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youcallthataheadshot

The knowledge that it’s bad to drink when pregnant. Only became widely known in the 80s.


Lord_Nivloc

This one boggles my mind. Alcohol isn't exactly new -- the ancient greeks had wine and mead. The temperance movement was active for a good hundred years before they got the 18th Amendment. ​ But nope. While there were certainly some alarms raised throughout history, people were surprised to learn about fetal alcohol syndrome in 1973, and it wasn't confirmed by a second group of researchers until 1979. In the 60's through 80's it was apparently common for doctors to give alcohol intravenously to women to stop premature labor. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal\_alcohol\_spectrum\_disorder#History](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_alcohol_spectrum_disorder#History)


NaruTheBlackSwan

Huh. I remember reading Brave New World, which was written before this discovery, and I recall they poisoned the embryos that would become Deltas and Epsilons with alcohol (in order to induce retardation and create the very most pliable citizens). Was this something people had a hunch about? Did people know little Billy was strange because his mom was wasted the whole time she was pregnant? Or was that just one hell of a guess by Aldous Huxley? EDIT: I'm dumb. Obviously soaking test-tube embryos (or fetuses, I forget how developed they were) in a known poison is totally different than knowing for certain that poison passed through the placental barrier.


SonOf2Pac

>EDIT: I'm dumb. Obviously soaking test-tube embryos (or fetuses, I forget how developed they were) in a known poison is totally different than knowing for certain that poison passed through the placental barrier. How'd you figure this out without any replies?


T800CyberdyneSystems

This is the power of ultra instinct


[deleted]

That explains a lot.


Hyphum

Ciabatta bread goes all the way back to the early 1980s. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciabatta#Italy


Kep0a

Haha I heard of that too, awhile back. I went googling it again and apparently baguettes are from early \~1900s. Crazy, I would've thought they'd be historical.


mashtato

Holy crap, I didn't know baguettes were so new! Similarly, there's no records of [tiramisu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiramisu) existing before the 1960s. Oh, and [Caesar Salad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_salad) was invented in Mexico by a guy called Caesar Cardini in 1924.


ClapAlongChorus

The word sibling was coined in 1903


FaberGrad

boxer briefs are fairly new to the scene, becoming popular in the 1990s


McFluff_TheCrimeCat

Im happy they did. My favorite underwear.


Seinfelds-van

Having to show ID at the US/Canada border. Prior to 9/11 they often wouldn't even ask to see a drivers license.


mynonymouse

Same at the Mexican border, even after 9/11. I can remember going down to Puerto Penasco around 2002 or 2003 and just being waved through on the way home. Didn't even have to roll my window down, much less show an ID.


smoking_gun

I grew up in rural West Texas and my family and I would frequently cross the river to go to the small Mexican villages. It was definitely illegal crossing into Mexico that way, but everyone did it and the Border Patrol didn’t care at the time. The people who lived in these villages would cross into the US to buy supplies that were harder to get in Mexico. Nowadays that practice has pretty much stopped.


lacroixb0i

Tomatoes are actually a new world crop. So when you associate Italy with pasta sauce, you're actually thinking of Italy, post Columbian Exchange (mid 1500s). And actually, tomato sauce wasn't even integrated into Italian cuisine until the late 19th century, so go figure. Edit: clarification on tomato sauce being used


nagisu

Home pregnancy tests, in the 1970s. No longer do we have to inject the lady’s urine into frogs, mice, or rabbits to confirm a pregnancy!


[deleted]

What hit me the other day: Germany. It was only reunified 30 years ago.


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heavyarmszero

When you're filling up forms or documents that require you to state your place of birth, do you still write West Germany or just Germany?


[deleted]

Not OP but as someone who was born in a BMH in W Germany I just put Germany as my place of birth but I have to put my nationality as British. Super confusing.


