Do your Fenders have Skirts?

[Frederick L. Simson]

I came across this phrase yesterday: 'FENDER SKIRTS'

A term I haven't heard in a long time and 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.' (AKA) suicide knob

Since I'd been thinking of cars, my mind naturally went that direction first
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.

When did we quit calling them 'emergency brakes?'
At some point 'parking brake' became the proper term. But I 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.'

Didn't you ever wait at the street for your daddy to come home, so you could ride the 'running board' up to the house?

Here's a phrase I heard all the time in my youth but never anymore - 'store-bought.' Of course, just about everything is store-bought these days. But once it was bragging material to have a store-bought dress or a store-bought bag of candy.

'Coast to coast' is a phrase that once held all sorts of excitement and now means almost nothing. Now we take the term 'world wide' 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.

When's the last time you heard the quaint phrase 'in a family way?' It's hard to imagine that the word 'pregnant' was once considered a little too graphic, a little too clinical for use in polite company So we had all that talk about stork visits and 'being in a family way' or simply 'expecting.'

Apparently 'brassiere' is a word no longer in usage. I guess it's just 'bra' now 'Unmentionables' probably wouldn't be understood at all.

I always loved going to the 'picture show,' but I considered 'movie' an affectation.

Most of these words go back to the '50s, but here's a pure-'60s word I came across the other day - 'rat fink.' Ooh, what a nasty put-down!

Here's a word I miss - 'percolator.' That was just a fun word to say. And what was it replaced with? 'Coffee maker.' How dull. Mr. Coffee, I blame you for this.

I miss those made-up marketing words that were meant to sound so modern and now sound so retro. Words like 'DynaFlow' and 'Electrolux.' Introducing the 1963 Admiral TV, now with 'SpectraVision!'

Food for thought - Was there a telethon that wiped out lumbago? Nobody complains of that anymore. Maybe that's what castor oil cured, because I never hear mothers threatening kids with castor oil anymore.

Some words aren't gone, but are definitely on the endangered list. The one that grieves me most 'supper.' Now everybody says 'dinner.' Save a great word. Invite someone to supper. Discuss fender skirts.

Someone forwarded this to me. I thought some of us of a 'certain age' would remember most of these.


Just for fun, Pass it along to others of 'a certain age'!

[Alf S.]

Hi: Frederick... Did "Dash Board" dissapear along with "Nash Rambler"???
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Joe Z]

Where is Cosmo Topper or Dobie Gillis or My Little Margie???......... I'm sure they all remember

[ERIC B.]

I'm sad, too, that almost all the old folks are gone who would call the accelerator the 'foot feed.'

This has been replaced with the 'skinny pedal'. Re: "You can get up that rock ledge with enough skinny pedal" (4x4 jargon).

[Gina D.]

well..

I have more than one Fender hat, shirt, jacket, coffee cup, keychain, cigar cutter, beer glass, poster, coaster, calender, pen, badge, pin...

but I can truly say, I do not have a Fender skirt.

I think you hit on the one thing we DON'T market

[Coach George Jessup]

...but I can truly say, I do not have a Fender skirt....

Yep them manly truckers were not to keen on having any kind of "skirt" on their truck.

So they just became flaps, Fender Flaps, and of course the MUD FLAP

[Kurt & Ann K.]

Ha,
A '47 Buick Roadmaster had 'em. And they were a pain when the latch was frozen and it was necessary to install tire chains.

Kurt & Ann K.

[james kent]

Yup, Dad's 38 Chev had running boards. AND it was a 'Humpback'. We learned to drive ,By the seat of our pants' and you determined the speed by the sound of the tranny.
Remember
Number 90 gear oil to quiet the rear end.
Three on the tree
Four on the floor wasn't a party.
TC's, TD's and TF's
Whide whites
Chopped, Channeled, and Smoothed
California rake.
Woodies.

Keep em comming.

[james kent]

By the way I always thought that a 'Percolator was a mean 1/2 or 3/4 race flat head just a tickin away, and to Percolate' meant that you had the pedal down and were movin and groovin.

[Joseph Domingos]

While Im not from a very far back generation at all, my folks were old-timers, so I've heard a few things from the far past...hehe
For instance, my Mom use to sing a song called the 'Too Fat Polka'. I always thought she had made it up, until my elderly choir teacher mentioned it one day...hehe
She would also talk about wearing her poodle skirt when she was in high school.
She also use to sing a song called "Choc'late Ice Cream Cone". Anybody else remember that one? hehe
And when my mom would make out her grocery list, instead of butter or margerine, she would put the word OLEO on her list. Does anybody remember what that is? hehe
My maternal grandmother, who was born in 1912, showed me some ration stamps she had from WW2. She had stories of working in a TNT factory during the war, doing her part a la Rosy the Riveter.
Grandma also talked about making butter in a churn that you cranked as a kid. I wouldn't have believed her, but she had the churn up on a shelf in her kitchen, a big jar with this crank affair on top, and a propeller/paddle thing inside...

