but are definitely on the endangered list. The one that grieves me most is 'supper.' Now everybody says 'dinner.' Save a great word.
Invite someone to supper. Discuss fender skirts.


Someone forwarded this to me. I thought some of us of a 'certain age' would remember most of these.
Just for fun, pass it along to others of 'a certain age.'

If you aren’t of a certain age, you must know someone who is.

n3eg Loc: West coast USA

I remember reading a manual for a car once and saw the "emergency brake" pulled the rear brake pads toward the drum on the opposite side from the hydraulics. So it was a mechanical backup for the hydraulic system. As for today's cars, who knows.

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

Dag-nabit! Now I just feel old!

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

From the pen of Ed Roth ...

Rat Fink

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

I had one that the emergency brake was a collar of pads around the drive shaft that squeezed together.. Don't remember what the car was.

Bangee5 Loc: Louisiana

How about "dimmer switch", that button or knob on the floor board next to the left panel to dim "head lamps" instead of headlights. Another, starter button to crank the engine.

Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

"Big Daddy" Ed Roth! Yessss.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

or how those metal dashboards used to gleam!!

Bruce M. Loc: Longueuil, Quebec, CANADA

FENDER SKIRTS AND SUPPER

Fender Skirts 2 types Long and Fitted, served to ensure the body panels adjacent to them rusted evenly.

Emergency vs. Parking.
After driving for 35 years, I failed my driving test in England, because I failed to apply the Parking Brake (User Manual Calls it an Emergency Brake)and I failed to convince the examiner that he was incorrect and did not understand the English language. I am a Canadian and I was driving a German automobile. The examiner was a Pakastani. Where's the U.N. when you need it????

jstar Loc: Western MA

My mother grew up on a farm in northern Canada. They have breakfast in the morning, dinner at about 1 pm, supper in the evening, and at 9pm, they eat lunch, which is anything (and everything) in the fridge.

Bruce M. Loc: Longueuil, Quebec, CANADA

Remember Cyberion, one eyed 2 Blown Buick engines?

Rat Fink Big Ed R.I.P.

relie Loc: Western Massachusetts

Chrysler Cars had these emergency brakes.

Bruce M. Loc: Longueuil, Quebec, CANADA

Sorry folks, Mysterion was the car.

hannaco Loc: People's Republic of California

Then there was the push button transmission.

UP-2-IT Loc: RED STICK, LA

Long live the turbo-hydromatic transmition, in the coupe that had the chopped top with cheery bombs. It sure was sharp with the baby moons. No spinners for that one.
Oh Crap, sorry had a brain fart!