How old is grandma

[ironglow]

  There are several versions..here's one that points out some of the things we have lost.... or thrown away..
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HOW OLD IS GRANDMA?
One evening, a grandson was talking to his grandmother about current events. The grandson asked his grandmother what she thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general.

The Grandma replied, "Well, let me think a minute, I was born before television, penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses, Frisbees and the pill.

There were no credit cards, laser beams or ball-point pens.

Man had not invented pantyhose, air conditioners, dishwashers, clothes dryers, and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and man had yet to walk on the moon.

Your Grandfather and I got married first, and then lived together.

Every family had a father and a mother.

Until I was 25, I called every man older than I, "Sir"- - and after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, "Sir."

We were before gay-rights, computer-dating, dual careers, day-care centers, and group therapy.

Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense.

We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.

Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege.

We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.

Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.

Draft dodgers were people who closed their front doors when the evening breeze started.

Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends -- not purchasing condominiums.

We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings.

We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios. And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey.

If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan' on it, it was junk.

The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam.

Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.

We had 5&10 cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents.

Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel......And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail one letter and two postcards.

You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, but who could afford one? Too bad because, gas was 11 cents a gallon.

In my day, "grass" was mowed, "coke" was a cold drink, "pot" was something your mother cooked in, and "rock music" was your grandmother's lullaby.

"Aids" were helpers in the Principal's office, "chip" meant a piece of wood, "hardware" was found in a hardware store and software" wasn't even a word.
And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby.

No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation gap.

And how old do you think grandma is?

ANSWER: Grandma is 58 (born 1946). How could things change so much in such a short period of time? 
 

   
 

[Ranger99]

oh they had software.
it was upstairs, and i had to ride
the escalator with my mom and
a lady in a nice dress waited on
her while i stood there embarrassed
in the middle of the ladies "software" dept.

[FPH]

Grand Ma ain't 58.

[rdmallory]

Grand Ma ain't 58.

She was when this was written 

[JonnyReb]

 She' be great-granny now.. 

[Graybeard]

I don't buy that date. I was born in '45 and don't remember when phone calls, soda pop, bus rides or ice cream cones were a nickel. A dime yes but not a nickel. Also I think I remember having to get both polio and small pox vaccinations to start school. Most all the rest yeah they seem about right for my age.

[Bugflipper]

I haven't even heard of grand parents wanting to be called that since the baby boomers became old enough to have that title. It must be their hippy minded philosophy. I am guessing they want to hang onto their youth or something. For grandma, Nanna, the person's actual first name, Gran Gran, G-MA, G-Mom, GM, Nanny, Gram, Gammy, Gams, Gran Nan, Grand Doll or something similar.
For grandpa it's GP, G-Pa, Gramps, Grampy, G-Daddy, Grand Dude, Nandad, Poppers, Pop Pop, Poppy, Pea Paw, Popsie, first name or some other name insisted on to not seem like they are what they actually are. It's quite comical when you think about it. Their hair color and wrinkles are a pretty good indicator, but if they are happy then who cares I imagine.

[sethk]

I don't buy that date. I was born in '45 and don't remember when phone calls, soda pop, bus rides or ice cream cones were a nickel. A dime yes but not a nickel. Also I think I remember having to get both polio and small pox vaccinations to start school. Most all the rest yeah they seem about right for my age.

When my Gramma talks about "the good old days" it's about being the daughter of a traveling butcher-block salesman at the the end if the depression and about WWII and the atom bomb and about teaching in a one room school house in Nebraska and about meeting the love of her life and making a living for my father teaching at a segregated black school in NE Oklahoma City. Funny how she's never mentioned how Pepsis were a nickel and how there were no gay rights. She did teach me about the 10 Commandments and right and wrong and how to get along with my cousins (one of them is gay and she taught him the same things, and she hugs and loves him the same as she does me). She also taught me what Lent means how to respect your elders. Somehow she forget to mention how good things were back then and how much we've lost. Actually, that's wrong, she did mention that, and, the way she told it, she was happy to be past "those days".

