"Thirty Things that Need to Stage a Comeback"

[Pompidou]

The easiest way to get chess back into parties is to make it a drinking game - "When in Rome..." as they say. Captured piece point values to alcohol consumed. I don't really go for drinking games - I tend to have to be persuaded, but I do like chess (and beer). I'll see what my friends think next time they set up the beer pong table. Chess parties - almost an oxymoron these days, but they could be fun. Different, for sure. Who doesn't like different? Maybe the next Kasparov will owe it all to PBR.

 

[Steveb1]

I know manners has been mentioned several times here but what about ettiquette (maybe I missed it). The social graces of how to live, engage, and entertain. There were rules about what was socially acceptable and there was a line that was not crossed. That line has moved so far that I cannot even see it anymore.

 

[Bebop]

I'm not a fan of drinking games at parties either but...... chess at a party? I go to parties so I don't have to concentrate. After all, it is a party.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've never understood the sense of drinking games anyway -- how is being the first to end up throwing up on the floor fun?

Board games in general ought to make a comeback. Chess, checkers, parcheesi, Monopoly, whatever -- cheap, accessible fun for everyone.

 

[CharlieB]

I've never understood the sense of drinking games anyway -- how is being the first to end up throwing up on the floor fun?

Board games in general ought to make a comeback. Chess, checkers, parcheesi, Monopoly, whatever -- cheap, accessible fun for everyone.

And no batteries to repalce!

 

[Feraud]

I've never understood the sense of drinking games anyway -- how is being the first to end up throwing up on the floor fun?

Same here. I can understand young people getting their first taste of booze and overdoing it. The rest need to get a life.
I have the same disdain for "pre-loading". More of the same infantilism that needs to be left behind.

 

[Undertow]

I've never understood the sense of drinking games anyway -- how is being the first to end up throwing up on the floor fun?

Board games in general ought to make a comeback. Chess, checkers, parcheesi, Monopoly, whatever -- cheap, accessible fun for everyone.

Yes, and yes. lol

I never understood drinking games either. Why wait around to drink? Just drink. If you want to inebriate yourself so thoroughly as fall-down, smash-faced, then do it. No need to complicate matters with a thinly veiled game.

And I agree - we need more board games and card games to come back. I can't stand sitting around watching people get wasted with the TV on. I leave and come home to a nice book.

 

[Paisley]

I've never understood the sense of drinking games anyway -- how is being the first to end up throwing up on the floor fun?

Board games in general ought to make a comeback. Chess, checkers, parcheesi, Monopoly, whatever -- cheap, accessible fun for everyone.

When I was in high school and junior high, people would brag about getting so drunk they got sick or couldn't stand up. I was in the just-doesn't-get-it group.

I belong to a wine club now, and nobody--nobody--gets drunk at our soirees. We're part of the we've-got-a-life group.

 

[Mark D]

Silence needs to make a comeback. I think that we've lost the ability to deal with quiet. Technology has robbed us of it....turn everything off; the TV, radio, computer, and sundry other items and you'll still have the white noise of the fridge or various other appliances running in the background.

It's very hard to find quiet nowadays.

 

[Michael Carter]

I would like to see suits & ties and dresses for the ladies aboard commercial aircraft. Eateries too for that matter.

Too bad I'm not running my own airline.

 

[CharlieB]

I belong to a wine club now, and nobody--nobody--gets drunk at our soirees. We're part of the we've-got-a-life group.

Seems the more you have to live for, and the less time you hav to enjoy it, the better choices you make - or one would hope!

 

[Edward]

Edward, the CCC is short for the Civilian Conservation Corps. What it pretty much did is put men & young boys to work during the Great Depression. I have to agree with Lizzie in that it should come back.

http://artofmanliness.com/2010/01/0...ion-corps-training-a-generation-in-manliness/

Ah! Thanks.

What bugs me most about it is the idea that *every moment of our lives* has to be filled with some sort of brain-scrambling multimedia barrage. When I go to a baseball game, I go there to see baseball. I keep a scorecard, I follow the progress of the game, and between innings I might discuss what's going on with the friend who's with me, or chat with someone in the next row, or whatever. I don't need music I wouldn't be caught dead listening to of my own free will pounded into my ears, I don't need migraine-inducing HD screens flashing promotional announcements at me from every direction, and I don't need to be told when and how to cheer.

If I wanted to go to a rock concert, I'd be annoyed if people started playing baseball between sets. So I certainly don't want a rock concert stuck in the middle of my ball game.

I know what you mean. I stopped going to a lot of bars back in Belfast because they played music so loudly all night that you couldn't converse (or even hear the music properly without it distorting...). I can sit at home and not talk to my mates for free... It also grates on me when I go to a concert and between sets and even after the headliner they put on recorded music. Cheapens the experience somehow.... and again robs one of one of the few chances to discuss it all night.

 

[Geesie]

A lot that I agree with, of course, but there are some things that seem debatable.
Road Trips
I've driven from Virginia to California, Missouri to Oregon, and round-trip California to Missouri twice. Unless you have a LOT of time for side routes, most of the country is extremely boring.
Lunch as opposed to brunch
This is a problem? I don't know anyone who goes to "brunch" more often than lunch.
World-tour honeymoons
I think that this has not gone anywhere, but that people who couldn't afford a travel honeymoon at all now can but certainly not a world tour.
Manual cameras
I appreciate the art of film photography, but I have so many more nice pictures since I went digital than I would have before. Film is expensive.
Supper clubs
As mentioned above, these never existed for the majority of people.
Discussion Societies
Let's face it: modern labor relations mean that people are moving around a lot. The internet lets us keep in contact with our friends despite job-chasing. I'd rather maintain an internet discussion circle than lose a real one every time someone moves.
Picnics
What, these went away? When? Nobody told me.
Evening walks
Ditto

And now to address individual comments...

