Terms Which Have Disappeared

[tonyb]

“Flip side” meaning has expanded some. At least it has in my world.

“Catch you on the flip side” means pretty much the same as “see you later” or “until we meet again.” Among some, it has a religious connotation, an allusion to the hereafter.

My guess (and it’s only a guess) is that it originated in the citizens band radio using truck driver culture. “Catch you on the flip-flop” meant “we’ll resume our chat on the return trip, when our paths cross again.”

It’s been so long since I’ve seen or heard a CB radio that I’m left to wonder if the things are still commonly used. Hands-free cell phones (unlimited minutes!) and podcasts and satellite radio go a long ways toward occupying a long-haul driver’s mind, perhaps relegating the CB to the basket of bygone diversions.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I've encountered a lot of them who play them - it's more old fart collectors like myself in my experience that will hoard records and worry about condition - inevitably buying two of special recordings, one to play, one to keep good.... (I also intend to digitally back all of mine up in due course. The dirty secret is that digital sound *can*, all other things being equal, be as good as vinyl, but it has to be mixed to optimise being on digital, and it has to be of a high enough bit-rate to match vinyl quality...).

Wrong thread for this, but...yeah, digital *can* sound fantastic, just like analog can sound like a muffled mess. It's all about the source material and how it's prepared. Analog isn't necessarily better, it's just different, in a way that soothes my troubled soul.

 

[Edward]

Wrong thread for this, but...yeah, digital *can* sound fantastic, just like analog can sound like a muffled mess. It's all about the source material and how it's prepared. Analog isn't necessarily better, it's just different, in a way that soothes my troubled soul.

Yes - I saw a great video about it on youtube a while back. A lot of the technicalities were a bit over my head, but the basic premise that different mixes and approaches favour different tech and the significance of what was the "norm" when something was originally recorded and mastered is clearly much more significant than the normal format wars arguments allow for. Me, I do like the warmth of a good, old vinyl record though.... I think the ritual of putting it on is as much a part of it as anything for me.

 

[Zombie_61]

...It’s been so long since I’ve seen or heard a CB radio that I’m left to wonder if the things are still commonly used...

According to several websites, over-the-road drivers do indeed still use CB radios; local drivers, not so much, but some still do. For a lot of drivers that CB radio is an old friend, something that's difficult to give up on easily and they're used to using them. Other drivers say CB radios can be used where cell phone reception is unavailable; anyone who has ever experienced that "no signal" notification with their cell phone will certainly be able to understand that. And those radios appear to still be the best way to learn of to-the-second traffic conditions on any given stretch of highway. They're also apparently still widely used by over-the-road drivers in Australia.

 

[belfastboy]

“Flip side” meaning has expanded some. At least it has in my world.

“Catch you on the flip side” means pretty much the same as “see you later” or “until we meet again.” Among some, it has a religious connotation, an allusion to the hereafter.

My guess (and it’s only a guess) is that it originated in the citizens band radio using truck driver culture. “Catch you on the flip-flop” meant “we’ll resume our chat on the return trip, when our paths cross again.”

It’s been so long since I’ve seen or heard a CB radio that I’m left to wonder if the things are still commonly used. Hands-free cell phones (unlimited minutes!) and podcasts and satellite radio go a long ways toward occupying a long-haul driver’s mind, perhaps relegating the CB to the basket of bygone diversions.

Yep, CB radios are piled in the corner along with all those FAX machines....and I guess with the 'installed in car' cel phones as well.

 

[belfastboy]

According to several websites, over-the-road drivers do indeed still use CB radios; local drivers, not so much, but some still do. For a lot of drivers that CB radio is an old friend, something that's difficult to give up on easily and they're used to using them. Other drivers say CB radios can be used where cell phone reception is unavailable; anyone who has ever experienced that "no signal" notification with their cell phone will certainly be able to understand that. And those radios appear to still be the best way to learn of to-the-second traffic conditions on any given stretch of highway. They're also apparently still widely used by over-the-road drivers in Australia.

I imagine in Aus there are long stretches in the outback where the cel signal is non existent and having a break down potentially fatal.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We had a guy in my neighborhood who was a CB fiend in the '90s -- using an illegal linear amplifier to boost his signal to the point where it would violate any electronic equipment you happened to have going. I'd be transferring reels of tape, and then look over my work to find that his profane rantings about Vince Foster had somehow mixed in with the recording. He had a giant antenna in his back yard, and everybody knew who he was and couldn't stand him because he interfered with pretty much everything. But the FCC had closed down its regional monitoring station when the halitosic breath of industry deregulation blew its gentle zephyrs across the land in the late '80s, and nothing was done about him. Finally, he died, and while I'm sure at least someone in his family missed him, nobody else in the entire North End of our town did.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Me, I do like the warmth of a good, old vinyl record though.... I think the ritual of putting it on is as much a part of it as anything for me.

This is much of it for me as well. The tactile feel is a good part of the experience. I like open reel (reel to reel) for much the same reason. I like mechanical things in general, and seeing the wheels go round and round is hypnotic, in a good way. You can’t watch a download go around in a circle, so by default it’s inferior in my book.

 

[HudsonHawk]

…when the halitosic breath of industry deregulation blew its gentle zephyrs across the land…

Quotes like this are why I hang out here.