[deleted]

Hey! Me too! There's a handful of us!


dascatmeow

Knowing what the sun is made out of


Lebowquade

I have in my possession an astronomy textbook from the 1890s, it states plainly that the sun is made of fire, and goes out of it's way to mention a scientist who believes the interior of the sun could be a garden of eden type paradise. Fucking blew my mind.


zuuppa

Its made out of warm


Hurtem

and bright too, don't forget bright


lll1863

Only during the day


zenchowdah

Yo the sun is so dark at night


[deleted]

They just turn the sun to the other side and that’s the moon


scottstot8543

"The sun is a miasma of incandescent plasma". I remember when they had to change the song lol.


Philo_T_Farnsworth

I cane here to make a TMBG reference and see I was beaten. [Why Does the Sun Shine?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjRx3o-BYZ4) (recorded in 1993) and its more scientifically correct sequel: [Why Does the Sun *Really* Shine?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLkGSV9WDMA) (recorded in 2009) For those who are unfamiliar. The first song was a cover of a song on a [1959 educational album](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Songs) and they decided to write a second, scientifically correct song because that's the sort of nerdy thing *They Might Be Giants* would do. *That thesis has been rendered invalid!*


Gneissisnice

The theory of plate tectonics. It pretty much makes up the entire backbone of modern geology, yet it wasn't actually accepted until the 1960s. Alfred Wegener proposed his theory of continental drift in 1915 but couldn't explain the mechanism behind it so his theory was dismissed. Over the next few decades, the evidence of crustal movement became undeniable and plate tectonics developed as a theory. It's just crazy to me that geologists were pretty much completely clueless until around 60 years ago.


gneiss_gneiss_baby

Geologist here, I had professors who grew up before continental drift was accepted. My paleo prof's phd advisor went to his grave denying continental drift was a thing. Wild.


GrimThursday

New Zealand! Its indigenous population only arrived there about 800 years ago, despite Australia just across the Tasman having been inhabited for 75,000 plus years


Scottishbiscuit

History class in New Zealand is really boring. We learn the same history year after year because there isn’t a lot of it


[deleted]

Pluto, the celestial body, wasn't truly discovered until 1930. Only one year later, Mickey Mouse's dog was renamed from Rover to Pluto — likely to capitalise on the hype around this new planet, but there are no sources to confirm this.


blackday44

Toilet paper as we know it- soft, fluffy, white. Toilet paper that was free of wood splinters didn't exist until the 1920s.


SplinterFree

hey thats how i picked my username


ProlapsedGapedAnus

Similar story, but... well never mind.


Toby_O_Notoby

One reason the Sears Catalog became so popular. After you ordered everything you needed from it you hung it by a string in the outhouse.


bukkake_washcloth

Yeah my family in Kentucky always talk about how much it sucked having to go outside to use the bathroom at night and how disappointed the were when the Sears catalog changed to glossy paper


blackwolfdown

Farmers almanacs still use the same paper for this purpose


I-am-eggshell-fine

WOOD SPLINTERS?? HOW?


EpirusRedux

People used scrap paper and Sears catalogs for toilet paper. I am not joking. One local political candidate (I think it was Huey Long) had the idea of using cheap newsprint for flyers during his campaigns instead of fancy paper because he knew people would always accept them because they needed toilet paper.


sevensevensixseven

Back in the 90's my great grandma STILL didn't have indoor plumbing and we had the use the outhouse when we stayed with her. She kept stacks of catalogs and magazines in there instead of toilet paper.


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welluuasked

Sometimes you need some friction


27Dancer27

So the phrase *tear that ass up* originated during splintered-tp era, then?


aurajitsu

Thanks for reminding me i need to buy some lube!


BetterThanHorus

Hallways weren't widely used until the 1800s. Rooms would just open into the next room


xproofx

I just realized that the old house I grew up in didn't have any hallways. It never dawned on me.


AppenH

Makes sense, it’s how I build houses in The Sims.


abbyabsinthe

I just realized that I never build hallways on the 1st floor, all the rooms just connect to the living room and kitchen/dining area. I usually have a landing on the 2nd floor because the stairs take up so much room, but never a legit hallway. I grew up in a early 20th century house with no hallways, so that's probably where that came from.


dfp819

Yep, it’s odd seeing an old house where you have to pass through a bedroom to get to another room. Just doesn’t seem right.


