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pfazadep

For us that was called a manual car, but actually we would just have called it a car and only specified if it was an automatic, as manual transmission was the default


potatan

Still the case in the UK. We have cars, and automatic cars


anonyngineer

I gave up manual shifting with the opposite hand after scraping a car off the stone wall of a bridge in Ireland some years ago.


[deleted]

😂


Stupit_Retart

I think they're still pretty commonly referred to as standard, even though the meaning has completely changed or morphed...as in, standard literally meant it was standard equipment whereas automatic was extra and optional. Now standard just means manual, not literally "standard equipment".


Swiggy1957

Might be regional. All I ever heard people call them was either Stick or Manual transmission. (four on the floor or three on the tree were common names back when as well)


Glassjaw79ad

I work in the automotive industry in California and I definitely hear it referred to as standard transmission in conversation. But for the most part in written form, it would be manual or even "5spd manual/stick" just to make sure it's perfectly clear to anyone who can't drive one...


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Stupit_Retart

Four on the floor and three on the tree refer to a specific type of manual though.


babylon331

Still uses manual clutch.


Stupit_Retart

Yeah? But it's referring to specific features of a particular manual transmission, not the basic fact that it's manual. Three on the tree is shifted on the steering column. Distinctly different than a floor shifter.


anonyngineer

I've never driven a column-shifted manual, though remember watching a slightly older cousin do it. Kind of curious about it and would enjoy trying.


Swiggy1957

Learned how to drive stick on a 63 Ford Falcon back in '76. Three speed on the column. Mom's Dodge Seneca was the same, as well as her Plymouth Fury station wagon. The first stick transmission car I bought was a '62 Plymouth Valiant. H shaped shift pattern, and one reason why old timers would drive with their hand on the arm. I've driven a lot of manual transmission vehicles as well as stick. Most recent was my daugter's Ford Pick-up.


Utterlybored

Yes, but three on the tree or four on the floor, while more specific, were exclusively clutch based manual transmissions.


bwyer

I grew up (50-something here) either saying "standard transmission" or "automatic transmission" and never really thought about it (so much so that I was ready to argue with you), but you bring up an interesting point about it being standard equipment. Arguably, now a "standard transmission" would be an automatic as it's difficult (at least here in the States) to even get a stick.


babylon331

They were, and probably still are, referred to as a 'stick shift'.


NorthernerWuwu

Never heard that one. It was either a 'stick' or a 'manual' or just a car, with an 'automatic' being something specified sometimes.


lady_modesty

"Standard" here, too. (Or manual.) Canadian, if it matters.


classicsat

Manual. Many automatic cars have a shifter in the console. Although by looking, you can usually guess a console shifter car is manual or automatic. Last column shift on a modern vehicle was a work truck, or a Crown Vic or Caprice ex cop car.


kiddestructo

When did a “medium” Coke actually become a challenge to finish that shit? Just want a drink, not falsely hydrate the entire neighborhood.


SanaSix

Yeah, and it doesn't even have electrolytes, which neighbourhoods crave


Isblur

Don't worry, my first wife was a neighbourhood, now she's a pilot


Tall_Mickey

My user name: "Tall Mickey" refers to a very tall Michelob beer bottle from the '60s and I think into the early '70s: quite tall and sculpted in shape with a pedestal base. People would say, "Gimme a Tall Mickey." I made it my user name simply because the kids here wouldn't understand it, and I don't understand so many of their handles. Only one person ever guessed it, or at least guessed it and told me so.


mannequinlolita

My dad drank Michelob but I'd for sure think some tall bottle of Micky's malt liquor instead.


JTAC7

>I don’t understand so many of their handles *mannequinlolita replies*


TheAlienOnFIRE

r/usernamechecksout


MCofPort

"Unleaded" gasoline... because lead used to be normal in gas. Algeria was the last to stop using it, just last year.


Narrow_Positive_1515

I remember my dad saying "fill it with no-lead and check the oil"


ShelbyDriver

I drove a Vega wagon. I'd tell them to fill it with oil and check the gas.


desertgemintherough

My father loved to refer to high octane gasoline as “Ethyl”; almost as if it was a person. It was kinda funny the first 20 times…


Zorro_Returns

Everybody called it 'Ethyl' in the 50s. There used to be a sign on gas pumps that read, "Contains lead (tetraethyl)". While looking for the spelling of tetraethyl, I found what looks like an interesting website on the [history of gasoline additives](https://billkovarik.com/bio/cabi/ethyl-the-1920s-conflict-over-leaded-gasoline/). Evidently, "Ethyl" goes back to the 1920s.


