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How “Old-School” Are You?
This morning as I gargled with Listerine Original (est. 1879,)
It got me to thinking of all the products in our house that have been around for a long, long time!
Like Vitalis (est. 1939)
And Chapstick (est. 1912)
We even buy Prince Albert in a can (est. 1907)
And when you go in the kitchen, it’s a similar tale: There you’ll find Clabber Girl (est. 1923)
And Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (est. 1867)
So, what “classic,” “old-time” products are in your house? How “old-school” are you?
Published in General
Can one be cool and old school? I certainly think so.
I don’t think the hipsters have gotten around to ruining fedoras. Yet.
D’oh! Fellow fountain pen user here!! Much kinder to the hands than anything else. Everyday pen is an early-60s Sheaffer Imperial II Deluxe.
I rummaged thru my wife’s kitchen drawer and found this All in One grater. We’ve had it for over 50 years.
I’m so old school they have discontinued my blood type.
Fruit of the Loom (1851) tighty whities… well…. Mine are old, maybe not that old.
Hold on, maybe I can take a picture of ’em to show Y’all…
I’m so pathetically old school that I still cling to the iPod shuffle, which I can clip to my earbud cord wrapped around my neck a few times, keeping it up and out of the way of my tools. (See icon photo there to the left.)
The whole modern world keeps pressuring me to join the Bluetooth headset/iPhone combo, but I just can’t make the switch; I’ve got a system and I’m sticking to it. Until they come and unwrap my cold, dead fingers from my shuffle (or until Apple stops supporting them completely), I will I will keep on doggedly downloading and transferring.
Hey, I have one of those too! It’s got to be a least 40 yrs old.
My understanding is the difference is width of the brim. Wide brim (my preference) is old school. Narrow brim is hipster cool (my daughter objected when I considered getting a narrow brim fedora).
I wear bow ties.
Like fedoras though, they are at risk of becoming cool again, which defeats the old school aura.
https://goo.gl/images/pfXKgz
At least once a week we cook old fashioned oats (not instant oatmeal or “quick oats”), though we use the supermarket house brand, not Quaker brand.
To us, XXX means beaver felt in the Stetson hat: one hat made from the pelts of three beaver. We have several true Stetsons of that kind, for which I am grateful.
A safety razor so worn the brand name is gone.
I drive a stick shift.
My husband is quite upset that he’s having difficulty getting just plain ol’ Colgate–no fancy stuff. I don’t know what he’s going to do. Me–I use sensodyne, gentle whitener, proenamel, so they’ve already corrupted me!
I have a (working) Beta VCR in the basement. Although admittedly it’s been two or three years since I last used it.
I have a stash of moon pies and one of my favorite sodas is Moxie
That won’t be necessary.
I prefer RC Cola.
I have a working TRS-80 Model 100 (from 1983).
In computer years, that’s approaching the Bronze Age.
I also have some hand tools that predate WWII.
It’s probably not the best dental hygiene product, but I like the taste … since 1915 ….and made in Chicago:
Hey – I wear Levi’s denim jeans (1853) and I use Dixon-Ticonderoga pencils (ca 1825). Also, here’s a link to an article that purports to list the 20 oldest American companies.
I have a few. Two that I wear regularly. When I have to wear an overcoat with a suit, my overcoat is calf length black wool and requires something somewhat formal
Any other time I have my favorite trilby which has a shape (but not color – the color is lighter and has some brown in it) something like this:
You’ll wonder where the yellow went
When you brush your teeth with Pepsodent
Murphy Oil Soap (1910)–great for collars and cuffs, in addition to woodwork and leather.
Fels-Naptha (1893)–another great laundry product. I like to use it to clean saddle girths on the built-in washboard in my old stone sink in the basement.
My dad wore bow ties. He was a surgeon and he said he started wearing them because they didn’t get in the way. Are you familiar with beautiesltd.com ? I first found out about them because that is where C. Everett Koop got his bow ties, and that’s pretty old school.
I have:
-Gold Medal flour, est. 1880
-McCormick seasonings (129 years, don’t feel like doing the math). If I could actually find it, I’d be using alum for canker sores. Stings like a [coc], but made them go away so much faster. <- it was McCormick alum I used, too.
– Vaseline, from 1870. Excellent for liquid bandaid, chapped lips, and barrier ointment for diaper rashes (mix it with Destin for medication + extra protection)
I also have a working Commodore SX-64. That’s the “executive” model of the commodore 64. Portable model of the C-64 with a built-in floppy drive and a 5 inch color monitor.
From what I’ve heard/seen, most of the “fedoras” people are wearing today are really trilbies. And those, the hipsters and internet atheists have quite ruined.
In cooler weather, I often sport a wide-brimmed fedora, but everyone calls it a cowboy hat.
I do too, but it is newer than yours.
Ah, but you will. And some day you’ll be walking down the street, think “I’d like to hear that first song on the first Steve Hackett solo album,” and you’ll tap your ear and say “Play Steve Hackett” and the voice in your ear will say “Okay” and there it is. Providing you like that album, that is.
I hate cords. Cords snag.
As for other old-school things, I have almost nothing except for Colman’s Mustard and fountain pens, but on the other hand I spend four hours a day writing and researching 20th century pop culture. It’s a nice balance.