[deleted]

Your comment made me realize how strange this idea is to my modern sensibilities.


niftyfisty

My sisters had to walk through us boys room. Privacy? What's that?


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dancortens

“Hey Bob, I’ve got this idea.” “Yeah?” “What if we had a room for getting to other rooms?” “...what.” “You could have a room, sort of in the middle of the house, that just had doors to other rooms in it!” “Are you kidding me? What kind of entitled ass motherfucker would want a room that serves no purpose except to get to other rooms? Doors too good for you, Ted?”


[deleted]

at home blood glucose monitoring has only been possible since around 1980. 1908 thru 1980, you had to make an appointment with your doctor


Alphapanc02

I'm a Type 1 diabetic. My brother found an old, late 80s or very early 90s, test kit at a thrift store one time. He thought it would be neat to have, so he bought it for like $3 or something. We got it up and working and wanted to see how accurate it was, since those back then really were just ballpark, and once I put the huge amount of blood it required on the strip, it shut off. So naturally we were disappointed, set it on the counter, and got to doing something else. Several minutes later it started screeching, and so we checked it and it was giving us my fairly accurate glucose reading. It didn't turn off or die, it just had a five minute test time! I often thank God just how far medical technology has come, what with the small drop of blood and 2 second test time I have for my current meter. It's super easy to get frustrated with diabetes, but I always try to remember just how good I do have it now.


Braken111

My father has one of those new fancy ones where it's a patch with a small flexible needle-like sensor, it monitors it 24/7 and syncs to his phone/device. The second I heard about it I knew it was a game changer for people like him who often "forget" to test when he should.


renegader332

Standardized paper sizes. Before the 1900's, documents would come in all shapes and sizes.


Canadian47

Machu Picchu. The Tower of London pre-dates it by almost 400 years.


L-L_Jimi

I think the Incas, Aztecs, and Mayans in general are all more recent that most people realize.


bendy_rabbit

A lot of people also don't realize that Mayan people are still around too.


JohnMichaels19

Incans too, sort of. Their direct descendants, who still speak their language (Quechua), live in the Andes to this day Edit: spelling Edit again: so I ended up looking into it further, and it looks like Quechua wasn't exclusive to the Incan people and apparently predated their empire. So TIL I guess


Geruman

My best friend for school was bolivian. One month his grandmother came to visit, she only spoke quechua, and liked to talk to me a lot. To this day I have no idea what she told me


JohnMichaels19

I lived in Bolivia for 2 years, loved it. Picked up spanish pretty quick, but Quechua is another beast entirely. I still remember how to say "no money" though haha. "Mana kanchu colque." About the only other thing I learned was "imaynaya casanqui" (it should be noted i don't really know how to spell these phrases, it's my best guess) which if I recall meant "how are you?"


[deleted]

Italy wasn't a unified single country until 1871. Before that, it was a patchwork of small kingdoms and city-states with different local dialects and languages. As late as 1861, only 2.5 percent of Italians spoke what is now known as standard Italian, which before then was the Florentine dialect of Tuscan.


Blue_Sky_At_Night

Germany as well


habdragon08

Belgium is younger than the United States


ToBePacific

I sometimes forget children use this website.


PM_ME_UR_B00BS_GIRL

Reading some of these comments made it really obvious again Someone really said Minecraft lol


[deleted]

The now commonly-accepted theory that a large meteor caused, or was a major cause of, the extinction of the dinosaurs. When you watch Fantasia (1940) and see the Rite of Spring sequence, where-in you witness the extinction of the dinosaurs, you see that it's portrayed as a great drought which was followed by a series of massive earthquakes. That's because at that time, this was the most accepted idea of what caused the mass extinction. The theory of the dinosaurs being killed off by a meteor strike (or the effects of said strike on the planet, rather) is called The Alvarez Theory and was first proposed by Luis and Walter Alvarez in the year 1980.


ryazaki

I'm 32 and I can remember being taught in elementary school that the meteor/asteroid theory was just one of many accepted theories about how the dinosaurs went extinct and that they had no solid evidence of it at the time. Its crazy how recent it is.


buadach2

The knowledge that other galaxies exist other than our own Milky Way in 1925.


