Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[Calthrop]

Slightly.OT but - world news articles, in recent years, included South American stories. I recall one where the main person's forename was - really -  Satan.

Imagine the scenario in a medical centre waiting room: "Calling Satan, calling Satan."

"Satan" maybe means -- in the Quechua language or whatever -- "noble, virtuous person" ?

I recall a newspaper-column piece, decades ago, by the late humorist Paul Jennings -- a great favourite of mine -- published at the height of the Cold War: in which he expressed gratitude and pleasure re South America, simply for being there, and relatively detached from the tense and worrying West-versus-East goings-on -- with momentous-in-South-America happenings, occasionally being momentous enough to drive the everlasting Cold War stuff out of the headlines in our part of the world, for a day or two. He likened it, if I recall rightly, to an exciting family quarrel -- a welcome change from the endless acrimony with the ghastly people next door...

 

[Western Lord]

The former expectation that an adult would only be addressed by his/her first name where encouraged to do so by the person concerned. Especially true if the adult was elderly or professional or generally 'old school'. Such a person would almost certainly recoil from today's informality where a car salesman for example might presume to be on first name terms with a prospective customer within ten minutes of their acquaintance.

When I were a lad, as they say, we were only ever referred to by our surnames at school by teachers. The girls were referred to by their first names but for boys it was surnames only. We even used surnames among ourselves when referring to each other, only the closest of friends being on first name terms.

 

[PeterC]

My mother was christened with the 2 forenames of aunts she didn't like and hated them both. Shortened forms certainly didn't go down well either. Nor was she keen on her surname. She may have been joking when she said she'd only married my dad to get rid of that.

In later life hospital staff and carers thought they would be making her relax by using one of her forenames or some sort of abbreviated form. Total recoil, it had the opposite effect. She wasn't being stuffy but much preferred Mrs M....

My mother was always known by her middle name. She never responded to her first name, it would have been much better to call her for appointments as Mrs ... especially as the dementia started to set in.

When I were a lad, as they say, we were only ever referred to by our surnames at school by teachers. The girls were referred to by their first names but for boys it was surnames only. We even used surnames among ourselves when referring to each other, only the closest of friends being on first name terms.

It was much the same for us although nicknames were used a lot. The one exception were two boys with the same surname who were called by their initials.

Out of school in company with girlfriends it was always Christian names. This once led to me double counting possible guests at a party as I counted friends by the names used in school and again by the names used in the pub with girls from our sister grammar school present.

At university the lecturers always addressed students as Mr or Miss.

 

[GordonT]

There used to be a convention, in parts of Scotland at least, to refer to two unmarried aging sisters, perhaps still living in the family house, as (for example) "The Misses White" or "The Misses Smith". I think that custom has probably fallen largely by the wayside.

 

[najaB]

It was much the same for us although nicknames were used a lot. The one exception were two boys with the same surname who were called by their initials.

For some of us, whose surnames were either nouns or adjectives, no nickname was necessary!

 

[GordonT]

Childrens fiction school stories of yesteryear sometimes depicted brothers at the same school, usually a boarding school, as, for example,
Wharton major for the elder sibling and Wharton minor for the younger brother. For all I know there may be some schools, Eton perhaps, where the custom survives.
I wonder how this convention handled three or four brothers rather than just two?

 

[3141]

Childrens fiction school stories of yesteryear sometimes depicted brothers at the same school, usually a boarding school, as, for example,
Wharton major for the elder sibling and Wharton minor for the younger brother. For all I know there may be some schools, Eton perhaps, where the custom survives.
I wonder how this convention handled three or four brothers rather than just two?

At my school siblings were numbered. The largest family consisted of Blackman i - iv.

 

[Ediswan]

Childrens fiction school stories of yesteryear sometimes depicted brothers at the same school, usually a boarding school, as, for example,
Wharton major for the elder sibling and Wharton minor for the younger brother. For all I know there may be some schools, Eton perhaps, where the custom survives.
I wonder how this convention handled three or four brothers rather than just two?

