I grew up in the 70s in California. Of course, we had our own vocabulary as all teens do. Here are just a few of the terms that I caught myself saying in the 70s. What about you?
Cool
Groovy
You’re such a spaz!
Dream on!
Far Out!
Hey man (of course you would say this to a girl or boy)
You know (after every sentence sometimes!)
like (Before every sentence!)
Right On!
For sure (were you from the Valley?)
airhead (a stupid person)
Bitchin’ (I don’t know how many signatures that are in my yearbook that say “Have a bitchin’ summer!”)
Bummer
Copasetic (very cool)
Dork or Dufus
Dude (for the surfers out there)
Fox or Foxy
Funky
Gnarly (another surfer term)
Gross
Hunk
Later
Neat
Peel Out
Rad
Reamed
Stoned
Narc (the undercover narcotics police at school)
Totally (another Valley term)
Tubular (surfers again)
Whatever
Yeah
Retarded
For the first time since the 1930s, American’s savings have been in the negative! According to the Federal Reserve Bank, only 41% of Americans save regularly and three-fourths of all households carry some debt.
It all started with the baby boomers. Credit was readily available and the baby boomers used it effectively. Houses, cars and other big purchases were really the only purchases made with credit. Then along came credit cards. At first it was very difficult to obtain a credit card. I remember how hard it was to get a Sears card! Eventually, though, anyone could get a credit card. It did not matter what financial situation you were in.
By 1981, Americans were saving 11% of their income and had 4% on credit cards. By the year 2000 the savings rate had fallen to ZERO and the percentage of income on credit card to 12%. Today we talk more about debt management then we do about saving money. According to experts, we have lost the “feel of money.” When we actually have to pay with physical money we tend to spend less then when we pay with credit.
Budgeting has become a thing of the past, but needs to be revisited. We tend to focus on the items that we WANT, not just the items that we NEED. I was caught in the debt cycle after one Christmas and was fortunate enough to get low rate loans to pay off the higher rate credit cards.
The easiest way I have found to save money is to set up a savings account at a totally different bank then your checking account. Have money deducted every pay period and transfered directly to the savings account. You will be surprised how quickly the money accumulates!
Now that the presidential candidates are coming out of the woodwork, I started wondered, whatever happened to the Whig Party?
The Whig Party was formed in 1832 to oppose the policies of President Andrew Jackson and the Democratic Party. The Whig Party believed that Congress should have more power than the executive branch and they wanted more modernization and economic development. They wanted more railroads, canals, and other improvements which proved useful in the development of the West.
The name came from the party of the English Whigs who favored Parliament keeping the king in check. The name was also used by the American Patriots during the Revolutionary War. These were colonists who favored an independent nation.
The Whig Party was only in existence for 24 years (1832 to 1856) but had some famous members including Daniel Webster, William Henry Harrison, Henry Clay, Zachary Taylor and Abraham Lincoln. Four Whig Presidents were elected – Harrison, Taylor, John Tyler and Millard Fillmore. Both Harrison and Taylor died in office and Tyler was expelled from the Party.
The Whig Party was eventually destroyed by defection to the Republican Party who was the strong anti-slavery party in the 1850s.
In January 2007, the State of Florida recognized the Florida Whig Party. The Whig party is back after a 150 year hiatus!
Since I did a post about Mikey from the Life Cereal commercials (remember he supposedly died from eating pop rock and drinking coke), I thought I would find out all about Pop Rocks.
Pop Rocks were first invented in and patented in 1956 by General Mills, but were not introduced to the public until 1975. Pop Rocks are a carbonated candy made from sugar, lactose, corn syrup and flavoring (yum)! They are made by mixing the ingredients and heating them until they melt. Then introducing pressurized carbon dioxide gas which gets trapped inside the candy.
When the Pop Rocks are placed in your mouth they come in contact with saliva which breaks down the candy and causes the carbon dioxide to be released. The result? Tiny bubbles popping inside your mouth!
The candy was discontinued in 1983 and the rights were bought by Kraft Foods in 1985 and re-marketed the product.
General Mills spent a considerable amount of money trying to debunk the old rumor that pop rocks mixed with cola could explode your stomach!
Betty Hutton passed away from colon cancer on March 12, 2007 at the age of 86. Just a month ago my daughters and I had watched her in the movie Annie Get Your Gun.
Elizabeth June Thornberg was born on February 26, 1921 in Battle Creek, Michigan. When she was two years old her father left the family and her mother went to work in Detroit. Her mother had a hard time finding work and instead opened a speakeasy (an establishment that sold alcohol during Prohibition. The bartender would tell the patrons to be quite and “speak easy”). Betty was very poor and her mother was an alcoholic. At nine she started singing publicly and at 13 she started singing with local bands. She went to New York at age 15, but could not find any work and returned to Detroit.