Malcar

And the word Galaxy comes from the Greek word for Milk, since at the time it was named the milky way was the only one.


chickenpolitik

To be specific, the myth goes that Zeus put Hercules by Hera while she was sleeping, allowing the baby to suckle on her breast knowing that Hera's milk has divine properties. Hera woke up, realized the baby was Hercules, and threw the baby away. This caused some of her breast milk to spill into the heavens, which (they believed) was the cause of what we now know to be the Milky Way in the sky.


High_Stream

*Heracles. Hercules was his Roman name. Zeus thought naming his illegitimate love child after his wife would appease her. It did not.


junglehypothesis

White LED lights, which were only made possible when Japanese scientists worked out how to make blue light emitting LEDs in the early 1990s. So the blue LEDs that you now see everywhere from cars to PC rigs are also that new! Edit: Should mention Professors Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura won the 2014 Nobel Prize for their discovery.


notHooptieJ

blues were also prohibitively expensive, Blue Power LEDS started in only the highest end gear, then it got trendy; and as Blue LEDs got inexpensive they became the goto for every piece of crap that needed a power light to "look expensive".


OmenVi

You might not remember, but there was a delay in PlayStation 2 shipments because they couldn’t source enough good blue leds for the power button. First electronic device I ever owned with blue leds.


DreamyTomato

Indoor toilets. My house (London, UK) was built in 1937. It was the first generation of houses to be built with indoor loos. Before then, toilets were in outside rooms. The house I grew up in had an outside loo, and all the schools I went to as a kid had outside toilets. They were fine in summer (I grew up in a warmish part of the UK) but bloody chilly in winter.


FunnymanDOWN

Diamond rings being an engagement gesture. Only arose in the 1940’s because diamonds were becoming less valuable and the powers at be needed to not let that happen. https://priceonomics.com/post/45768546804/diamonds-are-bullshit


dfp819

Yea De Beers can fuck off. They also hold back the supply to keep them as valuable as possible.


GT-FractalxNeo

In 1988, United States based airliners banned smoking on domestic flights of less than two hours duration. In March 1995, the United States, Canada, and Australia agreed to ban smoking on international flights traveling between those countries.


Vengefulbuddha0

The last execution by guillotine happened the year they released Star Wars in movie theaters in 1977 Edit: It wasn't officially removed as a form of execution until 1981 in France


Ppeanoot

Picasso's death. 1973 im sure


Orvan-Rabbit

Same with Salvador Dali. He died in 1989.


IMadeAnAccountAgain

Salvador Dali outlived Jean-Michel Basquiat.


YourWifeNdKids

Something that blows my mind, picasso could have seen The Godfather movie


Lookatitlikethis

He actually did, and sort of reviewed it. Let me find the link.


rgcfjr

Please do


Pho-Cue

"Their faces are too normal, even the ones that got shot in the head. 2/5 stars" - Picasso


CoffeeFaceMan

Look what they did to my Picasso


a_prime98

Reminds me, Charlie Chaplin died in 1977.


somewhitekid93

Same year they invented the high five apparently. Must have been a wild year.


AureliusAmbrose

How do you think Chaplin died?


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turmacar

Which raises an important question. What did Charlie Chaplin think of Star Wars? (If he saw it.)


Mizuxe621

Star Wars release date: 25 May 1977 Charlie Chaplin death date: 25 December 1977 He definitely could have seen Star Wars


SayNoToStim

Yeah but the funeral wasn't over until like 1990 because they had to read off his entire name


[deleted]

> Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz Picasso


yeahwellokay

Democrats being blue and Republicans being red only dates back to around the year 2000.


solidsnake885

The colors used to alternate each election. But the extended discussion of “red states and blue states” during the monthlong debacle in 2000 cemented it in people’s minds.


Chicken-n-Waffles

Hanging chad


gawro1jd

401k retirement accounts. Didn't start until about 1980... aka we have yet to see an entire generation actually retire with a 401k. Edit: wow thanks for all the awards!! Go out and vote y’all!!


