The Average 21-year-old

[1st love ron]

Jeeeez...some of you guys are taking this too seriously. Though the list is factual, it was meant to be humorous and not to be an old vs. young grudge match.

 

[martin6]

Does not remember Reagan, or the Reagan Revolution. Nope. No I don't.

Cannot remember the fall of the Berlin Wall. Nope. No I don't.

Does not remember the Cold War. Nope. No I don't.

Has only a vague memory of the Gulf War. I always wondered what Saddam was saying when I was 4 years old (Saddam Who's Saying = Saddam Hussein)

Has never heard of the Yugo. Ooh! I've even seen one!

Has never heard of shorthand. Nope. No I haven't.

Either writes in cursive very poorly, or not at all. (Some localities don't teach it at all, anymore) I was taught cursive, then chose to print after it was not required on tests anymore.

Has never been handed assignment papers in Mimeograph; remember the purple ink, that smelled so heavenly? Mimeograph? Wtf?

Does not remember a time when ATMs weren't on every street corner. You mean there was a time like that?

Has never seen a record. Some don't even know what a 45 is. My Mom used to play the 101 Dalmations on record when I was a kid, as well as her favorite Monkees record and a few others.

Doesn't have the vaguest idea of how to work a typewriter. (chuckle) When my parents got a computer, they let me have fun with the old typewriter!!!

Thinks checks have always taken just a day or two to clear. (Remember out-of-state checks that took 2 to 3 weeks?) I don't write checks, but I do deposit them often!

Has never heard of an eight-track tape. Only heard of them when people are reminiscing. Like now.

Has never heard of a slide-rule. Nope, no I haven't.


Does this make me better than average?

 

[thermodynamics]

• Does not remember Reagan, or the Reagan Revolution.
• Cannot remember the fall of the Berlin Wall.
• Does not remember the Cold War.
• Has only a vague memory of the Gulf War.
• Has never heard of the Yugo.
• Has never heard of shorthand.
• Either writes in cursive very poorly, or not at all. (Some localities don't teach it at all, anymore)
• Has never been handed assignment papers in Mimeograph; remember the purple ink, that smelled so heavenly?
• Does not remember a time when ATMs weren't on every street corner.
• Has never seen a record. Some don't even know what a 45 is.
• Doesn't have the vaguest idea of how to work a typewriter. (chuckle)
• Thinks checks have always taken just a day or two to clear. (Remember out-of-state checks that took 2 to 3 weeks?)
• Has never heard of an eight-track tape.
• Has never heard of a slide-rule.

I thought you all might enjoy this. Does anybody know where I can find the full list?

I'm 22.

I know about Reagan and what he did
I've seen tapes of the fall of the Berlin wall.
I know about the Cold War.
I've seen a Yugo in person. And it ran.
I have used shorthand, not as much now though.
I still write in cursive generally.
I have seen and held mimmeograph.
There were 4 ATMs in our town.
We played records at home. I know exactly what a 45 is, and a 78, and a 33.
Have used a typewriter. And not an electric.
OK, I don't remember that out-of-state checks took so long. You've got me.
I have physically put an 8-track in an 8-track player. Same with reel-to-reel too.
I have a slide rule and know how it works, though I don't ever use it.

 

[slobone]

Mattie, I don't know; but they did, if you had an out-of-state check. They didn't have digital/computer/debits, etc, back then. Each check had to be processed manually through the mail.

This one puzzles me. I'm pretty sure you have to go back way more than 21 years to get to a time when checks took 2 weeks to clear. And banks definitely had computers (and ATM machines) in 1985.

Furthermore, in many cases checks clear instantly, not after 2-3 days. I found that out to my chagrin when I paid by check at the grocery store on a Friday evening, hoping I could cover it on Monday morning.

Oh, wait, maybe they mean that it's checks that you deposit that take 2-3 days. That's so they can collect interest on the float or something.

 

[slobone]

Hey, I don't remember half the things on that list, and I'm definitely over 21. But then come to think of it, I can't even remember things that happened last week. Didn't Iraq capture some French sailors or something?

 

[woaini]

I am 21~~

 

[SpankThePony]

Ok..... I hope this study is about the average AMERICAN college graduate.

