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Where Do Words go when the Retire?



I haven't thought about "fender skirts" in years. When I was a kid, I considered it such a funny term...Made me think of a car in a dress.

Thinking about "fender skirts" started me thinking about other words that quietly disappear from our language with hardly a notice.?



Like "curb feelers" and "suicide 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."



Did 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 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'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.



It's hard to recall that this word was once said in a whisper -"divorce." And no one is called a "divorcee" anymore. Certainly not a "gay divorcee." Come to think of it, "confirmed bachelors"and "career girls" are long gone, too.



I always loved going to the "picture show," but I considered "movie" an affectation.



Most of these words go back to the '50s, and before, 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? "Coffeemaker." 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 their kids with castor oil anymore.



Some words aren't gone, but are definitely on the endangered list. ?The one gravely in danger - "supper. Now everybody says "dinner." Save a great word. Invite someone to supper. Discuss fender skirts.

We kept food in the cooler or the icebox,

"fender skirts"

"curb feelers"

"suicide knobs."

Suicide Doors, too

"Continental kits"

Had a suicide knob on my 50 Chevy loved it. What about "White Walls" on tires, and "Shifts on the Column". Those were the good ol days...:driving:

Oh and "Wind Wings" that extra window on the car you would open, kinda of a triangle window with its own handle to open so you didn't have to open the whole window which usually went the whole length of the car door.

[QUOTE]"suicide knobs." [/QUOTE]

Accountable wrote: "fender skirts"



"curb feelers"



"suicide knobs."



Suicide Doors, too



"Continental kits"


Thanks for those great pix Acc, I could not get the pix I had to work on my post. Looking at the pix I had every one of those things on one or another of my 42 cars I've owned! The suicide knob was great for parallel parking in tight spaces, curb feelers kept my car's 3" whitewalls clean, I added a continental kit to the first 10 or 11 cars I owned, fender skirts were added (if car did not come with them) again to the first 10 or 11 cars, and I had two cars that had suicide doors, a 1960 Lincoln Continental Convertible, & a 1954 or 55 Renault 4RV that had a "hand-crank" start feature.

Nobody recalls dipping their headlights with a foot switch, I suppose?

We called "suicide knobs" BRODIE knobs....and there were "courtesy curves." A guy would take a very sharp turn and his girlfriend would slide across the seat and wind up next to him. Now, that's impossible, because cars have "consoles" in between the front seats.

I AM old, it seems! :wah:

Good one spot, I still use the foot switch for bright beams on my car, and I also use a foot pad to set the emergency brake..

[QUOTE]Nobody recalls dipping their headlights with a foot switch, I suppose?[/QUOTE]

When I was a teen, I hauled hay in a truck that had the ignition switch on the floor.







It was a very old truck even back then, mind you.

spot wrote: Nobody recalls dipping their headlights with a foot switch, I suppose?


Ah yes, the foot switch light dimmer, I remember them. Most of the American cars had them till circa mid 70's or 80's. The oldest car I ever owned was an old 39 Mercury, if I remember corectly the starter switch was on the floor too. It was close to the clutch pedal, so pushing down the clutch reaching over a little to hit the starter switch at the same time.:-2

No one mentioned having to use directional "Hand Signals", as there were no "Directional Lights" (On American cars) probably till circa mid 50's to 60's.

GUESS I'm older than dirt, I can remember using a screw driver to hold the carborator on to start the car!

honeybee wrote: GUESS I'm older than dirt, I can remember using a screw driver to hold the carborator on to start the car!


Ah yes, the oooold screw driver trick! Been there done that! Nice to meet you honeyb, welcome to our garden!