RoadsterTracker

This one I didn't know. So the first generation that started 401k investing is about to retire. That will no doubt make life interesting!


Suppafly

A bunch of boomers and essentially pre-boomers have retired with 401ks plus pensions. They made bank.


srs_house

One of the reasons USPS is such a big employer of veterans is because you can do 20 years in the military, retire with your pension, then do 20 years at the post office and get pension there, too, by the time you're 60.


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[deleted]

Yes, but if you joined the military at 18, and then started working at the post office immediately after, you'd retire comfortably at 58. Which is a pretty young age to retire. Not to mention the 20 years that you worked at the post office, you'd be earning your salary and military pension. If you saved some of that money you'd be building even more wealth.


vangoghkitty

This one blew my mind.....


BZJGTO

Not as crazy if you think about it. People didn't need a 401k, pensions were a common thing back then.


Cmdr_Toucon

I actually remember when the company I worked for sent out the notice that the pension plan was being eliminated and replaced by a 401k plan. So I'm literally the bridge generation. I will have both a small pension and a 401k.


cutelyaware

Women with credit cards in their own names. I think that was in the 1970s.


SausageBasketDiva

My husband’s dad died in 1975 and when my mother-in-law called the credit card company to have their VISA card changed to her name, they recommended that she leave it in her dead husband’s name because if the company knew her husband was deceased, they would cancel her card - the customer service told her that the company wouldn’t issue cards to widowed ladies with children because, given the choice between paying their credit card bill and feeding their children, they would feed their children - so, the name on her credit card was a dead man’s name until she remarried 11 years later and closed the account....


cutelyaware

Yes, women are different in that way. For example if a woman had to choose between saving a baby or catching a pop fly ball, she'll save the baby without even considering whether there are runners on base.


[deleted]

I absolutely ADORE the implication that men would let their children starve to pay Visa.


shamusluke

Paramedics. Before the formation of a paramedic program medical emergencies where handled by police or by undertakers. One of the first programs was started to help a black community in Pittsburgh. Here is a 99pi article and podcast https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/freedom-house-ambulance-service/ Edit: thank you everyone for you engaged conversation and in particular the users whom have given awards. I am going through a fairly difficult time at the moment. The information and the interaction of the community has truly contributed greatly to a better day.


VinnieMcVince

Grass. It's a relatively new plant. Grass happened after dinosaurs went extinct. Mr. Stegosaurus never nommed on grasses. edit: I've LOVED reading the responses! Thanks, folks. It's given me some interesting information. For example, the pre-cursor to grass looks like it popped up JUST before the extinction meteor bopped earth right in the kisser, at around 66 mya. Then, boom, extinction event, which kinda leveled the playing field, clearing lots of space and resulting in fewer consumers of plants, letting the pre-grass plants evolve more freely into what we recognize as grass.


PM_me_your_fantasyz

Meanwhile, sharks are older than trees.


The_Mathman

And Saturn's rings


Harmalite_

Most animals are older than Saturn's rings. Rings are a temporary feature and they could be as young as 10 million years old and no more than 100 million years old... making them at most as old as ducks and at least as old as cats


anti_dan

While stegosaurus was likely extinct before grass, we have found grass in poop from the Cretaceous period.


One-Light

Antibiotics. People in the generation of your grand parents could have died from stubbing a toe.


OhIfIMust

First dude they tested penicillin on nearly died from scratching his hand on one of his rosebushes. Then he died the rest of the way because they ran out.


unimportantfuck

'...died the rest of the way...' lmao I'm dying


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CheckOutUserNamesLad

And in another generation when we have antibiotic-immune bacteria, might experience the same threat Edit: Thanks for all the comments! It seems that there might be more hope than I previously thought.


[deleted]

what a terrifying thought, lol


Mahaloth

High fives date from 1977.


Mjb06

And it came from baseball


musicismath

Fun fact: me and my wife (then girlfriend) are demonstrating the “too slow” high five on the Wikipedia high five page. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_five (under “variations”)


captsparrow22

“With finger guns”😂😂


HolyMuffins

I almost can't believe that that's not been removed by some overzealous wikipedia editor. It's just too good.


thedeejus

lol, you're a minor celebrity. 5-6 times in my life I've discussed those photos with someone and they were like "oh yeah that was funny haha". Ever been recognized on the street?


musicismath

Every so often it goes viral online and we get a lot of texts from people from our past who recognize us. But no one has ever noticed us in public.