I beleive some public schools use(d) Latin ordinal numbers:secundus, tertius etc. Not clear if designations changed when an older brother left the school.

 

[gg1]

When I were a lad, as they say, we were only ever referred to by our surnames at school by teachers. The girls were referred to by their first names but for boys it was surnames only. We even used surnames among ourselves when referring to each other, only the closest of friends being on first name terms.

When I was at school most teachers used first names across the board, a few used surnames, there was just the one teacher who used first names for boys and surnames for girls.

The assumption all the boys made at the time was it was an expression of blatant favouritism towards the girls, as result she was probably the most loathed teacher in the school.

 

[swt_passenger]

There used to be a convention, in parts of Scotland at least, to refer to two unmarried aging sisters, perhaps still living in the family house, as (for example) "The Misses White" or "The Misses Smith". I think that custom has probably fallen largely by the wayside.

My mother and her sister were referred to as “the Misses D and S Mxxxxx”, in the news report of their father’s funeral in 1950 (Newcastle upon Tyne). They were 21 and 17, so I think the use of “Misses” wasn’t necessarily reserved for elderly spinsters, but can’t really see how it’s that much easier than just writing Miss twice?

When I was at school most teachers used first names across the board, a few used surnames, there was just the one teacher who used first names for boys and surnames for girls.

The assumption all the boys made at the time was it was an expression of blatant favouritism towards the girls, as result she was probably the most loathed teacher in the school.

My boys school was merged with the neighbouring girls school in 1967, after a year of separate education. Every one of the staff carried on using boys surnames and girls forenames, I expect we just thought it was normal, and carried on by the staff as that’s how it had worked before. I don’t remember anyone getting annoyed about it.

The other thing people today would be surprised by was we all sat in alphabetical order around the room, starting at the door with all the girls followed by all the boys. Again, that was just the school’s system.

My children were surprised to hear that we only ever left our form room for the science labs, and for maths which was taught in sets. Every other subject it was the teachers who moved round the school.

 

[najaB]

My children were surprised to hear that we only ever left our form room for the science labs, and for maths which was taught in sets. Every other subject it was the teachers who moved round the school.

That's pretty much how it was for me in secondary school in the late 80s/early 90s. We only left the classroom for subjects that required specialist equipment - e.g. sciences, art, music. Everything else was taught in the form room.

If nothing else, having the students move between classes cuts into teaching time.

 

[gg1]

My boys school was merged with the neighbouring girls school in 1967, after a year of separate education. Every one of the staff carried on using boys surnames and girls forenames, I expect we just thought it was normal, and carried on by the staff as that’s how it had worked before. I don’t remember anyone getting annoyed about it.

If other teachers had done the same I don't think anyone would have been bothered, it was the fact it was just this one teacher alone who addressed boys and girls differently which annoyed us.

 

[DelW]

My mother was always known by her middle name. She never responded to her first name, it would have been much better to call her for appointments as Mrs ... especially as the dementia started to set in.

One of my female cousins has always been known by her middle name, indeed it was several decades before I found out that she had a never-used first name.

These days she finds it handy for screening phone calls, if the caller uses her first name she knows they've got it from a list rather than it being someone who knows her.

 

[Western Lord]

That's pretty much how it was for me in secondary school in the late 80s/early 90s. We only left the classroom for subjects that required specialist equipment - e.g. sciences, art, music. Everything else was taught in the form room.

If nothing else, having the students move between classes cuts into teaching time.

That certainly wasn't the case when I was at school in the sixties. We moved to different classrooms for each lesson. There was the English room, the history room, the geography room etc. For one thing, all the relevant textbooks were kept in the respective rooms and the relevant teacher was based in that room and was the form master/mistress of the class that was based there. It was a ritual to flip up the lid of the desk you were sat at to see what the "owner" had left in it.

 

[Killingworth]

My mother and her sister were referred to as “the Misses D and S Mxxxxx”, in the news report of their father’s funeral in 1950 (Newcastle upon Tyne). They were 21 and 17, so I think the use of “Misses” wasn’t necessarily reserved for elderly spinsters, but can’t really see how it’s that much easier than just writing Miss twice?