So who remembers any of that, huh? hehehe It's fun to share memories...

Joe

[Kurt & Ann K.]

Joe,,
I remember white "oleo" in a plastic bag with an orange capsule inside. One would break the capsule and massage the color into the contents.

James,
One of the moderators still has a TD with running boards.

Remember:
"dime" stores?
LifeSaver innertubes?
The jingle for the over-the-counter medicine, "Hadacol"?
When a piece of Bubble Gum was a penny.
Small wax bottles (like tiny soda bottles) with a sweet colored liquid inside?
So much school spirit that High School football games were played in the snow...and the school band played while it was snowing and the stands were packed full.
In Southern California... on Friday nights--cruising to Bob's Big Boy restaurants with "car hops" in Glendale or Van Nuys. So much traffic there was a policeman at each parking lot entrance. One car out, one car in. A/W Root Beer stands had "car hops" also.

Nostalgia,
Thanks for starting this Frederick,
Kurt & Ann K.

[Frederick L. Simson]

So much school spirit that High School football games were played in the snow...and the school band played while it was snowing and the stands were packed full.

I played Trombone in the band, and I remember marching in the front row... and putting the mouthpiece...er...(someplace warm)... during the game so my lips wouldn't stick to it when half-time came.

[Roger C H]

I played Trombone in the band, and I remember marching in the front row... and putting the mouthpiece...er...(someplace warm)... during the game so my lips wouldn't stick to it when half-time came.

We had a few wood clarinets crack in the cold during our high school band days.

Auto terms: remember Dagmars, split windshield Chevrolets, suicide doors, air cooled Volkswagens, chrome bumpers, Denver heads and horn rings? (and gasolline was 28.9¢ per gallon?)

Remember when you called the operator and told her who you wanted to talk to in a distant city and she would call you back in about 1/2 hour with your party on the line?

Remember when we didn't go through this bi-annual idiocy called 'daylight savings time?' I guess Hawaii and Arizona still don't. Maybe I'll move. EVERYTHING you buy nowadays seems to have a clock in it that has to be reset. I have 9 clocks to reset every 6 months.

Aah. The 'good old days.'

[Kevin K]

I have a 63 Impala Convert that has fender skirts, but I never use them, because they make the car look FAT.

[Will M.]

From Wikipedia:

"French chemist Hippolyte Mège-Mouriés invented a substance he called oleomargarine, the name of which became shortened to the trade name "Margarine". Margarine now refers generically to any of a range of broadly similar edible oils. The name oleomargarine is sometimes abbreviated to oleo.

Manufacturers produced oleomargarine by taking clarified vegetable fat, extracting the liquid portion under pressure, and then allowing it to solidify. When combined with butyrin and water, it made a cheap and more-or-less palatable butter-substitute."


FYI - My mother always referred to it by its full name - oleomargarine. In Ontario and most other jurisdictions the dairy industry insisted that oleo margaine be white with the yellow dye capsule so that the public would not be fooled into thinking it was real butter. I think one taste would let you know in any case.

BTW - to all those posting on this thread - thanks a bunch for making me feel old!

[Donna D.]

FYI - My mother always referred to it by its full name - oleomargarine.

My grandfather (a dairy farmer) called by its generic name: axle grease

Remember needing to get up to change the channel on the television? And TV was typically B&W, until you heard the bong-bong-bong sound that told you the show was going to be in "living color"? How about when you were the first family on the block to buy a television? Now, I have five TVs and two computers that I can use to watch video. AND, I can create my own television show... okay, so it's video on YouTube....

Memories

[Morgan]

well..

I have more than one Fender hat, shirt, jacket, coffee cup, keychain, cigar cutter, beer glass, poster, coaster, calender, pen, badge, pin...

but I can truly say, I do not have a Fender skirt.

I think you hit on the one thing we DON'T market

GD,

Do you work for Freddie Fender?

[Sandra Lair]

I distinctly remember at around age 3 when Daddy brought home our first TV. I watched through the picture window while he got it out of the back seat of the Studebaker. We only picked up one channel clearly (NBC) but could get the sound and "snow" on a couple of others. It seemed like most of the TV shows were westerns. I guess that's why I got hooked on horses!

Daddy had an expression I liked--he called toys "play-pretties."

I'm so glad I grew up when I did!

Sandra

[Roger C H]

The other day we ate at a real 'drive in' with car hops and everything. Wally's in Buckley WA. right on highway 410. It was good!

[Jim Stacey]

Do you remember Rumble seats, a fold up seat where the trunk would be. torpedo back cars, insul brick for the house, inner tubes for flat tires, 33 1/3 rpm records, Disk Jockeys, Teen Town on Saturday night admission was 25 cents. Cream top milk bottles, and Milk men who delivered glass bottles of milk to your door step. In winter, the cream froze and it lifted the paper cap right up away from the bottle and the first to get it got all the cream and everyone else got skim milk. Garbage collection that was actually picked up by the garbage men from the back yard. What about duck tail haircuts. Just a few more things from the past. Yours in Bolering. Jim