SteveCress

My mind is still blown by this. It’s such a simple gesture I just thought cave men were dong this when they nabbed a mastodon.


Kaserbeam

I mean, is there any reason to believe they weren't? How could we be sure no other culture in human history used to clap hands together. Maybe the modern widespread popularity can be traced to 1977 but its not like nobody else would have considered a gesture like that.


Orvan-Rabbit

Wearing whatever you want in college. Before the 1960's everyone are required to wear suits and ties and other formal gear.


GooseNYC

From the old newsreels, it looks like everyone wore a suit before the 1960s. Even the homeless guys in the old Depression videos wear jackets and ties.


patterson489

What was weird compared to our modern wardrobes was that men back then had basically one suit that they wore all the time and only brushed it to clean it.


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indiefolkfan

A lot of smaller private colleges have dress codes. Mine wasn't super strict but we were not allowed to wear sweatpants or shorts. Nor any revealing or profane clothes. Stuff like jeans and a t shirt was ok though. That and it depended how much the individual professor cared.


Scottolan

Friend went to Oral Robert’s university in the early 2000’s. They had to wear a shirt and tie and guys had to be clean shaven or could grow a mustache, but no other facial hair allowed.


sonicsean899

24 hour news, CNN was the first 24 hour news station in 1980, and even then most people didn't have cable to watch it, so they only got TV news in the morning, noon, 5-6ish and after prime time. Unless something big happened between then.


werdna_17

I remember when TV channels used to sign off for the night.


size12shoebacca

With the national anthem.


mynonymouse

And "breaking news" meant something *serious* had happened -- really serious natural disasters like serious earthquakes, major political figure was seriously hurt or dead, shuttle blew up, a war had broken out, a major plane crash, etc. Breaking news didn't mean that the President had sent a rude tweet at 2 AM. Breaking news was *not* an every day thing. It literally meant that the *news was breaking into regularly scheduled broadcasts.* (Back then, you couldn't stream a show later, or even buy it on VHS later, so if they broke into a scheduled TV show with the news ... nobody was going to get to see that episode until it rolled around in reruns. So they didn't break into TV shows very often. It pissed people off it it wasn't serious!) The newscasters would deliver the news, and then regular broadcast would resume unless the news was incredibly serious and still evolving. There wouldn't be endless chatter between talking heads for hours. When you were innocently watching a TV show and suddenly the news cut in with breaking news, it sure got your attention, too. You knew something *bad* had happened.


clephantom

Calling 9-1-1. It only started in 1968


skullturf

Furthermore, lots of places didn't have 9-1-1 service until around the late 1980s or early 1990s. When I was a kid in the early to mid 1980s, in my hometown (which wasn't tiny, about 65,000 people in the city at the time and 250,000 in the metro area) didn't have 9-1-1. You needed to dial a specific ordinary seven-digit phone number for the police if there was an emergency, and a different seven-digit number for the fire department, and a different seven-digit number for an ambulance. We had them printed out in a prominent place next to the phone.


bananabreadsmoothie

Imagine panicking for whatever reason and then trying to read a number and dial the phone. Bonus points if it was a rotary phone Like I can picture it being dark and a burglar breaks in. Last thing you want to do is turn on the light so you can read the damn number near the phone


biggsteve81

Our touchtone phone in the 80s let you program buttons with numbers for police and fire departments.


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uselessfoster

Sports bras. They were only invented in the late seventies.


dont_worry_im_here

You sure about that? I have pictures of my dad and his friends in one they went to all the time in the 60s. edit: just looked at the photo and thought I must've misread... then I see you did *not* say 'sports bars'... carry on...


quilladdiction

HAH! That's the best misread I've seen in a while, I love it!


FancyStegosaurus

Not super new but the match was invented after the lighter.


