Open Thread Update: Morse Code, Cursive and other Outdated Skills
Last time, we asked about which of our life skills have become outdated. It’s clear that after the zombie apocalypse, folks our age will be the only ones who can make change, calculate percentages without a calculator, operate a cash register, drive a manual transmission, and tell analog time…among other more arcane skills…
I’d hardly consider it a life skill, but I can pin curl my hair….it was also common to see women at the market or running errands wearing scarves over rollers in their hair.
-Ali
When the EMP takes us back to the stone age, Ali and the rest of us will still have fabulous hair.
The three R’s
Dozens of readers mentioned cursive, and several readers mentioned using protractors, and compasses. Several folks mentioned their math skills and how to confound the youngsters.
I encountered a cashier who frowned when I proffered cash at the register because it was too difficult to make change (I’ve seen other youngsters need their phone calculator..)
-Donnal
And readers like Eric W. still use their trusty slide rule.
I still have my slide rule from high school and college, and, once in a while when I’m looking for something else in the same desk drawer, I get it out and work a couple of multiplication and division problems. Then I try to remember what I was looking for in the first place….
Eric W.
Former Kelly Girl Jeanne can do 120 wpm in Gregg shorthand, and others mentioned diagramming sentences and the joy of getting an actual hand-written note. And in a different type of reading, many, many readers mentioned the ability to read a paper map or use a compass. If civilization collapses, at least folks our age will know where to go and how to get there.
The Needle Arts
And when the Apocalypse comes, our readers will be warm and well dressed, too. Readers like Susan, Pam and others can knit and crochet; Nancy can use a darning egg, Pam can turn a shirt collar, and tons of folks can hem a skirt or repair a sock. Younger folks will be out of luck.
Think I’m exaggerating?
I asked the sales clerk for natural fabric. She asked, “what is natural fabric?”
Jeanne P.
The clerk at Target didn’t know what a thimble was.
Kinla
REALLY OUTDATED SKILLS
My outdated skill is copying morse code. Back in the 80’s I was in Army Intelligence and was a morse code interceptor [05H] in Berlin Germany. Not much call for that skill today.
-Ray A.
Reader Annie says she can hook a rug, and C. Menard can parallel park a car (probably with a manual transmission) without back up cameras. Susanne D added a litany of outdated skills including this one – anyone else ever heard of this?
And going way back, playing in my school’s Tonette Band! (do schools still even have these?)
And the Winner is…
But the winner of the Really Outdated Skills Open Thread comes from Nancy, with a comment that every woman our age will recognize:
Putting on a pair of nylons with a girdle/garter belt.
That’s it for now – wasn’t it fun? We’ll keep the comments open for more of your outdated skills – because who knows when they’ll come in handy someday!
ORIGINAL COLUMN:
Many many years ago, I was a switchboard operator at my college. I now sigh in recognition when I see a switchboard scene in an old movie – because once, a few years ago, I was watching an old movie with a younger friend who asked me what the heck was going on.
Analog Time
I was thinking about other now useless or obsolete skills recently when my good friend, Susan, a linguistics professor for a local college, told me that she told her students to take a break and come back at a “quarter past two.”
They all came back at 2:25pm.
“They thought I meant a quarter, like 25 cents” she said, “they didn’t understand the analog concept of quarter past the hour.” Later my brother told me his son, ten years ago, put a clock in a credenza and none of this children (the youngest was 12 at the time) could tell the time. (My nephew quickly brought them all up to speed.)
Other outdated skills
The end of cursive? How to use a manual transmission? Sewing at home? (A colleague has mentioned that there’s a home sewing renaissance, partly due to Covid boredom and partly due to the ridiculous prices for clothing with cheap fabric and minimal style or substance.)
YOUR TURN
What ‘outdated skills and arts” do you have? What skills do you see on the way out? Share your thoughts and observations in the comments.
Virge Randall is Senior Planet’s Managing Editor. She is also a freelance culture reporter who seeks out hidden gems and unsung (or undersung) treasures for Straus Newspapers; she writes frequently on Old School New York City and performs at open mic readings throughout New York City. Send Open Thread suggestions to editor@seniorplanet.org.
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Comments
In 1955 I was a tuxedoed Elevator Operator in a fancy Evanston Illinois apartment building. I could stop almost dead-level without an adjusting tweak.
My early jobs during my college years included keypunch operator and switchboard operator. My first post-college job was as a bank systems analyst working in Assembler code. Decades later, I taught HTML classes to wannabe web page designers. How things have changed!
Like many my age, I was born into a barely past WWII family. We didn’t call it “prepping” back then, but we learned to grow and preserve food for the winter; sew and mend our clothing; fix what breaks; always saving for the future. I still do these things because it was bred into me.
I’d hardly consider it a life skill, but I can pin curl my hair. Back in the day, there were special clips made for this purpose. I don’t know if they’re still made since the curls can also be formed using bobby pins, which can be found in stores and online today. I was a young teenager when I learned this skill. During that time, it was also common to see women at the market or running errands wearing scarves over rollers in their hair. Who remembers the movie/song “Wives and Lovers”?
I have a bag of pin curl clips. Hair is too short for them. But they have been repurposed-quite a few years ago-to hold bindings when I hand finish the edge of a quilt.
Hmmm. Let’s see. I can draw on real paper, add real pigments like acrylic and watercolor instead of using a computer, read an analogue clock, use a rotary phone, write in cursive, and write in full sentences instead of using initials for everything. I also know the difference between “less” and “fewer”. Does that count?
I love your “less and fewer” comment. I try to accept language changes but that one really bugs me.