2. Cheap, unpretentious, non-ironic lunch counters.

You would love the Courtesy Diner in St. Louis. It looks like something out of the 1930s because it is. It's not "retro" - they just haven't changed anything. The food is not top-notch but it's cheap. The surroundings are a bit dingy because when you're open 24/7 for many decades, there isn't a lot of time to keep the place sparkly. Last time I was there, the other people included an old man with a newspaper and cigarette, a young couple, and a couple 14 year old girls in soccer gear.

4. Ball games with no rock music between innings, no costumed mascots, no flashing scoreboards, and no shopping malls under the stands.

Oh that would be lovely...

Hat check girls (or boys)

I understand why places don't have hat checks these days but I cannot fathom why they don't have coat checks. My wool overcoat does NOT belong hung on the back of my chair.

Local businesses that used to thrive in our town like the shoe repair place, the dry cleaner, the deli, the local movie theatre, the barber, even the TruValue store

This is why I prefer city to suburban living. I have a local shoe repair, dry cleaner, and barber within a 10 minute walk. I looked for these things when I picked the place.

Widebrim, Amen to only wearing fatigues (or BDUs, or whatever the current acronym is) when in the field or working in a job where it's an appropriate uniform. Sometime during Desert Shield the USAF seems to have decided that Hey! We're warfighters! We should wear go-to-war uniforms as the uniform of the day no matter where we are stationed or what our actual job is! So it didn't matter if you were sitting in a computer room or finance office in a base stateside, the uniform of the day was BDUs. Most places it was assumed you were either meeting a board or in trouble if you were seen in blues. I really disliked that.

Yes, why would you wear cammies in an office stateside? Are you trying to blend in with the furniture? What really irks me is how the Army has decided that since we're at war (against terrorism), and therefore to promote unity with those in war zones, even recruiters should now wear ACUs. I'm not sure if the other branches are doing that, too, but it is ridiculous. If I were a young guy looking to go into the service, I would be impressed by an Army NCO in his Class B or A Dress Blue Uniform, with ribbons, polished low-quarter dress shoes, and service cap, not a field uniform.

I am still waiting until the last possible moment to switch to the Navy NWUs (aka "aquaflage"). I think I'm the last man in the fleet still in wash khakis. I work (part time these days) on a ship, doing office work, technical work, and industrial work. Not field tactical manuevers. At least the Navy considers it a working uniform not appropriate for wear in public and requires at least the service uniform.

My contribution:
Home cocktail parties
Where you dress up. Dinner jackets. Cocktail dresses. You drink and talk and play music. Where the bar is the center of the social movement, not a TV.

Drinking Songs
The invention of the jukebox seems to have convinced the masses that just because they couldn't sing like a professional, they shouldn't sing at all. Public houses should be social, communal, participatory.

 

[CharlieB]

you make a good point, Geesie. Living in a more rural area, many of the the more "galmorous" aspect of the past never existed in our small towns.

The Courtesy Diner sounds great. I have a pet peeve about placing representing themselves as "diners" when they are not open 24/7.

If you can't get an omlette at 6:00PM, or a burger at 2:00 AM, it's not a real diner!

 

[Geesie]

Not to divert this thread into one about diners, but St. Louis also has the fabulous Eat-Rite Diner, situated downtown on what used to be Route 66 and serving blue collar workers on every shift since ~1940.

 

[Danny Ocean]

My contribution:
Home cocktail parties
Where you dress up. Dinner jackets. Cocktail dresses. You drink and talk and play music. Where the bar is the center of the social movement, not a TV.

Well said, thanks for the invite, I'll call a cab..........!

Danny O

 

[Steveb1]

Home cocktail parties[/b]
Where you dress up. Dinner jackets. Cocktail dresses. You drink and talk and play music. Where the bar is the center of the social movement, not a TV.

.

We did one last year on New Years Eve, Formal Invitations and all. It was a black tie event and I hired a piano player. I was amazed at what everyones interpretation of black tie were. Out of the 30 some people that attended, less than ten were dressed appropriately. People, especially young folks, don't know the definition of Black tie any more it seems.

 

[Lady Day]

Silence needs to make a comeback. I think that we've lost the ability to deal with quiet....It's very hard to find quiet nowadays.

I was going to say this. I so agree with you, but not only us being quiet, but our ability to gauge how loud we are around others. People seem to think they can, and often will be, as loud as they want to be at any time they want to be. People don't whisper anymore, just speak in a loud 'hushed' tone. People don't take the consideration to close a door slowly so it does not bang, or to walk quietly when its night time.

LD

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think it's all part of the same mentality that leads people to sprawl over two or three seats on the bus or have long conversations with their friends in the middle of the grocery aisle or take up as many parking spaces as they can get away with. Being as LOUD as they feel like is just another way of declaring "I'm entitled to take as much space as I want, and nuts to you." His Majesty The Almighty Individual strikes again.

 

[Geesie]

It is a pretty established American tradition.
Take a look at 50s car advertisements.
"You've made it in life - you deserve the biggest car you can get!"