 

[Edward]

According to several websites, over-the-road drivers do indeed still use CB radios; local drivers, not so much, but some still do. For a lot of drivers that CB radio is an old friend, something that's difficult to give up on easily and they're used to using them. Other drivers say CB radios can be used where cell phone reception is unavailable; anyone who has ever experienced that "no signal" notification with their cell phone will certainly be able to understand that. And those radios appear to still be the best way to learn of to-the-second traffic conditions on any given stretch of highway. They're also apparently still widely used by over-the-road drivers in Australia.

I had a CB back in the eighties. There was a craze for them around 1983/4 - doubtless Convoy helped that. My cousin had one bought for him by our grandmother, as, in turn did I, as a 'you passed your 11+' present. My dad had it installed in a family car for a number of years; he found it really helpful for getting traffic news and 'on the ground' info if anything kicked off. No idea where it went. If I ever go back to driving (a small camper-type van with am electric motor is a retirement dream, if I can ever afford to retire), I'd definitely look into fitting something like that in it.

No idea how common they are in trucks these days; cabbies still use radio a lot over here, though the kicker for CB is probably the law here which bans the use of hand-held devices while driving. I have no quibble with that, but certainly CBs not shifting with that to some form of headset replacing the handheld will, I suspect, kill it off. Though cheap 4G and zoom / VOIP on the go will likely be the evolutionary replacement.

 

[Edward]

This is much of it for me as well. The tactile feel is a good part of the experience. I like open reel (reel to reel) for much the same reason. I like mechanical things in general, and seeing the wheels go round and round is hypnotic, in a good way. You can’t watch a download go around in a circle, so by default it’s inferior in my book.

Back in the early 90s I once had my parents thinking I was responding to some sort of Satanic message in a record. In actuality, I was trying to count to see if it really did go round 33 times in one minute....

 

[HudsonHawk]

Back in the early 90s I once had my parents thinking I was responding to some sort of Satanic message in a record. In actuality, I was trying to count to see if it really did go round 33 times in one minute....

That's pretty funny. Want to freak out a curious kid? Remind them that a point on the lable goes around 33 times in a minute, and a point on the edge does too, but the point on the edge has to travel a farther distance...yet the motor turns at one speed...

 

[Fading Fast]

That's pretty funny. Want to freak out a curious kid? Remind them that a point on the lable goes around 33 times in a minute, and a point on the edge does too, but the point on the edge has to travel a farther distance...yet the motor turns at one speed...

I didn't get that concept the first time I was shown it as a kid. It takes a little thinking (at leas it did for me) to get there.

 

[Harp]

^Earth equatorial circumference velocity relative to Arctic latitudinal velocity though tilted 23.5* .

Vinyl records were the way of the world when I was a kid.
Album amassing and a strong collection of singles de rigeur.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I didn't get that concept the first time I was shown it as a kid. It takes a little thinking (at leas it did for me) to get there.

Most people never get there. Or at least have no interest in getting there.

 

[Zombie_61]

Back in the early 90s I once had my parents thinking I was responding to some sort of Satanic message in a record. In actuality, I was trying to count to see if it really did go round 33 times in one minute....

Ahem. 33 and one-third times, if you please.

 

[Edward]

Ahem. 33 and one-third times, if you please.

That was the *really* tricky bit to count....

 

[Zombie_61]

That was the *really* tricky bit to count....

Oh, I don't know. A record album is round, and there are 360 degrees in a circle. Pick a spot on the outer edge of the album and mark it, go 120° to the left and right, make a mark at each of those points, and there you have it. Start the album, and count each time one of those marks spins past you for a minute. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[tonyb]

We had a guy in my neighborhood who was a CB fiend in the '90s -- using an illegal linear amplifier to boost his signal to the point where it would violate any electronic equipment you happened to have going. I'd be transferring reels of tape, and then look over my work to find that his profane rantings about Vince Foster had somehow mixed in with the recording. He had a giant antenna in his back yard, and everybody knew who he was and couldn't stand him because he interfered with pretty much everything. But the FCC had closed down its regional monitoring station when the halitosic breath of industry deregulation blew its gentle zephyrs across the land in the late '80s, and nothing was done about him. Finally, he died, and while I'm sure at least someone in his family missed him, nobody else in the entire North End of our town did.

I recall some people in the 1970s, during something of a CB craze, calling it “Children’s Band.” The insipid chatter (I was too familiar with an avid CB’er back then) became intolerable after a few minutes, tops.

In some ways it wasn’t so different from many an online forum these days.

If CB is now mostly limited to people in whose occupations there might be a practical use for it — long-haul truckers, for instance — I’d imagine the commentary would be considerably less inane.

I kinda regret never becoming a long-haul driver, now that certain unfortunate realities make it an impossibility for me. (A small trucking company was among the Old Man’s many failed business ventures, by the way.) I might have enjoyed it for a couple-three or four years, I think. And these days, what with cell phones and audiobooks and podcasts and satellite radio and all, I can see how it might be a pleasant and, dare I say “educational”?, way to pass the time. And I’m cool with solitude, too.

 

[tonyb]

L7

I suspect that most here are old enough to dig its meaning.