At the age of 17, Betty again returned to New York and was seen on Broadway. The following year she moved to Hollywood and was signed by Paramount. At 21 she starred in The Fleet’s In with William Holden, Dorothy Lamour and Eddie Bracken. She later starred in both musicals and comedies. In 1950 she starred in Annie Get Your Gun (taking over for Judy Garland) with Howard Keel. Her last film was in 1957 and her TV show The Betty Hutton Show only lasted a short while.
She played Miss Hannigan in Annie on Broadway for a short stint in 1980 and was interviewed for Private Screenings in 2000.
She retired from acting in Palm Springs, California. Betty was married briefly four times and had three children.
Sad. It always breaks my heart when someone, for reasons unknown, decides to end their own life. This is what happened on March 10, 2007 to stand-up comedian Richard Jeni. Jeni apparently shot himself in the face at his home and was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Jeni, who is listed as number 57 on Comedy Central’s top 100 stand-up list, was born in 1962 in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from Hunter College in New York City with Honors and a degree in political science. He was first noticed on a series of Showtime stand-up specials and appeared frequently on the Tonight Show.
He has appeared in three HBO specials and appeared in the movie The Mask with Jim Carrey. You can see some of his comedy over at YouTube.
Breck shampoo was founded in 1930 by Dr. John H. Breck, Sr. in Springfield, Massachusetts. The Breck company preferred to use real women as their models for advertisements and thus began the legacy of the Breck Girls. Artist Charles Gates Sheldon drew the first Breck girls for ads and was succeeded by Ralph William Williams in 1957. After Williams death in 1976, this style of advertising ceased. Breck is also remembered for sponsorship of the America’s Junior Miss contests.
The first Breck Girl was Roma Whitney Armstrong who was 17 in 1937. Anya Taranda was also a Breck Girl in 1937. It was until 1968 that another Breck Girl was introduced – Cheryl Tiegs. This started a long list of celebrity Breck Girls. Cheryl was followed by Cybill Shepherd, Jaclyn Smith, Kim Basinger and Brooke Shields. The last Breck Girl was Erin Gray in 1976.
In 1990, Breck was sold to the Dial Corporation. The Breck Girl ads are now in the advertising history records of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
Do you remember this? We had a few hanging in our home in California is the 1970s. They were bright yellow and attracted and killed files. The strips contained the chemical 2,2-Dichlorovinyl dimethyl phosphate. More commonly known as DDVP or Vapona. This same chemical was also used in flea collars and is an organophosphate insecticide.
The strip, which was first introduced in 1963, was discontinued in 1979 after one person allegedly died from exposure and others became sick. The chemical was later found to have a carcinogenic property and could possibly cause human birth defects.
New chemicals were being manufactured and introduced to the public in the 60s and 70s with little regard on the effect of human health. It was only later that some of these chemicals were found to be hazardous. I think I must of picked up those Shell No Pest Strips a dozen or more times! If I only knew then, what I know now!
Gym uniforms have definitely changed over the years! My first gym uniform was at middle school in 7th grade. It was a one piece cotton (not knit) green gym suit. It was so ugly and uncomfortable. We used to roll-up the shorts and arms just to be a little comfortable. In 8th grade we changed to twill shorts and green and white striped t-shirts. The shorts were so stiff and heavy.
On to High School. As a freshman we wore polyester shirts and shorts. The shirts were sleeveless and the material was that old 100% polyester that snagged and was just hideous. Eventually we changed to black shorts and black and white stripped t-shirts.
Today, my daughter, who is in 7th grade, is allowed to wear her own gym shorts and shirt. They have the option of purchasing a reversible t-shirt that is black on one side and gold on the other. The shirt is a little heavy but it is great for team play. The stuff they sell today to schools is much better at moisture management and much more fashionable! The variety is better and the gym shorts and shirts are actually made differently for girls and boys.
[tags]gym uniforms, high school, middle school, junior high school[/tags]
I had forgotten all about this public service announcement until Colleen brought it up! Do you remember the weird looking cartoon character with long arms and long legs that would sing about cheese on Saturday mornings during the commercial breaks from your favorite cartoons? His name was Timer and he was the same guy who told us all how to make juice pops by putting the juice in the ice trays and sticking toothpicks in them.
Time for Timer was an educational short cartoon that was played in between cartoons. The purpose of the cartoon was to teach kids about health and nutrition (of course they weren’t getting any exercise sitting around watching cartoons all morning).
If you do a search on YouTube on “Time for Timer” you find some of the old cartoons. Here is the cheese one:
[tags]television commercials, hanker for a hunka cheese, timer[/tags]