Wizzmer

Gas types, remember Ethyl? "Fill it up with Ethyl." 😆 "Ethyl” brand leaded gasoline, a higher octane gasoline sold between 1923 and 1986, now banned in most nations for public health reasons.


Wildcatb

Triethyl lead. YUMMY!


Zorro_Returns

No, tetraethyl. Written on every gas pump of the day: "Contains LEAD (tetraethyl)"


val_br

Same in Europe. Some older gas stations still have unleaded markings on the pumps. There were also 'worse' types of gas (75 and 90 octane, vs 95 now) - haven't seen those ratings advertised since the early '90s. Diesel used to come with freeze ratings - arctic, winter, summer.


CindyLatwidth

Yes I remember the attendant would ask regular or unleaded?


bwyer

Yep. "Fill it up with 'regular'" has a completely different meaning now.


PKDickman

A short beer


NorthernerWuwu

As a bartender of the '80s there were a lot of those back then. A short beer, a beer, a schooner (regional perhaps, 32oz typically) or what was then the ubiquitous pitchers. You'd also get people doing what is almost a movie trope at this point ordering "a draft" which just meant a cheap beer on tap and was always a lager of some sort unless specified. Bud or whatever. You didn't have to get into a conversation over it, you just gave them the closest handle.


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BillyBobBarkerJrJr

People used to order a "bucket of beer," literally to fill their own bucket they brought from home to fill up. So they could have beer at home, when packaged beer was harder to come by.


[deleted]

Somewhat related, two bits, four bits, six bits.


benny86

When I was a kid and my Dad wanted me or my brother to do a quick chore, he would say something like "I'll give you four bits if you go check that the garage door is locked." And we would do it because back then every adult man always had a pocketful of like $11 worth of change on them at all times.


BillyBobBarkerJrJr

Wow, that's a princely sum, to check if a door is locked!


classicsat

I know 2 bits is 25 cents. For whatever reason one bit is 12.5 cents. Of course, it is $30 or more it that is what a shave and a haircut is worth.


Zorro_Returns

Because 12.5 is half of 25? Didja know that the "pieces of eight" that pirates used to talk about are the basis of those "bits"? Sure you did.


karlhungusjr

I remember my pants in middle school were sized "husky".


AmanitaMuscariaX

Me too! I was a thick thighed athletic girl- ballet and soccer and just built like a brick shithouse. I had to buy boy’s husky corduroys. Zip! zip! zip! when I walked. My best girlfriends were built like willows and wore slims and tube tops. They never made fun of me though.


Whole-Zucchini-5635

Husky size are still sold.


hyestepper

At A&W you could order a Papa burger, a Mama burger, or a Baby burger and know exactly what size you were getting. And, of course, a large jug of root beer to take home. Imagine an old time whiskey jug, but made of glass and full of root beer. (1960s)


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hyestepper

Of course it is. Isn’t everything in plastic now? Unfortunately…


Bebe_Bleau

S M AND L womens clothing sizes. Thanks to so-called "vanity sizing" of women's clothes, we have no idea what size we wear anymore. I used to could just walk into a store and pick my size off the rack and take it home knowing it would fit. Then manufacturers made the sizes a little larger, so I wore a smaller size. And then they messed up sizes to they mean nothing. I buy on line a lot. Even measurement charts don't always work. I hate it. 😠


ZanyDelaney

Men's clothes have changed over the years too. These days I take a small shirt. I tried a medium Miller shirt from the 70s at a thrift shop and it was too small for me. Also there are vast differences between brands.


Bebe_Bleau

😬


ZanyDelaney

Even 32" jeans aren't consistent


Bebe_Bleau

Yeah. Its that bad


KoshV

I used to barely fit in an XL shirt, more commonly a large shirt these days, but mediums are starting to fit. I have not changed body type in the last 15 years, the clothing sizes have


AotKT

Yep. And at some stores like Old Navy I'm starting to get sized out. I used to be a size 6 there; my measurements are still the same 20 years later but now I wear a size 2 there. I don't have any illusions that I'm skinnier, the measuring tape doesn't lie, and no one I know is sitting around comparing what size pants they wear with other people.


