tiger1640 Loc: Michigan

How Old is Grandma?




















Stay with this -- the answer is at the end. It will blow you away.
One evening a grandson was talking to his grandmother about current events.
The grandson asked his grandmother what she thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general.

The Grandmother replied, "Well, let me think a minute, I was born before:
' television
' penicillin
' polio shots
' frozen foods
' Xerox
' contact lenses
' Frisbees and
' the pill
There were no:
' credit cards
' laser beams or
' ball-point pens
Man had not yet invented:
' pantyhose
' air conditioners
' dishwashers
' clothes dryers
' and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and
' man hadn't yet walked on the moon
Your Grandfather and I got married first, and then lived together. Every family had a father and a mother.
Until I was 25, I called every man older than me, "Sir."
And after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, "Sir."
We were before gay-rights, computer-dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy.
Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense.
We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.
Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege.
We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.
Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.
Draft dodgers were those who closed front doors as the evening breeze started.
Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends -not purchasing condominiums.
We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CD's, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings.
We listened to Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios.
And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey.
If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan ' on it, it was junk.
The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam.
Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.
We had 5 &10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents.
Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel.
And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards.
You could buy a new Ford Coupe for $600, but who could afford one?
Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon.
In my day:
' "grass" was mowed,
' "coke" was a cold drink,
' "pot" was something your mother cooked in and
' "rock music" was your grandmother's lullaby.
' "Aids" were helpers in the Principal's office,
' "chip" meant a piece of wood,
' "hardware" was found in a hardware store and.
' "software" wasn't even a word.



And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby.
No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation gap.
How old do you think I am?
I bet you have this old lady in mind. You are in for a shock!
Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same time.
Are you ready????? This woman would be only 59 years old,Born in 1952.
GIVES YOU SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT. PASS THIS ON TO THE OLD ONES.
THE YOUNG ONES WOULDN'T BELIEVE IT. Love a story with a happy ending, don't you!!

Pepper Loc: Planet Earth Country USA

Much of this just isn't so, for example Penicillin has been in use since the early 40s and I don't know the specific date but television was readily availble again in the early 40s...just sayin

Lupine Loc: SF Bay Area

Same thing for dishwashers, clothes dryers, A/C and ball point pens. TV dinners didn't hit the market until the mid-50's, but frozen food has been commercially available since the 1930's. Yogurt is almost as old as human history and men have been wearing earrings for almost as long.

Grandma must have lived pretty far out in the sticks. ;)

JimH Loc: Western South Jersey, USA

Grandma's list of things they had in 'the good old days' was missing a few:

1) Negroes sat in the back of the bus, and didn't eat at the same restaurants as whites, or drink from the same water fountains. Or go to the same schools. Or use the same 5 and 10 cent stores.
2) Women died having abortions.
3) We were genuinely afraid of a nuclear holocaust. And came really, really close in October 1962.
4) Not all families had a mother and a father - we just shut the orphans, disabled, and 'different' kids up in asylums.

jolly1

Lupine, you too are incorrect because the original post was referring to home use, not commercial use.
There were very large, very noisy, dishwashers in large commercial establishments, such as restaurants, hospitals, military bases, etc., but not in private homes or aparements.
Same with clothes dryers. A/C in the home consisted of damp cheese cloth hung in open windows until after the Korean War.
Ball point pens made their appearance about the same time.
Frozen food was available to commercial grocery stores, hospitals, the military since the late '30's, but not to the ordinary housewife, in small packages. Again that came in the early '50's.

jolly1

Television was developed in the early '20's. My father saw one of the first test units in operation, in New York City, in 1924.
But they did not become "readily available" to the general public until the late '40's, and even then most of us had to watch TV through a Department Store window. My family got our first TV set while I was in Korea in 1951, and it was a rental at eight dollars a week.

Dean Sturgis

This list has been posted for many years without any changing the 59 year age. This is the first time I see the year i.e 1952. As many have pointed out many of these things were available in 1952 maybe for commercial use or my the well to do even if the majority of consumers did not have them yet. Frozen food was developed, but for general use had to wait until enough people had freezer big enough to hold more than a tray of ice cubes & a quart of ice cream.
By 1952 the price of a car was more than $600, and gasoline over 0.11 per gallon.

dsturgis

HEART Loc: God's Country - COLORADO

Dang - you guys ruin a perfectly good story! (Where's my channel changer...enough already!)

jolly1

picturedude Loc: Yosemite natl. park, Ca.

That's for damned sure. I'll bet you didn't know you'd be tested when you posted this.

Chuy Loc: OUT OF TOWN

They just don't get it do they Tiger?

rayford2 Loc: New Bethlehem, PA

A NEW Ford coupe for $600 in 1952? I don't think so.
There's lots of things Grandma may not have had nor experienced in 1952 but many of them did, in fact, exist and were available to the general public at that time.

Fezz Loc: Whidbey Island Washington

I can remember when "Making Out" was going on long before 1952 and had nothing to do with school exams!

Hal81 Loc: Bucks County, Pa.

My 50 Ford cost me $2000. $600 Wow ! I guest I was robbed.