agoraphobia (Is there a new word for it?)
antimacassars (They lived on in trains long after you ceased to see them in people’s houses. In the 70s they were made of bright orange synthetic material which clashed with the turquoise pattern of the seats. They were attached with Velcro.)
barbers who shaved customers
beverages (a range of hot)
black lace mantillas worn in Catholic churches
British Israelites
collecting birds’ eggs (jolly 50s pastime we were always being exhorted to take up, because everybody needs a hobby – it has been a criminal offence since 1954. Our Ladybird books must have been out of date.)
computer journalists writing “just hit ESC and…” Their keyboards must have worn out quickly. Now they write “fingerhover”. You can’t hit a tablet. (They never started programs, they "fired them up".)
corselettes
darts
Design Centre
iridology
men in Islington wearing Afghan hats (now men in Stokey wearing flat caps)
overbites
outrage over A4 taking over from foolscap
pot plants in offices – spider plants, mother-in-law’s tongues, aspidistras
premarital sex (60s) And the societal breakdown it was going to bring in its wake. Now even
fundamentalist Christians think it’s OK if you’re engaged.
proper French mustard (dark, mild and vinegary)
rubber hand-held showers you attached to taps
smell of rubber bathing caps
squatters
straw bale houses (The housing of the future in the – 90s? There were a few sad people living in tiny straw-bale dens.)
temperance hotels
trains that go diddly-dee, diddly-dah (rails are now continuously welded)
wacky theories about the pyramids
watches
More here and links to the rest.
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