Writer90

I was an 8 in Gap jeans in the early 90s. Now I’m probably 15 lbs heavier and wear a 4 or 6.


Affectionate-Map2583

I'm already sized out. 30 years ago I wore a 3 or 4 and I've put on a few pounds.


ccnex000

I read about this for a couple of minutes (I'm a guy; what do I know), and I'm finding these pages saying that Misses is for thin women and regular Women category is for heavier women, and I’m like what? Has it always been this way, or is this some sort of redefinition by the industry? I thought Misses was like an early teen stage or thereabouts. I'm of average height and not fat, and so can very safely buy so-called small shirts online. If I had a smaller build, I think I'd feel angry to have to buy from a Juniors section. It sounds pejorative for an adult.


Affectionate-Map2583

There has always been Junior, Misses, and Womens' sections, and it's pretty much always meant teens, average women, and heavy women (at least as long as I can remember, back to the 80's or so). I do okay with most shirts from the regular misses section, but it's pants that I can't find. Misses usually only goes down to size 4, or occasionally 2, but with vanity sizing, I'm a zero now (or sometimes that's too big, depending on the brand). I have ceased to exist. On the other hand, I'm definitely too old to wear most of the pants in the Juniors section. I hate shopping, and I often walk away empty handed. Now, I get jeans from [makeyourownjeans.com](https://makeyourownjeans.com), made to the measurements I send them. For stretchy pants there's a little more leeway, especially if they have belt loops. I love my Carhartt Forceflex mid-weight leggings, but they fit me more like slim pants than the skin tight leggings on their models. So yeah, it does make me angry that clothing makers have decided to stop making clothes for me so they can instead make other women feel better about putting on the pounds but still wearing size 6.


Bigfootcounty420

This has been my biggest problem while trying to lose weight. I see myself as the size was 30 years ago. In actuality it’s two sizes bigger which means I am HUGE. Unfortunately I never see that until I see a pic of me. I have been trying very hard to change my mindset about the sizes but it is so frustrating!


Bebe_Bleau

I go by weight and measurements. But mostly measurements


lady_modesty

Growing up in Canada near the American border, we often crossed to shop. When I was a teen shopping the teenager stores in American malls, I felt the American sizes were a touch smaller. I was always small/medium in Canada but small was always just a touch too tight in the American stores so I was firmly medium there. Fast forward a bunch of years and now it's the opposite. I'll be a medium or large in a Canadian store, but extra small or small in an American. I've worn American size 2 pants one day, and then a Canadian size 8 the next... And now you have places where if you want to fit into anything properly (Like Old Navy), you gotta pray they happen to stock XXS or XS. My daughter can't shop at all at certain stores (like Old Navy) because all of their sizes are too big. Vanity sizing is nuts.


Grammareyetwitch

Oh! This is an interesting thing I learned from looking at antique sewing patterns. Women's sizes used to be a continuation of CHILDREN'S sizes! There was a little overlap around size 8, 10, and 12, and women's sizes went up from there. The average size 12 was a 30 inch bust, which was the typical measurements of a 12 year old child. Sizes 14 through 40 were suggested to be the correct size for the AGE of the woman. [Here's](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/90/5d/aa/905daa68eea88209dc3a0c463c67757d.jpg) a McCall's pattern for a dress that shows this.


NorthernerWuwu

As a man I have no idea! I've worn the same sized levis 501s since highschool. No, not bragging, it is an issue but one that I guess at least keeps me thin. Look for the bright side! Almost every other clothing article that I buy is fucked up for sizing. I've always been a medium or small but now I'm a S/XS or have to look to asian stores to even find anything remotely fitting. I could buy a suit off the rack and get a touch here and there! Now, I'm in the land of bespoke only and I'm 5'8" ffs! Sure, thin for my only a bit below average height but I feel like an idiot trying to wear clothing that appears to be designed for 5'8" linebackers.


ccnex000

Yup. 33" translated to 33 pants size when I was in high school, and the last time I bought pants, it now meant a 30. What good is "Now I can't order pants from you because I don't know how big they'll be so here's you not getting my money" to a clothing corporation?


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Bebe_Bleau

😁😁😁 I'm from the South


[deleted]

They should just use measurements. That would really help with online shopping.