My boys school was merged with the neighbouring girls school in 1967, after a year of separate education. Every one of the staff carried on using boys surnames and girls forenames, I expect we just thought it was normal, and carried on by the staff as that’s how it had worked before. I don’t remember anyone getting annoyed about it.

The other thing people today would be surprised by was we all sat in alphabetical order around the room, starting at the door with all the girls followed by all the boys. Again, that was just the school’s system.

My children were surprised to hear that we only ever left our form room for the science labs, and for maths which was taught in sets. Every other subject it was the teachers who moved round the school.

Slight differences for me were that I left in 1965 before boys and girls schools were merged. We also left form rooms for woodwork, metalwork, games, art, gym and music until 6th form.

Funeral reports incuding sisters were often like that, Misses M..... Letters would be addressed to Mr & Mrs John Smith and I note some older widows may still like to be known as Mrs John Smith.

 

[GordonT]

Letters would be addressed to Mr & Mrs John Smith and I note some older widows may still like to be known as Mrs John Smith.

And probably, when he was still living, some of Mr Smith's letters would have been addressed to John Smith Esq.

 

[Merle Haggard]

Regarding the use of 'Esq.'; for young boys, it was 'Master' - as a child, my Christmas and birthday cards were addressed to 'Master Merle Haggard'.

'Master' as a form of address was also used by one Maths master at my Senior School to imply naivety, for example in problem-solving logic.

46207 had the very long and, to me then, strange name of 'Princess Arthur of Connaught' - an impressive two-line nameplate on an impressive maroon loco. It was, of course, just following the convention of the monarchy.

 

[GordonT]

On the subject of letters. Employees answering customer complaints in writing with the typed version being posted to the aggrieved customer in pre-email days could become a bit of a saga if the customer was not satisfied with the reply and wrote back with another salvo which then prompted a further letter on behalf of the business.

Sometimes the person who was endeavouring to answer the complaint was not nearly as accomplished a wordsmith as the complainant and that could cause the latter additional irritation beyond the complaint itself.

Often there would be an "approved form of words" which the complaint answerer was obliged to use at the end of any correspondence and this could provoke yet further irritation. For example a poorly crafted letter with a fairly unconvincing explanation of why several things went wrong with the quality of service to the customer, with little attempt to apologise let alone offer recompense would be rounded off with a standard quaint phrase along the lines of:
Assuring you of our best attention at all times.

 

[Killingworth]

And probably, when he was still living, some of Mr Smith's letters would have been addressed to John Smith Esq.

I used to visit an uncle who was a country doctor. His father had a driver/handyman/gardener.who tended the large vegetable plot, mowed the tennis court, looked after 2 pigs and ensured the car was tanked with petrol and always washed once a week. Charlie stayed on until he myst have been well oast retirement age. I had long conversations about his youth working in the fields picking flints to build up the roads. He'd learned to drive to chauffeur my uncle's father and was then a driver in France during WW1. He told some tales, but I digress.

He called my uncle Dr Pat, and me Mr ...... from when I can first remember

 

[MotCO]

In the same way that as youngsters, we referred to friends of our parents as aunt and uncle, even though there was no blood relation.

 

[najaB]

In the same way that as youngsters, we referred to friends of our parents as aunt and uncle, even though there was no blood relation.

That's still common, at least in the Caribbean.

 

[cool110]

And probably, when he was still living, some of Mr Smith's letters would have been addressed to John Smith Esq.

I still get letter addressed like that about my stocks and shares ISA.

 

[MotCO]

That's still common, at least in the Caribbean.

Conversely, my remaining aunts insist on me calling them by their first names, without the 'Aunt'. (And they are both over 85)

 

[GordonT]

The more widespread culture of married couples consisting of a male "breadwinner" and a female "housewife". Often resulted in men being wildly and hopelessly out of their depth if their spouse was ill or away from home to look after a sick relative leaving their hapless husband grappling with even the very simplest of domestic tasks. Some of this still pertains but it's worth remembering that there was no Google in those former days as an ever present crutch to have recourse to in attempting to mitigate one's ignorance.

