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shatto
07-26-2014, 12:43 PM
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 like ' 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.

jamieooh
07-26-2014, 01:16 PM
My first 3 cars were manual. One was a 3 in the tree.The first two had floor mounted dimmer switches, which by te way are easy to replace. Try replacing that dimmer switch turn signal winshield wiper thing of a mobob sticking out of the steering column .
Shatto have you ever heard someone describe slowing the car down by " getting on the binders"?

Rhntz
07-26-2014, 09:04 PM
That is an awesome column shatto,I say that because it should be in some news papers with the dear abby stuff. When I first got out of the military in 88 I got in to the automotive repair industry because that is what I had a desire for since I was still in the hot rod stage, so I had yet to figure out that I did not want to spend my check every week for parts for my truck to be faster than other peoples....It took me a couple years but I came around. But anyway one of the things that I thought of as far as phrases people have used that make me laugh because the first shop I worked at was just outside the city limits so we had country and city folk,one was used by a lot of older people and farmers when they would bring they're vehicle in they would say they would say I am having a problem with my vehicle and It has one of those" Brains" In It. Of course the 80's Is when the car manufacturers were Installing computers In just about all of they're vehicles.And one more thing on the store bought is I will bet 40-50 % of stuff Is bought online now maybe a bit lower than that but some stuff Is cheaper and usually next day in most cases,I like It most of my car parts are bought that way. Just my two cents worth, again awesome column shatto!