You know you are getting old when:

[LizzieMaine]

Perfect orthodontically-correct teeth are a prominent class marker in the US, at least since the 1980s. I didn't know any kids with braces when I was growing up -- I only ever saw them on television, and didn't understand what it was all about -- so I, and all the kids I knew, grew up with our natural crooked and oddly-spaced teeth, just like our parents and our grandparents (at least those who still had teeth -- my mother had lost a big chunk of her lowers to an infection when she was in her 20s, and would lose them all by her mid-forties.)

But the mass marketing of orthodontia over the past half-century or so has made "bad teeth" a sign of a poor upbringing, and therefore something that will "hold you back in life," so it's rare to come across a kid who hasn't worn braces at some point. Even we adults who grew up crooked and are beyond caring about it, get the orthodontic sales pitches when all we want is a cleaning.

 

[Fifty150]

The perfect smile. Same way that some people are obsessed with body image. Maybe it started with the toothpaste commercials. Or blame it on the video cassette. VHS VCR changed the USA in the 1980's. The 2 largest segments of the VHS market were home exercise videos and pornography. You couldn't tell the actresses apart. People had perfect bodies, perfect tans, perfect hair, and perfect smiles. It was also the decade that launched exercise clothes as street fashion, and fitness brands became mainstream. Rewind 1 generation. There were no workout videos in the 70's. At least none that I can recall. Nobody dressed to impress with gym gear. Porn actors did not shave body hair, had flab, left their socks on, and the men had those crazy "pornstaches".

 

[Turnip]

That hypermodernistic color TV…

 

[Zombie_61]

...There were no workout videos in the 70's. At least none that I can recall...

It's true that "workout" videos didn't become popular until the 1980s, but for people who were interested in guided exercise daily The Jack LaLanne Show aired from 1951 to 1985.

 

[Fifty150]

Before the VHS cassette, there were stag films. But nobody that I know had reel-to-reel cans of step aerobics.

 

[Turnip]

Some had canned Scandinavian Aerobics.

 

[Harp]

It's true that "workout" videos didn't become popular until the 1980s, but for people who were interested in guided exercise daily The Jack LaLanne Show aired from 1951 to 1985.

I was a Debbie Drake kid.

 

[Edward]

Maybe it was GBS, but it seems that no one has found anywhere he wrote it. Come to think of it, the guy who explained the "bad teeth" trope had the surname of McCann. He spoke with an English, not an Irish accent, so even if his people still carried a grievance over English behavior in Ireland, they must have been on the eastern side of the Irish sea for some generations.

If memory serves, it's one of those quotes I see attributed to him, Mark Twain and Oscar Wilde, but it's always had a ring of being more authentically GBS than the other two to me.

 

[Harp]

If memory serves, it's one of those quotes I see attributed to him, Mark Twain and Oscar Wilde, but it's always had a ring of being more authentically GBS than the other two to me.

Belloc and Chesterton we can also rule out for good measure. But I always enjoy reading the latter's
Wildean admonishment in Orthodoxy. Oscar, savant though he undoubtedly was nevertheless overstepped
bounds with his criticisim of my favorite poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
I can forgive his dislike for Whitman-rather odd, considering-but James spared no expense at his expense.
Cannot stand James. He was more insecure than Oscar. And that's saying a lot.

Supposedly rumor holds that a cockney London east end tart once approached GBS and proposed
coitus to conceive a beautiful child with intelligence. GBS declined, asking what if said offspring possessed
his looks and her mind. Seems the ticket for GBS.

 

[Zombie_61]

Some had canned Scandinavian Aerobics.

I never did. Do they taste anything like sardines?

I was a Debbie Drake kid.

Yeeaaahhhh. When I grew older I realized Mom wasn't watching Jack La Lanne for the exercise tips, so I don't think Debbie Drake would have had the same effect.

 

[Turnip]

Mnnaa, more like a solid edge of Surströmming I’d say.

 

[GHT]

Supposedly rumor holds that a cockney London east end tart once approached GBS and proposed coitus to conceive a beautiful child with intelligence. GBS declined, asking what if said offspring possessed his looks and her mind. Seems the ticket for GBS.

