# How old is Grandma?



## Micheal (Jan 28, 2009)

Grandson asked Grandma bout current events and what she thought bout the school shootings, 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
contact lens
Frisbees
and the pill

There were no:
credit cards
laser beams
ball-point pens

Man had not yet invented:
pantyhose
air conditioners
dishwashers
clothes dryers - clothes were hung up outside to dry
and man had not yet walked on the moon.

Your Grandfather and I got married first, and then lived together.
Every family had a mother and father.

Until I was 25, I called every man older than me Sir. And after I turned 25 I still called policemen Sir.

We were before gay-rights, computer-dating, dual careers, daycare centers or group therapy.

We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.
Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.
Time sharing meant time the family spent together - not purchasing a condominium.

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 radio.
If you saw anything with "Made in Japan" on it - it was Junk.

The term "making out" referred to how you did on a school exam.

Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.
We had 5&dime stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents.

Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a street car, and a Pepsi were all a nickel. 
And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 post cards.

In my day:
"grass" was mowed
"coke" was a cold drink
"pot" was something your mother cooked in
"rock music" was your grandmother's lullaby.
"aids" were helpers
"chip" meant a piece of wood
"hardware" was found in a hardware store
"software" wasn't even a word.

We were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby
We volunteered to protect our country.
Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege.

No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation gap.

So how old do you think I am?????? :shrug:

Will post the answer on another post.
Micheal


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

Well, I'd say she is older than Methuselah.


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Some of the milestones vary but I would estimate she was born in the mid to late 1940s as part of the start of the baby boom generation.

Ironically the baby boom generation while claiming how good things were during their generation receive first credit for much of the social decline since their generation due to their choices of relaxed strictness and moral steering of their own children.


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

Mid to late 30's which makes her around 80 - 85. I was born in '48 before most of the things listed in the first part, but by the time I was in high school, many of those items were available. I was 26 when I purchased my first colour TV and that was about the same time 8 track players came out -- a fabulous invention!


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

1940 or earlier. Old enough to think that Earth was a moral paradise before Elvis Presley.


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## jassytoo (May 14, 2003)

I'm with Maura. Before 1940 for sure.


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## Wolf mom (Mar 8, 2005)

Penicillin was discovered in 1928 and the first cure was recorded in 1930 so she's got to be born before 1930.


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## Declan (Jan 18, 2015)

Postage in 32 went to three cents with postcards still a penny.


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## Micheal (Jan 28, 2009)

And the answer is: :drum:

Grandma would be *63* years old; born in late 1952.

True some of the things posted were invented or discovered before then but you have to remember that we are dealing in her (local) world, not the world as a whole.
Something like penicillin was made avail to the USA, on a limited basis, in 1945, but the 1st major development of it wasn't until 1961.

Soooo, eep: 

Remember I only posted this thing because I thought it interesting and opens discussion as to_____. :stirpot:
:hysterical:ound::hysterical:


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## ceresone (Oct 7, 2005)

Michael, may I steal this? Please? I was born 1937


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## Skandi (Oct 21, 2014)

The first public television demonstration was 1925, frozen food was first sold comercialy in 1930 (in the US) polio is 1952. and FM radio was used commercialy in the late 1930's in the US. (patented 1933) so I think it's rather missleading to say 1952 as nowhere does it say where grandma lived


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

You are way off on your inventions and use of items.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

I'm older than grandmother and there was tv, dishwashers, and dryers before I was born. "Gay rights" was there, it was just "those two spinster ladies that live in that house" and "confirmed bachelors" who shared a dwelling.

Perhaps you are just old and confused???


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## Declan (Jan 18, 2015)

Micheal said:


> And the answer is: :drum:
> 
> Grandma would be *63* years old; born in late 1952.
> 
> ...


She couldn't mail 1 letter and two post cards for a nickle in 1952. Letters were 3 cents and postcards were two cents.


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## tiffnzacsmom (Jan 26, 2006)

My grandfather was born in 1920 and he knew the gay man in town was to be respected just like everyone else.


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## Micheal (Jan 28, 2009)

Skandi said:


> The first public television demonstration was 1925,............. so I think it's rather missleading to say 1952 as nowhere does it say where grandma lived


True and there were only 93 TV stations signed on to be on air by Dec 1949 - SOOO - Guess that Grandma being born in 1952 could still have lived in an area that TV was not available in the year of her birth......

As to comments bout Gay Rights - true Gays lived in town, down the street, next door, or as "spinster ladies", etc maybe they were even respected members of the community, but their RIGHTS were not available to them back then...

Gee, I'm starting to get tired of defending my posting(s) of something I think to be of humor and thought provoking.....