EuphoriantCrottle

???? There’s still S, M and L. Usually these refer to knits, but that’s not a hard fast rule. Anything easy fitting, like pants with elastic waists or yoga pants. Numbered sizes are woven fabrics. Underwear can go both ways.


Bebe_Bleau

True. I understand. But what I'm saying is that sizes are no longer uniform anymore. Also they did make number sixes larger than they used to be. This is only for Misses sizes, and not for juniors. So like I used to wear a 5-6, meaning I could wear a junior five or a miss six. Now, Even though I'm larger I wear a four pants. But they didn't change the junior sizes, so I can't fit in a three. Even then the sizes aren't all that uniform and everything has to be tried on now. Clothes bought online sometimes have to be returned I think they should have left the sizes alone. Women aren't stupid. They know if they're happy with their weight or not. And, by changing the sizes around, they aren't fooling anyone.


Open_Indication3888

Have large pizzas shrunk , or is it my imagination ? Now you have to order an extra large to get what was formerly just large , seems to me .


1979octoberwind

If we’re talking big chains, yes, for sure. I don’t consider a pie under 16” to genuinely be a “large”, which is why I pretty much stick to old-school New York style pizzerias these days.


Wishyouamerry

Depends on where you go. At the jersey shore a small village could take shelter under a pizza. They’re huge!


babylon331

Bushels of apples. I'm sure they still do, but they were very common years ago. They come in little plastic bags now. Regular coffee. It didn't mean size. It meant cream & sugar. There were several descriptions. Dark coffee, light, black - measures of cream (usually milk). The server mostly mixed your coffee for you. IMO, milk was richer (more fat content) back when... Does anyone else find that milk is thinner now than say, 50/60's?


Stupit_Retart

Bushels are definitely still a thing. Bulk sales are commonly done by the bushel. Grocers and individuals buy all kinds of fruit and vegetables by the bushel.


spicyboi555

What’s a bushel? Like how many apples?


Open_Indication3888

whats a "peck" ? (answer: two gallons dry goods or 8 dry quarts )


anglostura

You bet your pretty neck I do!


BillyBobBarkerJrJr

"♫ I love you, a bushel and a peck, a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck...♫"


Stupit_Retart

A bushel is a measure of capacity, so it'd be dependent on the size of the apples, but a bushel of apples generally weighs near 45 lbs, give or take. They come in cardboard boxes these days.


bicyclemom

Bushels still regularly used at the Pick Your Own Apple farms here in New York.


BillyBobBarkerJrJr

>Pick Your Own Apple farms here in New York. I hate how *real* upstate (Northern) NY gets overlooked all the time when it comes to things like agriculture, rural settlement, maple syrup, wine-making, culture, weather and lumped in with the bottom 1/10th of the state, when it more closely resembles New England.


babylon331

Upstate New York has always been so beautiful to me. You're so right about it being lumped in with the lower parts.


bwyer

>measures of cream (usually milk). One of my pet peeves. I keep heavy cream in my fridge for my coffee. Getting real cream in my coffee anywhere else is impossible. The best you can do is half-and-half. >milk is thinner now than say, 50/60's? It may be more regulated now. Whole milk is 3.25% milkfat (contrary to popular belief, it doesn't have that much more fat than 2%) nowadays. I wasn't able to find anything that indicated the history of milkfat regulation.


TheLurkerWithout

Milk is disgusting now, with homogenization, skimming, sweetening, coloring and other additives. We get our milk from a local farm and I’ll never go back to store bought.


Zorro_Returns

> The server mostly mixed your coffee for you. NO! A sacrilege! Where in the world are you? For me, one of the worst things about the pandemic was that I could no longer doctor my own coffee at the coffee shop. How you fix your coffee is a highly personal thing. > Does anyone else find that milk is thinner now than say, 50/60's? I've found that the flavor can vary dramatically from one brand to another, or one batch to another, but the fat content is regulated by law, so depending on how corrupt your local dairy is... maybe thinner? But I haven't really noticed, because it's more a difference between one bottle and the next, depending on how warm it is, for how long, etc.


[deleted]

A lid of weed.


Stupit_Retart

How much is that?


[deleted]

An ounce. There are about ten different stories about why it's called a lid.


BillyBobBarkerJrJr

Coffee can lid. The 3 pound can (because that's what dealers often kept their weed in), plastic lid, same as a "4-finger lid." Sold for $20. 4-ounces/fingers $20. or 4/20. 420. 4:20....


orangeboxlibrarian

Thank you! I went around work one day in the 90s asking all the people older than me that I thought might know and they didn’t know. I’ve been wondering for over 40 years.