 

[luminum]

I'm 20, but...

* Does not remember Reagan, or the Reagan Revolution.
Nope. Not at all. I mean, I know who he is and have a general idea of what historical events surround him, but I don't recall him in continuity with my own life except for wanting stem cells, going senile, and then dying.
* Cannot remember the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Nope. Not at all.
* Does not remember the Cold War.
Nope. Not at all.
* Has only a vague memory of the Gulf War.
"Vague" is being generous.
* Has never heard of the Yugo.
Is that a car?
* Has never heard of shorthand.
I have heard of shorthand, but I don't know how to write it.
* Either writes in cursive very poorly, or not at all. (Some localities don't teach it at all, anymore.)
My cursive is fucking beautiful, bitch.
* Has never been handed assignment papers in Mimeograph; remember the purple ink, that smelled so heavenly?
Mime-o-what?
* Does not remember a time when ATMs weren't on every street corner.
Weren't they at banks only?
* Has never seen a record. Some don't even know what a 45 is.
I recall little records that came with my Disney storybooks I also had some knock-off Bambi-Wilma-Tongue Twister thing.
* Doesn't have the vaguest idea of how to work a typewriter. (chuckle)
I pride myself on enjoying usuing a typewriter since I was 7. I tried to do my mandatory typed assignments on typewriter. My parents forced me to use a computer.
* Thinks checks have always taken just a day or two to clear. (Remember out-of-state checks that took 2 to 3 weeks?)
I do know that my bank takes over a week to cash checks over $100...
* Has never heard of an eight-track tape.
Heard of, but never seen in real life.
* Has never heard of a slide-rule.
I've heard of them because of their use in reference to all things antiquated and I think I've seen one...but how do they work? Don't cartoonists still use them?

 

[treanir]

Oh, that thing. Like I know what that's called in English.

(never used one, so my knowledge is purely theoretical)

 

[NickCole]

Yes. I should have been more clear about this. The American 21-year-old.

Back to the banks. It was out-of-state checks that took 2-3 weeks to clear. Here's why:

1. You deposit check in California, drawn on small bank in NY.
2. Teller enters it as a tentative deposit. Surface Mails the physical check to NY. Remember--you had to pay extra for Air Mail. Mail takes 3-5 days to reach NY.
3. Small Bank in NY (NOT the same bank) receives mail. It debits the check out of the check writer's account--that day if they're not busy. If they're very busy, it might take two or three days. Check cancelled.
4. Bank in NY mails the physical check back to California. Another three or four days.
5. Bank in CA receives cancelled check. Teller finally credits account.
6. Add up the days; you can see why it took 2-3 weeks!!

Remember--while banks had in-house computers back then--there was no Internet so that they could communicate with each other.

That's correct except the part I highlited in blue. The bank on which the check was drawn (the small NY bank) did not send the check back to the bank in California unless the check bounced. If the account had the funds available, the small NY bank held on to the check and at the end of the month sent it, with a statement, to the customer who'd written the check.

The 10-business-day hold was not waiting for the funds to clear (the bank into which the check was deposited, the California bank in your scenario, does not receive notice from the small NY bank that funds have cleared) but waiting to see if the check is returned NSF (insufficient funds).

10-business-day holds on non-local checks, especially personal checks deposited to personal accounts that generally maintain a small balance, are still not uncommon today. But federal regulations require that a bank release a portion of a non-local check after 5 business days.

 

[NickCole]

One common thread: Almost nobody here (one exception) has heard of a mimeograph.

Here's what they were: The teacher wrote the assignment on a stencil that looked somewhat like a one-sided carbon paper.

She put it on a machine that had a wheel loaded with purple ink. The wheel rotated, and the ink coated only the parts of the stencil that were written on.

The copies all had purple ink. Oh, man, they smelt so good that kids would smell the paper and go "mmm".

Actually, in addition to purple there was black, blue, red, green and brown.

In my school, some teachers distinquished their mimeos with ink color. For instance, Mr. Green, a science teacher, used green ink and thought it very clever. Naturally we thought it was very lame. Our English teacher used brown, the French teacher liked red.

It's interestsing all the copies in your school were made with purple ink because purple ink could be the most troublesome -- often it "haloed" as the ink dried.

