Remember 1957

Fender Skirts and other great words

I came across this phrase in a book 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.

Like "curb feelers" and "steering knobs a.k.a. necking knobs."  Since I'd been thinking of cars, my mind naturally went that direction first.  Any kids will probably have to find some elderly 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"

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 "world wide" 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's 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 "DynaFlow" and "Electrolux." Introducing the 1963 Admiral TV, now with "SpectraVision!"

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.

The following comments were made in the year 1957:

(1) "I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, its going to be impossible to buy a weeks groceries for $20.00."
 
(2) "Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long when $5,000 will only buy a used one."
 
(3) "If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. A quarter a pack is ridiculous."
 
(4) "Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter?"
 
(5) "If they raise the minimum wage to $1, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store."
 
(6) "When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 29 cents a gallon. Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage,"
 
(7) "Kids today are impossible. Those ducktail hair cuts make it impossible to stay groomed. Next thing you know, boys will be wearing their hair as long as the girls,"
 
(8) "I'm afraid to send my kids to the movies any more. Ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying damn in "Gone With The Wind", it seems every new movie has either hell or damn in it."
 
(9) "I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century. They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas."
 
(10) "Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if someday that they will be making more than the President."
 
(11)  "I never thought I'd see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now"
 
(12) "It's too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet."
 
(13) "It won't be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work."
 
 
(15) "I'm just afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business."
 
(16) "Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes.. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to Congress."
 
(17) "The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on."
 

(18)  "I guess taking a vacation is out of the question now days. It costs nearly $15.00 a night to stay in a hotel"
 
(19) "No one can afford to be sick any more, $35.00 a day in the hospital is too rich for my blood."