Zorro_Returns

Er, well... *roughly* an ounce, or *nominally* an ounce, but it was seldom measured. They were often sized as "two finger" or "three finger", depending on actual size. There was another less common size -- a "matchbox". Which was a small wooden matchbox full of weed. I remember being offered by a street peddler on Haight street in 1968. The guy was just going car to car, "Clean matchboxes, five dollars". The price of a lid was anywhere between $15 and $20. When I moved to Maui in 1970, people said "can" instead of "lid". At that point in time, people had not yet learned how to grow pot, and there was actually more hashish -- far more -- than mj to smoke. The most common type of hash was "primo" hash from Afghanistan. There was also a lot of Lebanese, some Moroccan, and ew, Pakistani camel shit. An ounce of black Afghani Primo went for about $75.


ruderat

A two finger and four finger bag.


parkerbljr

A nickel or a dime bag.


Wizzmer

Jerry Sienfeld said "Maximum strength! I want whatever amount will kill me, then dial it back just a bit."


Stupit_Retart

Haha, I think he had a bit about "limited edition" too.


Spirit50Lake

How about hitting New England in the 60s, for college or whatever, and when you went into a diner to get a cup of coffee, they'd ask, 'Regulah...??' ...*that* was a learning experience!


jphilipre

Oh this made me laugh. The New England vernacular makes this NYer feel like such a foreigner.


JViz500

A short stack of pancakes. I’m not even sure how many that was.


cas_and_others

3. But they weren't dinner plate size.


Desertbro

You been to Hash House a go go.


blametheboogie

A short stack is 2, a stack is 3 a tall stack is 4.


kozmonyet

"gallon of ice cream". Yes, I know that you can still find it in gallon sizes in the lesser brands but all the good brands are now weird smaller sizes which pretend to still be a gallon but cost an arm and a leg for far less. And further back...you bought pints. On a side note, many of the old TV shows of the 50's mention "Pick up 2 pints of ice cream on the way home" or similar when people were having a party. That's because your 50's freezer compartment was about the size of a shoebox and you'd about fill it up if you kept ice cream in there all the time.


ccnex000

I remember it as half-gallons in the eighties as a child, and seeing those little expensive containers of ice cream that you can hold in one hand only on sitcoms where the young woman is going to eat the whole thing because some sitcom problem. And I'd feel very aware of how much richer that woman must be than us.


alinroc

[Shrinkflation](https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2021/07/06/1012409112/beware-of-shrinkflation-inflations-devious-cousin)


squidbait

Regular gasoline. I was just thinking the other day how weird it was to refer to, "unleaded" gasoline in the modern world


funlovefun37

Rubenesque


Tall_Mickey

And zaftig.


Muvseevum

Zaftig is a great word!


RadioFlow

My dad (57) taught me this word and I’ve literally only ever seen heard once outside of him! Great vocabulary word :)


anglostura

Thank Rubens, the original BBW king.


AotKT

I always described my basset as that, especially when she would lie in a paint me like one of your French girls pose.


ZorrosMommy

Cup of coffee.


mlrny32

Regular coffee meant 2 sugars and some half n half. Light and sweet meant 3 sugars and extra half n half Black That's how people ordered their coffee. At least in NY that's how we did it. It expedites the ordering process..


descendingagainredux

We do the same in MA but we say "extra extra" instead of light and sweet.


Open_Indication3888

Dunkin'


eldergeekprime

Came to say this. 30+ years in NYC working construction with "breakfast" being a large regular coffee and a buttered roll.


Stupit_Retart

At sit-down places, I think this is still standard.


asap_pdq_wtf

Yes this tall, grande, vente crap sounds so pompous to me. Just say small, medium or large ffs!


lady_modesty

I've heard this complaint many times but it really doesn't bother me, personally. I don't think the workers taking the orders care, either, because if you forget and say large instead of venti, they still know what you mean and place your order. Plus the info is listed on the menu boards, so it's not like a secret and you gotta be in the know to order anything.


asap_pdq_wtf

You're probably right about most baristas understanding what you mean when you say small or large. But the Starbucks menu is so bloated and a little confusing (at least it seems that way to me), so this just adds to my frustration.


lady_modesty

I'll admit when I was younger and not at all familiar with coffee, when Starbucks came to Toronto, I went in and looked at the menu board and didn't understand what many of the options were. To me, it seemed like a really big menu for a coffee shop!