 

[dangie]

When I were a lad, as they say, we were only ever referred to by our surnames at school by teachers. The girls were referred to by their first names but for boys it was surnames only. We even used surnames among ourselves when referring to each other, only the closest of friends being on first name terms.

My schooldays were from 1956 to 1967. Back then, both at primary school & secondary modern, the teachers called the girls by first name and boys by surname. This was without exception. Why it was I don’t know but it was an accepted part of schooldays. Maybe it was seen as away of ‘toughening’ boys up for adult life.

Most boys tended to have nicknames which they used amongst themselves (many not really complementary or politically correct’). Girls rarely had nicknames, although there was always one called ‘big t*ts’

 

[najaB]

Most boys tended to have nicknames which they used amongst themselves (many not really complementary or politically correct’). Girls rarely had nicknames, although there was always one called ‘big t*ts’

I'm guessing by the boys, rather than the other girls.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Male nicknames persisted in my teens, in the 1980s.
The more logical ones:
Esther (the poor lad bore an uncanny resemblance to Esther Ransome),
Egg, or Eggwhite (his surname was Whiting),
Yoda (phonetic corruption of his first name),
Shaggy (me! My hairstyle, not my libido...).
The more obscure nicknames, their origins lost in time:
Squig, Granny Faggot.

 

[WesternLancer]

Are there any working BETAMAX machines in this country at all? I had one - it was excellent and the quality far better than VHS, but it ran it's time and there was no replacement, so I had to have it fixed and transfer my Beta tapes onto VHS so as to "save" them. Of course in the end (think mid-90's??) no new Beta's were available and also the lack of blank tapes, and the second-hand market was pretty poor as those, liek myself, wanted to hang on so our valuable tapes could be saved!

Betamax were the industry standard for the video and tv industry to make programmes on from 1980s perhaps up until digital era maybe although not certain of that transition. For much longer than domestic market adopted VHS.

This was due to superior quality of beta video.

So bound to be film industry places that still need them. Probably what they call ‘transfer houses’ for copying across old video from archives etc when used in modern programs eg if they need some archive video ‘footage’ that would have originally been in beta. News footage seems likely.

Admittedly more likely to be industry quality type beta players than domestic ones.

Must be people who can keep them functioning too so that film archives / film libraries can access the video material they hold. Tho obv this will be niche compared with a domestic market.

Both items are clearly labelled s vhs.

S vhs = super vhs iirc

So it is, apologies was thinking of something else.
Were Betamax videos tallerthan VHS casettes? If so,they would be little room or not all to manouvere in a VHS case.

Betamax cassettes are noticeably smaller than vhs cassettes although not dramatically so.

 

[cool110]

Betamax were the industry standard for the video and tv industry to make programmes on from 1980s perhaps up until digital era maybe although not certain of that transition. For much longer than domestic market adopted VHS.
This was due to superior quality of beta video.
So bound to be film industry places that still need them. Probably what they call ‘transfer houses’ for copying across old video from archives etc when used in modern programs eg if they need some archive video ‘footage’ that would have originally been in beta. News footage seems likely.
Admittedly more likely to be industry quality type beta players than domestic ones.

They're actually two completely different things. Betamax was never used professionally, those were Betacam which while having the same physical cassette was an incompatible format. In addition the tape inside was only the same for the 1st generation which only 5 years before being replaced, with digital and HD versions following in the 90s.

 

[WesternLancer]

They're actually two completely different things. Betamax was never used professionally, those were Betacam which while having the same physical cassette was an incompatible format. In addition the tape inside was only the same for the 1st generation which only 5 years before being replaced, with digital and HD versions following in the 90s.

Thanks for the clarification. Interesting to read and this indeed rings a bell.

My observation was made on the basis my mum worked in the documentary film industry in the period so we had both vhs and beta players at home to facilitate home working. I have a number of the programmes she made on Betamax. Perhaps these were transfers from betacam master tapes.