HEY, OLD PEOPLE

Want to feel even older?

(Thanks to Steve [the Other Steve] Lancaster)

Comments

[Siouxie]

*looks around to see who Dave is calling old*

la la la

[Doc Rick]

Nope, didn't need another reason to feel older than dirt 3 days prior to my 39th birthday. *sigh*

[wickedwitch]

to make me feel even more aged, that picture reminded me of the big, black wall box type phone that we had growing up. had to wait until the old gossip up the street got off the phone to make a call. we had to listen for a specific ring pattern to know if it was for our house. party lines were great fun.

[ellie]

I had to use the rotary phones while I was in France. By the time I finished dialing the international number I had carpal tunnel and had forgotten who I was calling.

Amer?

[KOW]

I didn't know that 'tapping the posts' trick. Now I want a rotary phone just to try it out. Is it more sad that I remember rotary phones or that I apparently didn't master them?

[Guin]

Eh? What's that you say, young man? Speak up!

[SW]

"One remnant from these days is that people still mostly say 'dial a number' instead of punch in or type in a number."

Or 'tape the TV show' when they mean record it on the TiVo.

[Meditrina]

Heck, my Grandpa died still telling folks that his number was rockville 6311. And that was in 94!

[Mahatma Kane Jeeves]

Just keep the whippersnappers off my lawn, that's all I ask . . .

[crossgirl]

loves me a rotary phone. very satisfying that watching the wheel spin.

[Texgal]

Great cross training for digital dexterity.

[Fax Paladin]

Or, for that matter, to "type" something on a computer or cell phone, rather than a typewriter...

[Rosie]

Hey, hey now!

*hugs typewriter*

[Annie Where-but-here]

So that's how you old farts did that. I've seen those things and never knew how they worked.

[snif]

I still have our family's rotary phone as part of my decor and I'm so glad I kept it...it's a great conversation piece (no pun intended). Would spend hours on the phone holding that HEAVY receiver.

[Richard the Weasel-Hearted]

"When I was your age, the whole family had to share a single phone."

"Woooow! Who got to pick the ringtone?"

[Texgal]

Damn, that's cold Annie! ((((But I loves you anyway!)))) I vaguely remember the rotaries and a time before zip codes. And when postage was raised to a nickel for a first class letter. Yup, I'm officially older than dirt.

[LM]

Some of the commentary is priceless, like on Resaccing a Fountain Pen:

"N.B. While generally obsolete, this skill is not absolutely so. Luddites, eccentrics, aesthetes, and the environmentally conscious everywhere still have occasional need of someone with this skill.'

I'm sure they'll love that over on the Fountain Pen Network forums.

[snif]

It looks like the geezer wagon is fillin' up at warp speed.

[queensbee]

The word dial is obviously connected with the round rotary dial mechanism.

Shocking revelation.

ya think? speak up, cant quite hear ya...

[SammyD]

We still Have a working rotary phone...I normally use the "normal" push button one, but now I'm gonna have to try that tapping thingy.
P.S. And I'm in the under 30 crowd so it took me awhile to realize that the box hanging on the wall that my parents talked into was a phone!

[Meanie the Blue]

SW, you sound like a broken record. record. record.....

[Eileen]

I was watching some show the other day (I can't remember what it was because I am old and forgetful), but a "young person" wanted to dial a number quickly, encountered a rotary dial phone, and didn't know what to do. She ended up trying to push the painted-on numbers... We old farts are so much smarter...

[Telecomdropout]

When I first started working at the phone co., I worked at the last chord board operator station in Downtown L.A. - as an international/long distance operator ! I got to talk to a lot of folks, including Bob Hope, Rod Stewart, Paul McCartney, and etc. Lily Tomlin was not off the mark at all !
Later, I turned into an engineer, and supervised the installation of giant computerized "switches", taking all that old junk down, and replacing with the new. Officially, I currently have cobwebs for brains.

[Texgal]

But we loves you anyway, Tele.

*Lustily waves tin can and string phone at Tele*

[Telecomdropout]

Thanks, Tex !
Since it's 5 o'clock somewhere, I'm sure the blog will allow me to serve you your first adult beverage of the weekend ! Plus, I get a "senior discount".

[Texgal]

Make it a Negro Modelo with a squeeze of lime. Damn, now I'm lusting for good Mexican beer! May need to make a break for beer and shrimp quesadillas at my favorite taqueria.

[Meanie the Blue]

Yes! The best of the Mexbeers, IMO.

*Slides two down the blogbar for Tg & Tcd*

[Telecomdropout]

Here's your beer, with a lime squish !
OOOOOOHHHH - Wish it weren't so early here, and wish I weren't at work ! I'd so join you !

[Texgal]

Burp!!! Mighty tasty.

[Telecomdropout]

Hee hee hee, Meanie ! I've hidden mine under my desk, and am taking surreptitious quaffs ! YUM !!!
No one will ever be the wiser !

[SW]

Meanie, ISIANMTU -- I was showing my 14 yr old some of my vinyl LP's the other day which led him to ask, "What's a turntable?"

[Texgal]

Am back from a real beer and taco break out on the taqueria patio. Sunshine, good beer, and the latest Robert B. Parker book. Clean living!

[Grim Reaper]

Telecom - my grandmother was an operator for AT&T in NYC. She used to listen in on calls.
Last night my son had to do a report on Thomas Edison. You know, the inventor of the phonograph. Long story short, I'm freakin' old, too.

[Telecomdropout]

Aahh, Tex, you're a lucky gal ! I'm still chained to my desk, praying for an early get away.
It's 56 degrees, cloudy and breezy - for SoCal, that's pretty cold.

[Telecomdropout]

Ahhhh, Grim - the good ole days ! We used to have supervisers who walked behind us, with their headsets on and they would "jack in" on your board if they thought you were talking a mite long or too familiarly (is that a word?). This is so far back (1975), that we were also schooled in professional language. It actually was in my best interests to learn this, as I was rather awkward as a teenager, and this gave me great experience and poise.

[Texgal]

Tele, was about the same temp in Houston, but WTF, the beer stayed cold and I had the patio to myself. My waitress thought I was nuts.

[Cheryl Howard]

56 degrees is considered a heat wave in these here parts. Send it on over, my winter whiteness awaits!

Should I admit that I actually have this phone (as pictured)? Its referred to as "retro" now.

[Kathybear]

I remember having to pay rent for the phone itself. A black one (there weren't other colors back then - it was like Henry Ford allegedly said - they can have any color they want as long as it's black)that hung on the wall and dialed with a lovely swishing sound and actually rang - little bells inside... Sigh. Not good old, just old...

[Laura Vona]

Besides blisters on thier fingers,
people in the 'olden days' really did actually have it pretty rough with these phones.A friend of mine bought an old house a few years back that had one.
It worked great and she loved it until she realized that there was no way to attach an answering machine or shut off the ringer.
Yep, no pleasant ring tone of her own choosing, and if she was in the middle of dinner or otherwise unable to answer the phone, just a loud "BBBBBBRRRRRRINNNNNNG!" over an over again until the caller gave up waiting for the non-existant machine and hung up.

[shell]

My parents still have the old phone in their basement. It's their "land line". I remember having the one (phone, not my parent) hanging on the dining room wall. My sister and I would talk for hours on it...cord and all. The best thing to do...and the thing that scares me the most now, was to go and stand outside the window of the dining room. Be very quiet. Just wait until she noticed me. Just stare. Scariest thing ever!