Try as I might I could not find any evidence of that incident, but whether it's fact or fiction it's a wonderful story.
Something similar to that as told by a catholic priest. Without any hint of embarrassment he explained that the "F" word profanity was actually an acronym that originated from a time when church and secular laws were, more or less, one and the same.
Those brought before the court charged with fornicating and subsequently found guilty, were known to be.
Found
Under
Carnal
Knowledge.
My suspicions are that it's total fiction, even though adulterers did go to prison. But the dead pan face of the priest and his believable tale made it sound so plausible, you want to believe, even when you have doubts.

 

[Harp]

Try as I might I could not find any evidence of that incident, but whether it's fact or fiction it's a wonderful story.
Something similar to that as told by a catholic priest. Without any hint of embarrassment he explained that the "F" word profanity was actually an acronym that originated from a time when church and secular laws were, more or less, one and the same.
Those brought before the court charged with fornicating and subsequently found guilty, were known to be.
Found
Under
Carnal
Knowledge.
My suspicions are that it's total fiction, even though adulterers did go to prison. But the dead pan face of the priest and his believable tale made it sound so plausible, you want to believe, even when you have doubts.

Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.

G.K. Chesterton

 

[tonyb]

Stitching down a hatband ribbon out on the deck (itty-bitty stitches) has me thinking I could benefit from a pair of readers.

 

[belfastboy]

Perfect orthodontically-correct teeth are a prominent class marker in the US, at least since the 1980s. I didn't know any kids with braces when I was growing up -- I only ever saw them on television, and didn't understand what it was all about -- so I, and all the kids I knew, grew up with our natural crooked and oddly-spaced teeth, just like our parents and our grandparents (at least those who still had teeth -- my mother had lost a big chunk of her lowers to an infection when she was in her 20s, and would lose them all by her mid-forties.)

But the mass marketing of orthodontia over the past half-century or so has made "bad teeth" a sign of a poor upbringing, and therefore something that will "hold you back in life," so it's rare to come across a kid who hasn't worn braces at some point. Even we adults who grew up crooked and are beyond caring about it, get the orthodontic sales pitches when all we want is a cleaning.

My parents both dirt poor prairie folk moved to the big city as young adults, caught the post WW2 economic rise with my father making decent money working the killing floor of a abattoir and my mom working the sausage line became 'aspirational'. My sister, the first born received the perks of their aspiration....piano lessons, elocution lessons, modelling class (she was a very pretty young teenager) and finally orthodontic work that cost my parents serious money in the 1950's. Me being the second born and a boy received nothing. But rather than feeling sorry for myself I was very grateful to be left the hell alone.........well except for the new shiny tricycle my sister received and my dad tiring of my whinging and the fights with my sister over my use of said tricycle bought me this rusty, piece of shit used bike. To this day I am resentful of that one......but all else amounts to nothing. I like my crooked teeth and I would have made a shitty fashion model!

 

[tonyb]

We’ve discussed unnaturally white teeth here before. I haven’t smoked in 15 years, brush my teeth daily, visit the dentist every now and then for cleaning, etc., and my teeth are still several shades removed from pure white. And that’s absolutely fine by me. So is a slightly sideways tooth on the lower front and the four fake teeth I take out before turning in for the night.

I could spend tens of thousands of dollars on implants and orthodonture and whitening and not find my visage any more appealing on account of any of it.

 

[GHT]

An amusing anecdote from work today. Is it unique to the UK or is it an international phenomenon. Your mother is cross with you, you have no idea that she is cross until you hear your full name called out at full volume. The fellow at work told that his name is John, not something you can extend, he's not a Jonathon, simply John. But when his mother went on the warpath it was: JOHN MICHAEL SIMPSON you get here this very minute. We all laughed, especially those who were Billy, WILLIAM! Bobby, ROBERT! Teddy, EDWARD!

What was so funny was that John Michael Simpson's son Danny, had transgressed over something and John's wife had called out: DANIEL! John told me that he had to turn away, he just couldn't prevent the smirk. It seems that behind every angry woman is a male who hasn't a clue what he's done wrong.

 

[Harp]

Is it unique to the UK or is it an international phenomenon. Your mother is cross with you, you have no idea that she is cross until you hear your full name called out at full volume... It seems that behind every angry woman is a male who hasn't a clue what he's done wrong.

Robert,
Semble qu'un certain fils ait recu des papiers legaux a Balmoral ce matin....

 

[Haversack]

You find the full-name, rising-volume send here in the US as well. Probably best demonstrated in the original Star Trek episode, Mudd's Women... HARCOURT FENTON MUDD!!!

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's especially threatening when it's yelled out the back door and also includes the words RIGHT NOW.