 

[rareboy]

For all you guys out there who got so defensive and shirty about this, the list isn't intended to prove anything or be a pejorative commentary on either being too young (or even too old) to remember these things. Pull the pickle out of your ass for heaven's sake.

I remember a list like this when I was younger and was amazed as well at what each generation will lose contact with, from buggy whips to direct experience with the holocaust or the moon walk etc.

I'm old enough not only to remember mimeographs, but to remember sex without latex....now it seems as though entire lives are wrapped in a condom.

 

[lightkeeper483]

ok im feeling stupid, whats yugo, i bought a car when i was 16, it was an old lincoln, 76 i think, had eight track,

 

[VaseFace808]

I agree "1st love ron"...

* Does not remember Reagan, or the Reagan Revolution. TRUE
* Cannot remember the fall of the Berlin Wall. TRUE
* Does not remember the Cold War. Have studied it
* Has only a vague memory of the Gulf War. Have studied it
* Has never heard of the Yugo. TRUE
* Has never heard of shorthand. VERY FALSE
* Either writes in cursive very poorly, or not at all. Haha VERY TRUE
* Has never been handed assignment papers in Mimeograph; remember the purple ink, that smelled so heavenly? TRUE
* Does not remember a time when ATMs weren't on every street corner. TRUE
* Has never seen a record. Some don't even know what a 45 is. VERY FALSE
* Doesn't have the vaguest idea of how to work a typewriter. FALSE
* Thinks checks have always taken just a day or two to clear. TRUE
* Has never heard of an eight-track tape. VERY FALSE
* Has never heard of a slide-rule. TRUE



I hate writing in cursive, all my teachers in Elementary School told me that once I got to high school, all my papers would be written in cursive & so forth...I haven't written an assignment in cursive since the 5th grade...LIES they told & now I'm a Sophomore in College I never use it unless its for my signature, LoL

My parents are 45 & 44, so I'm pretty familiar with some of the things on the list, others I have no clue about...

 

[harristate]

I saw a similar list once that my dad and his friends were circulating - just like that one but it had stuff on it that I didn't know and they all chuckled about. He grew up in the 1940 and 50's. Technology and life, in general, changes and it's interesting how things that were "every day" at one time can be obsolete in a relatively short time. I'm in my 40's and, of course, knew everything on the list (ah, the smell of a fresh mimeo!). I know what a slide rule is but never had to use one - calculators came out with trig functions and, all of a sudden, slide rules weren't needed anymore. But my dad sure knew how to use one! Thinking about typewriters - I learned how to type on an electric one (IBM Selectric!) and remember thinking how "primitive" manual typewriters were......LOL! It will ALWAYS be something!

 

[frankfrank]

Actually the great-smelling ink came from copies that were run off on DITTO MACHINES, which were a first-cousin of mimeograph. Of course the phrase DITTO MACHINE will bring even a more unanimous chorus of "HUH?" from JUB-land. A Wikipedia entry:

Smell

Despite their toxicity, the aroma of pages fresh off the Ditto machine was a memorable feature of school life for those who attended in the ditto machine era. A pop culture reference to this is to be found in the film Fast Times At Ridgemont High. At one point a teacher hands out a dittoed exam paper and every student in the class immediately lifts it to his or her nose and inhales.

 

[luminum]

Are mimeographs the same as those things they used to use when you payed with credit card and they used carbon transfer paper and slid it over the card?

 

[rareboy]

No, those were just carbon paper, but it won't be long before no one remembers those either!

 

[Aussieguy01]

Im 18 , the only thing i know is what record is

 

[slobone]

The Yugo was a car produced in the 80s in Yugoslavia. They were cheap; 5$ thousand or so--but they were the absolute worst cars you could buy in terms of breaking down a lot.

They were produced only for 3 or 4 years before they went under.

They were sold for 8 years in the US and I think were produced for longer than that in Yugoslavia.

Joke: Why do Yugos have rear-window defrosters? So you can keep your hands warm while you're pushing them.

Also I heard an allegedly true story about a Yugo owner who was alarmed when smoke started pouring out of his dashboard. He took the car to the dealer, who told him that the smoke was caused by the radio!