[ironglow]

I believe the composer of the article had grandma's age wrong in some cases.  I was born in 1936 and I can recall Pepsis, phone calls, Ice cream cones, candy bars and chewing gum,  all being a nickel, of  course with the Pepsi there was the 2 cents deposit going either way.  But Bill is right, 58 would be too young to remember that because those prices went up shortly after WW2.  There also was in my area a chewing gum gum called "Chum Gum" in a couple fruit flavors which was 3 cents per pack..I remember the grape flavor especially. Chum Gum came out just after WW2 and I heard it got it's name from the GIs who having C-ration gum to share, offered some to the local kids in France, Germany & Italy.. saying, "want some gum, chum?".
     I attended 2 rural schools, having to switch when our house burned to the ground and we moved about 8 miles. The second one was a 1-room school with 1 teacher, water by pitcher pump and a pot bellied coal stove.  No playground per se, but there were electric lights. Still, from that school through college classes, that old, rural system was the most efficient.  I walked 2 miles to school in 1st and 2nd grade, and NO it was uphill only one way.. but walking downhill wasn't much easier! 
  There were no "gay rights" so to speak, since we all have our "constitutional rights". Everybody kept their sex lives to themselves, and the few "gays" there may have been, likely treasured their privacy as well.
  As far as being called Grandma or whatever.. of course that is I believe, a regional or familial thing.  Today, 2 of my grandsons refer to me as Gramp or gramps..with my Grandaughter it is Grandpa and my 3rd Grandson says ..Grand-'Paw..   I accept all as personal expressions of endearments.  That goes both ways..while I call my Grandaughter ..Honey..Punkin..or..Sweetie.. I don't hang those terms on my grandsons!

  As I have often said, we have gained exponentially in a technology but lost so very much in values. Except for a couple areas (gradually being corrected) I recall the 40's and 50's as being a much more courteous, genteel and honest time, although we all had much less in material goods.  People generally were operating from the same basic set of values, thus we had a more homogeneous society.  Since then, in an effort to make every kind of weird behavior acceptable, we have a confused and bewildered poplace.. where we don't all speak the same language, not in personal values or even in actual linguistic terms.  English was the accepted norm then..so we each could understand the other.

  One thing should be cleared up however..  back then gasoline may have been 19 cents per gallon, a full course meal $2.35 or a new car $1500 .. but some fail to mention that most bread winners were earning something like $ 1.43 per hour..now extrapolate that !

  BTW:  Living off welfare or some other charity when not absolutely necessary..was considered shameful; however, some very few still did that..

[oldandslow]

I was born in '37. I can remember nickle coke and candy bars. When the first Dairy Queen opened where I lived the hamburgers were two bits. I told my youngest grandson something he asked about a few years ago cost two bits. He looked at me like I had lost my mind and asked "What's two bits ?". I explained the two, four, six bit thing and he had never heard it used.

I never saw a new $600 Chevy or 11 cent gasoline. I have seen 17 cent gas when the stations had a gas war as they were called and they dropped the price 3 cents.

Wife and I became Grandma and Grandpa when our oldest grandson was born 30 years ago. Today we have added two great grand daughters to the clan and we remain Grandma and Grandpa.

When I first entered the work force the minimum wage was a buck an hour. If you were making a hundred dollars a week you had a very good job. There were lots of warnings about what inflation was going to do to the value of the dollar. Believe it or not, those people knew what they were talking about.

No one "lived together" either. A few "shacked up" though but tried to keep it quite  . 

[ironglow]

I was born in '37. I can remember nickle coke and candy bars. When the first Dairy Queen opened where I lived the hamburgers were two bits. I told my youngest grandson something he asked about a few years ago cost two bits. He looked at me like I had lost my mind and asked "What's two bits ?". I explained the two, four, six bit thing and he had never heard it used.