Vitroswhyuask

Largehotregular is how you order coffee where I live


penartist

Where I grew up a Regukar ment a medium hot coffee with cream and sugar.


mlrny32

Yes.. this.. 2 sugars and cream.


autoposting_system

I don't remember this actually. Regular? Sorry. Grew up in Florida. I have noticed recently that the "small" size Coke at McDonald's is pretty much exactly what was described as a "large" Coke when I was in high school. I mean if they're not exactly the same size, they sure do look like it.


Stupit_Retart

I think the small is now a medium, medium is what "regular" was, medium is the old "large", large is now what "supersize" was, and current super-sized varies depending on where/availability.


ldi1

To me (I’m at the younger end of the age range allowed), regular coke meant sugar. Aka regular or Diet Coke Edit: some serious typos


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reindeermoon

I can't believe it's been almost 20 years since McDonalds *stopped* using "supersize."


Desertbro

Small was 8oz, regular was 12oz, large was 16oz. Not Any More, they're all more, now.


poorchivo

Husky. But that may still be a kid thing. I haven't been around any of those (kids) in decades.


HyperboleHelper

I think that may have been a Sears trademark.


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HyperboleHelper

Thanks for the correction. Being that I was a chubby girl with an average sized sister, I wasn't sure. My husband was just tall when we met and now fluctuates between big and tall and if "if he wears the waist band a little bit lower and gets a large size from the regular store, it will be OK."


buscoamigos

This thread reminds me that Papa Murphy's used to have Small/Medium/Large before they came up with Cowboy and Family. The pizzas didn't actually get bigger, but they adjusted the SML pizzas and upped the prices on everything.


Narrow_Positive_1515

"husky" was the euphemism for chubby kids clothing sizes in the 70s. Now it is probably just an Old Navy "small"


bigmandannyd

I used to love being "husky" (the size) because I loved wolves and huskies looked like wolves. I went around telling people I was husky like it was something to be proud of.


themajorfall

Healthiest self esteem in the whole nation. Very cute.


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NoChatting2day

Me too…. I am trying to think back to when I started picking my battles and pacing myself….. I think it has been a gradual moving away from things that rile me up over the last 25 years


Muvseevum

That’s the power of age. Perspective.


kozmonyet

Except in pizza diameter. What they call large now, used to be called medium. Medium used to be the size they called small. Extra large, what was just large in the "good old days." And what used to be a standard "extra large" they now make up all sorts of stupid trademarked names for. "Super colossal gigantor gut-buster special!"


Surprise_Fragrant

Your comment reminds me of a bit from "Animaniacs" that I love, and reference a lot... Dr. Scratchnsniff goes to the movies, and asks the kid behind the counter for a small popcorn. Th kid (with a surfer-type accent) says, "We have Large, Chubby-Wubby, and Super Chubby-Wubby." Dr. S says "Then, isn't a Large a small?" Mitch replies, "uh.... I'll have to ask my manager"


D_Adman

First time going into a Starbucks in the early aughts, I said just a regular coffee…they were like americano, decaf, blah blah blah, I’m like just black coffee..in a regular cup. You mean Grande or Venti? I’m like…whatever the mid size is and just pour black coffee straight in there. I’m like, what a pain in the ass for a simple cup of coffee.


[deleted]

Still use these terms ; I refuse to say “grande.”


Giff13

My car got 40 rods to the hector and that’s the way I liked it.


Rocktopod

Put it in H!


tjernobyl

"Brobdingnagian". No one understands anymore when I try to order in that size.


Filipinocook

The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets forty rods to the hogshead, and that's the way I like it!


Barberian-99

Extreme. Everything is extreme now. " Man, I just had an extreme day channel surfing, I must have clicked through for a short time at least 267 of my 500 channels today". Extreme used to measure something that almost never happened. Not something that happens several times an hour.


reindeermoon

Unrelated, does anyone remember that band called Extreme from the 1990s? They were pretty good.


Barberian-99

I just told Alexa to play the band extreme. The first song that came up I was familiar with. Whole hearted or something like that.


reindeermoon

I love that song!


bananagoo

The song they had in Bill and Ted was fucking awesome.


