Sunday 22 December 2013

Whatever Happened To....? 27

“You’ve got mail!”
#FF
Advent calendars
without chocolate (and with snow scenes and windows that showed you what was happening in the houses.)
alphabetti spaghettiarticles asking if ecommerce will take off (one-third of commerce is now online)
ban on two-letter words in Scrabble (it’s the way to get huge scores, and now almost any two-letter combo is accepted as a word)
books printed on non-recycled paper
brass rubbing (nerdy 70s pastime)
brushed nylon

cameras
(became phones)
campaign to bring back mono

coast path
all the way round Britain (promised in 10 years by Labour): short stretch in Devon, Welsh coast path, a few more short stretches now being built, ready possibly by about 2020 (Countryfile)

coloured tights (late 70s) and green stockings (60s)
counterculture (it became mainstream culture and vice versa)
crab sticks
crepe knitting wool
crudités
(80s)

deckle-edging
didgeridoos
double bills at the cinema
duffel bags

e-cards
envelopes lined with tissue paper

glucose tablets
hats with attached scarves
(they were so frumpy)
hearthrugs
high-cut swimsuits
(80s)

Icilma
toilet preparations
invisible menders (and stocking repair shops, per gransnet)
ipods (all your music goes on your phone now)

Maeterlink’s The Blue Bird
making notes on shirt cuffs
miniature crocheted hats
muslin curtains draped over a pole

people playing the spoons
(thank God they’ve stopped)
people tweeting the words “om nom nom”
people who thought BSE wasn’t caused by prions
prawn-flavoured Niknaks
Pringle sweaters


recipes that told you to fry raw rice before boiling it
rings made of elephant hair
saltimbocca alla Romana
shoulder-strap curtains

The Modern Jazz Quartet
The Serial
(hilarious send-up of hippy fashions)
tonic solfa system of music notation (so user friendly nobody uses it any more)
tonsures (abandoned by Papal order in 1972, according to Wikipedia)
Tory ladies in hats

Williams and Glyn’s bank
(Disappeared 30 years ago. RBS may be bringing it back.)
women’s centres


More here, and links to the rest.

2 comments:

  1. I know I go on about this, but: The Paperless Office. I'm still waiting. And I do still sometimes fry my rice before cooking - it makes for a nice texture but I'm usually rushing to get it on so that gets ditched.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I wish e-cards had been consigned to oblivion. I still get them.

    ReplyDelete