<p>okay--this is really a word-finding thread for an aging brain. Remember those whisker-like things that used to be on the wheel well of some cars that would signal when you were close to the curb? (These are vintage 40s-50s) I think. What were those called??? And did they disappear because they didn't work? </p>
<p>Perhaps it is the trauma of practice-driving with my daughter who has her permit--but I found myself able to envision these antique auto features but not name them. Help anyone? </p>
<p>And since we have formerly enjoyed reviewing both now-obsolete skills/items (square root by hand, preparing a mimeograph) and regional lingo for things: (handbag, purse, pocketbook)--maybe we could get one going on this item as well.</p>
<p>While we're at it: are there regional variations on what I called "clippies" (for clamping down a "pincurl")--- or the odd device that fastened your "nylons" or "hose" to your "pantygirdle"--we called them "garters"...</p>
<p>Didn't use "clippies" for pincurls. In my day, it was bobby pins. And of course, transparent tape to keep the bangs in line. The fancy tape for hair came later and didn't leave the red marks on skin.</p>
<p>In my era and region, the "bobby pin" and the "clippie" were distinct animals. Neither to be confused with a hairpin.</p>
<p>Love this thread idea.</p>
<p>I'm certainly old enough to know '40s and '50s cars. Suicide Knob, anyone?
But I don't recall anything about Curb Feelers. Either we didn't have them in our area, or we all just had good Parallel Parking genes. I'll ask DH, though. He's even older :p.</p>
<p>My father had curb feelers installed on my mom's car in the late 60s/early 70s because she was always hitting curbs and damaging the tire and/or the hub cap. She hated them, but the good thing for her was none of us (the children) ever wanted to drive her car because they looked so dorky. In any event, one day she went up to the gas station and had them removed.</p>
<p>I remember suicide knobs - we were always told they were illegal.</p>
<p>okay--we either didn't have "suicide knobs" in SoCal or we called them something else. What are they??</p>
<p>My husband does talk about suicide doors being some arrangement on a fancy car where the rear door was hinged at the rear. I can see why those didn't catch on....</p>
<p>Seems like a design feature right up there with the "carseat" my little brother had that hooked on the back of the seat--the front seat that folded forward so you could get in the back seat--at least as I recall it. Seems guaranteed to propell the infant through the windshield. But perhaps that was my older sister sibling-death wish fantasy. Actually, now that he is 54 I'm really glad he survived the Fifties....</p>
<p>Does anyone remember inhaling the fumes from mimeographed paper - right before you took the test? I wonder how many brains cells I killed doing that - not that anyone ever stopped me from doing it though.</p>
<p>Was that inadvertent-can't-hardly-avoid-it inhaling, woody, from the fresh-off-the-mimeo-machine purple print? Or were you kind of holding it up to your nose, folding it around your face and basking in the fumes :D?</p>
<p>Because I think the number of brain cells might vary, depending. Don't you?</p>
<p>btw, how old do we have to be to have lived in the mimeo era?</p>
<p>Well, my boyfriend's '53 Chevy (or was it a Ford?) only had <em>one</em> suicide knob. And it was rather plain. But here's a nice colorful</a> selection.</p>
<p>I still remember as a college freshman, discovering dorm life, the vibrant conversations over regional variations on some names.</p>
<p>My ice cream cone had "jimmies" but a roommate swore they were "sprinkles."
In came the girl from Wilmington, Delaware who insisted they were "dit-dits" because it sounds like that to put them all over the ice cream cone (dit, dit, ditditdit, dit.)</p>
<p>Imagine my surprise, moving to Boston and ordering a "milkshake." The watiress poured me a glass of milk and kind of jiggled the glass on her way over to my table.
I was stunned. She was a world traveler who understood my pain. "Oh, maybe you want a frappe?"</p>
<p>WHen I (Baltimore born) married my H (Erie, PA born) he wanted to have "pop" at the wedding but I insisted on "soda." Although these mixed marriages don't always work, we negotiated it.</p>
<p>You just have to keep an open mind and not get angry when people call things by stupid names, which means anything different than Maryland.</p>
<p>My niece from WI has had a few interesting encounters at Boston University. On the first day in the dorm she asked if there was a bubbler on the floor. (Drinking fountain) and she's had several conversations with people about the way that she pronounces Wisconsin. (Wisgonsin)
They stopped using the mimeograph in our school when I was in about the sixth grade, but I loved that smell. Maybe it's why I'm such a terrible speller!</p>
<p>
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Does anyone remember inhaling the fumes from mimeographed paper
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</p>
<p>Ya know... I'll bet if I found one of those machines, bought one, and charged a buck a sniff for nostalgia sake for people of our generation, I could make a fortune! C'mon, how many of you would buy more than one sniff?</p>
<h2>I worked my way through college in the duplicating office - so I can concur that the smell you are referring to is that of the ditto machine (which usually printed in blue) and not the mimeograph, which used black ink.</h2>
<p>From Wiki: The Smell</p>
<p>Bill Bryson in his memoir The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, writes "Of all the tragic losses since the 1960s, mimeograph paper may be the greatest. With its rapturously fragrant, sweetly aromatic pale blue ink, mimeograph paper was literally intoxicating. Two deep drafts of a freshly run-off mimeograph worksheet and I would be the education systems willing slave for up to seven hours."[6]</p>
<p>It is likely, however, that the author is confusing the product of the Mimeograph process with that of the spirit duplicator (also called the Ditto machine after the most prominent manufacturer of the device in the United States) which, when fresh, gives off the fragrant odor of the alcohol mixture used to transfer pigment from the master to the copies. Unlike the fresh dittos, Mimeograph copies are not known for a particular odor.</p>