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## ceresone (Oct 7, 2005)

When we moved to this town in 1940, there was a sign on the city limit sign that said n--dont let the sun go down on you in this town. we've grown as a nation since then, but I see us slowly sliding backwards


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

Micheal said:


> True and there were only 93 TV stations signed on to be on air by Dec 1949 - SOOO - Guess that Grandma being born in 1952 could still have lived in an area that TV was not available in the year of her birth......
> 
> As to comments bout Gay Rights - true Gays lived in town, down the street, next door, or as "spinster ladies", etc maybe they were even respected members of the community, but their RIGHTS were not available to them back then...
> 
> Gee, I'm starting to get tired of defending my posting(s) of something I think to be of humor and thought provoking.....


They are humorous - thought provoking means that there will be responses and debate. That is a good thing/think. "Defending" humor gets confusing. People take humor in all sorts of ways.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I found it fine, but it got to be too much with all the preaching about how wonderful the &#8216;good old days&#8217; were. I&#8217;m 61 and I grew up with race riots and by the time I was in high school people were living together without a wedding, having babies out of wedlock and keeping them, using hard drugs, and dying in Vietnam.


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## Michael W. Smith (Jun 2, 2002)

Micheal said:


> As to comments bout Gay Rights - true Gays lived in town, down the street, next door, or as "spinster ladies", etc maybe they were even respected members of the community, but their RIGHTS were not available to them back then...


On the other hand, they didn't go around telling everybody their business and telling everyone what they did behind closed doors. They were probably happy to be living together and didn't feel the need to have a paper saying they were married.

The women also dressed like ladies and looked like ladies while the men dressed like men and looked like men. Many people probably had no clue that they were even gay.


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## Cabanaboy1313 (Oct 15, 2014)

Problem with posts like this is it never happened. They don't mention that there was White only drinking fountains, Black men were lynched if they looked at a white woman, there was no social security and the elderly were the poorest of the poor. Kids with Downs were institutionalized. Babies died if they were preemies.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

I'm two years older than grandma and I couldn't say those things with a straight face. I was watching Captain Kangaroo on TV as far back as I can remember. We certainly had antibiotics, but no cure for polio until I was about 10.

There were ball point pens, credit cards and frozen foods in the early 50s. Contact lenses were very new, uncomfortable and expensive so only athletes got them. Central residential air conditioning wasn't done much until around 1960, but stores, restaurants & theaters had it. There were window AC units in the early 50s. One of the biggest changes was the migration from vacuum tube electronics to transistors, which made radios & TVs smaller, less expensive, and even more reliable. Anyone could afford a hand-held transistor radio.

Her description of 1952 is inaccurate. Besides, I was often reminded by adults how fortunate I was to be living in the "space age." The perception was that we lived in an ultra-modern era with unprecedented conveniences. Maybe we did. After all we had telephones (any color you wanted), black & white TV in every living room, and even vacuum cleaners & electric ranges. Who could ask for more?


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## DryHeat (Nov 11, 2010)

I recall as a kid at the Florida state fair, mid-50s or so, seeing a demo of the newest tech, a smallish "radar" stove which cooked up a little cupcake liner of wet dough into a cake in ten seconds or so. Was probably 35 years later before I personally bothered owning a microwave, lol. (Evidently the first very large and expensive versions were sold right after WWII.)


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Nevada said:


> I was watching Captain Kangaroo on TV as far back as I can remember.


Come to think of it, I guess I was watching the Howdy Doody show even before Captain Kangaroo. I can still remember the mock wirds we used to sing to the Howdy Doody theme song.

_It's Howdy Doody time, it's not worth a dime,
Let's turn to channel 9, and we'll watch Frankenstein._

There was another verse that suggested that Howdy Doody smelled like turpentine, but I can't remember it all.

I remember thinking that the show hosts (Buffalo Bob & Captain Kangaroo) were probably deserving of respect. Buffalo Bob on Howdy Doody wore a buckskin suit (actually it was cotton) so I assumed that he used to hunt buffalo and shoot renegade indians. Captain Kangaroo was more elusive. His coat looked similar to what a train conductor might wear, but conductors don't have badges and don't become captains. He didn't seem like a cop, but he might have been a night watchman. That would explain the badge and the big key ring he would hang on the nail at the start of the show (hanging the keys on the nail always stopped the theme song).

At any rate, those shows are a big part of me. I spent my mornings before elementary school watching Captain Kangaroo converse with Grandfather Clock, Mr. Moose, and occasionally Mr. Greenjeans. I assumed that Mr. Greenjeans was usually busy doing whatever farmers did all day. I'll never forget the Captain Kangaroo theme song (Puffin' Billy).

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtGUaScpSbg[/ame]


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