I never saw a new $600 Chevy or 11 cent gasoline. I have seen 17 cent gas when the stations had a gas war as they were called and they dropped the price 3 cents.

Wife and I became Grandma and Grandpa when our oldest grandson was born 30 years ago. Today we have added two great grand daughters to the clan and we remain Grandma and Grandpa.

When I first entered the work force the minimum wage was a buck an hour. If you were making a hundred dollars a week you had a very good job. There were lots of warnings about what inflation was going to do to the value of the dollar. Believe it or not, those people knew what they were talking about.

No one "lived together" either. A few "shacked up" though but tried to keep it quite  .

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  Yes; often those shack jobs were called "housekeepers"..LOL  In later grade school, where I attended a "centralized" school.we had a female art teacher and female social studies teacher who bought a home together and rode their Harley together.  I guess everyone preferred to assume they were friends who economized by living together.  They didn't talk and nobody snooped.
  $600-$700 cars were in the 1930s , by the 1940s most had topped the $1000 mark..wages about $1.40 per hour for regular worker.. no minimum.
  In the early 50s in a soda bar, most cokes were 10 cents (6 oz) ..if you sat a while and were again thirsty 10 cents for another 6 ozs. 
       Now days it seems the first drink is a "big gulp" at how many ounces?
  Most people attended church at least sporadically, but others were not frowned upon and most believed those basic values.  That is why we pulled together so well at the advent of WW2.
  Contrary to the article, "draft dodgers" did exist then, but it was a source of shame for the dodger.
  There were "stigmas" attached to certain behaviors and it was not out of "meanness", it was society's way of policing itself.  For instance, having a child out of wedlock was discouraged and frowned upon.. still with decent conduct after that  mistake, a good life could still be achieved.
  Today, without that stigma, we have a large part of our taxes spent on irresponsible people..who should have known better.
   Technology has brought us many things, some great... some grevious; but culture wise we have lost terribly..

[Larry L]

I was born in 47. All of the above were a nickel except a pay phone, remember those, was a dime. A fudgecicle was a nickel out of the back of the ice cream truck but a Dreamcicle was a dime. A loaf of bread was 17 cents here. Gas, when I was a teen I pumped gas at a Texaco for 13 cents a gallon. You could fill most any car for under 5 bucks even if it took ethyl gas. A decent set of Goodyear tires was about 120 bucks for 4 mounted and balanced. A generator for the car was about 20 bucks and a water pump about the same. A battery could be bought as cheap as 10 bucks but a premium one cost 20 bucks. My mom drove an Oldsmobile back then. She could fill the cavernous trunk with groceries and get change back from a 20 dollar bill. Yeah, wages were a lot cheaper. As I remember, minimum wage was $1.25, I worked for a lot less on the chicken farm I was born at. We made most of our toys from blocks of wood or even sticks. We played outside. Most of my shirts were made from chicken feed sacks. It was a great day when I could go with dad to pick up seed as I got to chose which sack with the colors and pattern I wanted for my shirt. I didn't own a pair of shoes until I had to go to school-yuk!. WE walked to school that was 2 miles away. Lunch was a baloney sandwich with a baggy of chips. The thermos was filled with tea or Koolaid. I got my first nice clothes when I was 7. My grandmother died and I was told I needed to look nice at the funeral. Felt like a dork in those clothes. After that I had to get dresses up every Sunday for Sunday School and church- I apparently had grown up. Dad must of hit the lottery about that time as we started getting milk delivered to the door. Carnation brand. You could get milk, cream, butter, all kinds of dairy products right off of the truck. If you weren't home, you left the empties on the front porch and the driver would leave full ones or left whatever you wrote on a note that you stuck in the bottle. We had a party line phone. I wonder how kids today would react to that one?
Yeah, kids today have it so rough. I don't how they make it these days. All of the pressures they face......Well, now I feel old. Think I'm gonna go to the store and get me some Geritol!