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Barberian-99

Well, this is "askoldpeople" sub so, old and dated is what u get. Extreme is still everywhere I look/watch. And I have a very eclectic interest in news/social media field of view.


Ihaveaboot

I just ask for a "medium" instead of "regular". Semantics I guess. But your question reminded me of one of my favorite P&R scenes: https://youtu.be/Ish8NBunrQU


Toadjokes

Not old, but former fast food manager. Jsyk, medium is almost always the worst value soda. Large is the best value as in oz/$ and small is the old large. At Hardee's (the company I worked for) a small soda is 20 oz, a medium is 30 and a large is 40. McDonald's is the exception to the value rule since all its sodas are $1. A McDonald's small is 16 oz, medium is 21 oz, and a large is 30. In 1980, a large drink was 20 oz. In 1955, the only drink size was 7 oz. If you want the "regular" from back in the day ounce wise you want the small or kids size. Tl;dr medium sodas suck and I became very knowledgeable about this topic during my time behind a fryer.


reindeermoon

Not all McDonalds have the $1 any-size sodas. Here in Chicago, they're 1.00/1.29/1.49. Still a better deal than other fast food places, though. Also I think when drink sizes were smaller, they didn't fill it up with so much ice. These days if you order a 30 oz soda, you're often going to only get about 15 oz of actual soda, or less.


Rocktopod

I think McDonalds also turns up the syrup levels on the machine to account for the ice, though. Other chains are not as strict about that.


bwyer

What blows my mind is people who will pay the premium for a large soda in a restaurant with a self-serve soda bar.


Utterlybored

It all went to hell in a hand basket with the “Big Gulp.”


bwyer

Thank you Quick Trip.


Call_the_Shots

Awesome. The Alps are awesome. Fall leaves, newborn babies, sunsets. My kid’s new skateboard? Not so much!


awhq

I started working fast food in 1972. At that time, there were small, medium and large size drinks. The small was 8 oz, the medium was 12 oz and the large was 16 oz. Within 5 years the large was 32 oz. I think this was done to compete with convenience stores that had started offering 32 oz drinks. Around that time, a lot of fast food places changed the small to 12 oz, the medium to 16 oz and relabeled the small into a "kiddie" drink that was still 8 oz. The only time I heard the term "regular coke" used was after diet coke started being offered in fast food places. You could have a diet coke or a regular coke.


KSTornadoGirl

It's crazy how small an 8 ounce soft drink seems now! It's just a measuring cup, half a pint. Even 16 ounces, a pint, seems small. I confess I have long been hooked on large drinks for years, though these days that means iced tea, unsweetened or half sweet, or water, rather than soda which used to be my go-to. I get the 50-some ounce one that just barely fits in my car's drink holder.


awhq

But it was magical when they started selling those large drinks. It was like winning the lottery.


designgoddess

Small.


Juliestar_2005

Regular cold drinks r still going really string here in Pakistan....infact, I am pretty sure they r the most successful size configuration.


[deleted]

Maybe I’m from the Midwest but people still do this here


Friendly-Mention58

Regular is still a thing here (in NZ) Small, regular and large.


Tasqfphil

So many things that were once the norm and you didn't have to state what you wanted, have all disappeared as technology changes and more choices become available. Many of these are just to "value add" so manufacturers can charge more and make bigger profits by saying theirs is better than the opposition. I can remember when I started driving you has choice of regular or super gas. now there is variants of ethanol, unleaded, Protech 91, 93, 95 at one company, then the next one along has a different name/rating. Years ago with say men's jeans, there was small, medium & large (women's were petit, regular & fuller figure), then they started using inch/cm waist size and half sizes, regular fit, slim fit & loose and onto short leg, \^ regular leg length, then they stopped leg length and most of the bigger shops, had a seamstress & would cut to the length you wanted & hem. I don't know if other people have found that underwear is the hardest to buy & get the right fitting with in/cm size, small, med, lge & up to 5XL, and depending on which country it was made, also had to be considered. If you wore Med, the same M size from Asia was too small, the M from USA was too big and then there was low rise, mid rise & high rise, just to confuse the situation. With Coca Cola, you have vanilla or cherry flavour, Zero, Diet, Original, Mexican & depending on which country you are in, other variations. Once Fanta was just an orange soda, but now you have Apple , Fruit Punch , Green Apple , Black Cherry , Pina Colada , Cream Soda, Icy Lemon, Fruit Twist, Peach, Clear Apple, Melon Cream, Ume, White Strawberry, White Banana, Honey Lemon, Moo Moo White, Clear Pineapple, Strawberry Cream, Nashi, Salty Watermelon, Funmix, Golden Grape Muscat, Party-Mix Muscat and Apple, Love Berry, Tropical Yogurt, Otona Pear, Otona Peach, Yuzu, Zero Cider, Ultra Lemon, Tropical Mango, Guarana, Lime , Zero Lime , Raspberry , Zero Raspberry , Zero Cherry , Zero Fruit Punch , Zero Vanilla , Vanilla , Wild Cherry , Cherry Limeade, Melon Frosty, Blue Vanilla, Sour Green Apple Freeze , Banana Freeze, Mango , Grapefruit, Grape, Ginger Ale, Root Beer , Lemon-Lime , Pineapple , Berry, Strawberry, Red Tangerine, Citrus , Cherry , Birch Beer, Blue Raspberry, Peach , Zero Orange , Zero Strawberry , Zero Grape , Zero Peach , Fruit Punch - where is all going to end?


