November 14, 2004
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FENDER SKIRTS !!
Someone e-mailed this to me, and I thought those of us over a “certain age” would remember these.
Are we old or what!!! What a great blast from the
past! I haven’t thought about “fender skirts” in
years. Thinking about “fender skirts” started me thinking about
other words that quietly disappear from our language with hardly a
notice. Like “curb feelers” and “steering knobs.” Any
kids will probably have to find some elderly person over 50 to explain
some of these terms to you.
Remember
“Continental kits?”
They were rear bumper extenders and spare tire covers that were
supposed to make any car as cool as a Lincoln Continental. ….And when did
we quit calling it the “emergency brake” and start calling it the
“parking brake”? Do you miss the hint of drama that went with
“emergency brake.”I’m sad, too, that almost all the old
folks are gone who would call the accelerator the “foot
feed.” Did you ever wait down the street for your dad to
come home, so you could ride on the “running board” up to the house?
“Coast
to coast” is a phrase that once held all sorts of excitement and now
means almost nothing. Now we take the term “worldwide” for granted.
This
floors me. On a smaller scale, “wall-to-wall” was once a magical term
in our homes. In the ’50s, everyone covered his or her hardwood
floors with, wow, wall-to-wall carpeting! Today, everyone
replaces their wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors. Go figure.
Here’s
a word I miss – “percolator.” That was just a fun word to say. And what
was it replaced with? “Coffeemaker.” How dull! …..Mr. Coffee, I blame you
for this.Some words aren’t gone, but are definitely on the endangered list.
The one that grieves me a great deal is “supper.” Now everybody says “dinner.”So save a great word and invite someone to supper to discuss fender
skirts and running boards.
Comments (4)
Here in the UK we are all ditching the wall-to-wall or “fitted” carpet for hardwood or “laminate” floors. I think the explosion of asthma cases in the younger generation may be driving this to some extent.
Our accelerators were “throttles” (open the throttle and go!) but my second car (a 1933 Vauxhall 12-6) in the late ’50s had running boards and the spare wheel was mounted on the driver’s side running board and fixed with a leather strap. The car also had a foot starter operated by the left foot. Happy days !
around some parts of the country, dinner could be understood as the noon-time meal (particularly on a Sunday?), while supper is the evening meal…
My dad had a 56 Packard when we were kids, I seem to remember such fenders (but I could be wrong). It had automatic transmission that was a push button system in a box off of the steering column!
regarding your “wall-to-wall” comment: there is nothing new under the sun.