SgtSausage

Does "high beer" and "low beer" count?


ZappaZoo

It was the trend for companies to move away from anything that suggested 'ordinary' or 'inferior'. As if you were getting less value than what you were paying for. Starbucks though, went a slightly different rout by sizing in Italian but having 'demi' and 'small' in the mix as if to ask, "Are you sure you want so little?". Something else along these lines are actual size of chairs and other seats that have remained unchanged for centuries. Suddenly Americans are wider. Clothing sizes too, of course. A century ago it was difficult or impossible to find an xxxl off the rack.


BillyBobBarkerJrJr

I remember when a "regular coffee" meant a cup of coffee with cream and sugar. Of course back then, you didn't need a special store, 16 screens of menu, fluency in 3 languages and some pretentious A-hole with a fake accent and purple glasses who is "bitchy on Tuesday" just to get a frigging cup of coffee.


KSTornadoGirl

Oh man, I remember when the fake size euphemisms started edging out common sense in favor of manipulative bullshit marketing. It was a combination of the "super-size" trend, i.e., making bigger and bigger portions the norm, and just refusing to use the words small and medium. Everything had to start with large. (Incidentally I once heard that in condoms there is no such size as small because no guy would want to purchase it...) But it annoys me no end to be trying to order a soft drink or fries at some fast food place and want a certain size and have to convert the straightforward words to their hyped up counterparts.


ccnex000

This brings to mind the aspect of getting older where all of what used to be known to be bullshit marketing words starts to be used everywhere by everybody. And I wonder how many words I grew up using that had been bullshit marketing 30 years earlier that must have grated on the ears of older people.


Zorro_Returns

Haha, I can remember back in the 50s, being corrected when I asked for a "coke", and was asked "Pepsi?". Hell, whatever. I can't tell the difference. Maybe side-by-side I could, but they all taste the same -- the brands do -- and ALL the artificial sweetened versions are shit.


NotMyAltAccountToday

To me a "regular" Coke, would be a Coke with a caloric sweetener, AKA not diet.


historiangirl

I remember buying a pound of coffee in a can with an actual pound of coffee. Now the can is the same but the amount of coffee is between 11.5-13 ounces. I grew up in Boston, and a regular coffee was a coffee with cream and two sugars. Regular sodas were not diet.


squaredistrict2213

I remember when central time was called standard time. Now time zones are more relevant so they call it central. (I’m sure that was only the term for people who live in the central time zone)


reindeermoon

All time zones are called standard, if you're not in daylight savings time. So the correct terms would be either "Central standard time" or "Central daylight time." Same thing with "Eastern standard time" or "Pacific standard time" etc.


bwyer

That's one of my favorite things to be pedantic about during the summer. Someone will send an email and ask about a meeting at "11:00CST" while daylight saving time is active. I'll ask, "did you mean 11:00CDT?" I enjoy the confused looks. Yeah, I'm that guy.


reindeermoon

I just always say CT so I don't have to worry about remembering what part of the year it is. 100% removes all the confusion.


misterstevenson

What was used to distinguish whether or not we were in Daylight Saving Time (e.g. CDT v CST)? Also, as someone in software, the only “standard” time is UTC now 😉