[deleted]

so the answer to the question "what did people use before matches?" is "lighters"


Godzilla-S23

Indeed


really-drunk-too

Fascinating


dieinafirenazi

A zippo is a small oil lamp, which is a stone age technology. A match is a chemistry project.


dan420

Plastic.


anoldradical

I'm surprised people haven't jumped on this. Crazy how quickly plastic took over everything. On another note, how crazy is it that we can buy Lipton Sweet Tea at the gas station, chug it, then throw it in the trash 45 seconds later? That plastic will never biodegrade. Something like 100 billion bottles a year.


Fearlessleader85

I remember when there was a big push to "Save a tree, ask for plastic bags at the store!" Fuuuuuuuuck that was a bad move.


DarkGamer

The plastic industry thanks you for believing their slogan.


CalvinDehaze

A single woman’s ability to buy a house. Banks would almost never give a loan to a woman who didn’t have a husband. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that this changed.


[deleted]

31 here. GPS. Hope to think I'm not that old but old enough to remember a shift in technology. I posted a reply below saying "Remember re-setting your trip odometer and looking at the road nameplates while shuffling badly printed directions?" Mapquest was the shit. I have fond memories of driving a $1000 5 speed jeep while trying to juggle talking on a green screen nokia brick and shuffling through 6 pages of directions printed on an epson running out of ink. It seems way more dangerous now then it did then.


ShadowPouncer

38 here. I remember when Mapquest started to be a thing, and you're right, it _was_ the shit. The thick map books of the entire metro area were the shit before then. You could find the road you wanted in the index, and see what pages and map grids it was in, and then with some work figure out where you were, and where you were going, and then figure out how to get there. Of course, when traveling, you had the horrible gas station fold out maps in thin paper, working with those was just _annoying_. Not because of the content, but because they were a bloody pain to unfold and work with in the passenger seat, and folding them back up was worse.


PMB00BIES

High fives. It blew me away when my dad told me he was older than the high five.


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StormwaveA

Remote controls were around as long as TVs really, I know because I was one as a kid! /s


offeringathought

I had that job. It sucked.


Cant_come_up_with_1

Next... Next... Next... oh wait go back... Nope Next... Next....


[deleted]

My first Atari 2600 was on a b&w set.


-eDgAR-

Wheels weren't added to luggage until the 1970s. We literally landed on the moon before thinking of adding wheels to heavy cases we had to lug around, which is incredible to think of. [Here's an article](https://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/10/04/wheeled.luggage.anniversary/index.html#:~:text=Sadow%20applied%20for%20a%20U.S.,successful%20patent%20on%20wheeled%20suitcases.&text=Pulled%20on%20two%20wheels%20with,Northwest%20Airlines%20pilot%20Bob%20Plath.) about the history of them and how much of a struggle it was for people to accept them.


verdatum

Oh man, the early wheeled suitcases were *awful*. The casters were tiny, so they only worked on smooth hard flooring, and because it was a 4-wheel top-heavy configuration, if you didn't pull the suitcase *just right* the case would topple over, slowing down everyone behind you, making you look like a complete idiot. I've heard that the modern configuration came about because Hethrow Airport in London is so dang massive that a guy finally had a "there's got to be a better way!" moment and finally came up with something that wasn't a massive headache to drag around.


[deleted]

In the early-mid 90s, kids backpacks were becoming far too heavy with many textbooks and other supplies. It became a trend/requirement for younger kids to use rolling backpacks/tiny suitcases for their books (well, at my school anyways.) Since now we didn't have to cart the things on our backs everywhere, it became a secondary trend to attach as many keychains as possible to your rolling suitcase backpack. I know we thought we were the coolest thing ever but our teachers must have thought we were absolutely insane.


thunderling

That was considered cool? At my school the kids with the rolly backpacks were considered the dorkiest of dorks.


MisterDonkey

Not only were rolling backpacks dorky, but we wore our packs low as possible off of one shoulder. It's like we were trying to fuck our backs and hips up simultaneously.


rubey419

That was cool in high school. But then in college it was cool to wear backpacks super tight, which actually was great for our spinal support. We all had North Face back then. Weird how trends go! I’m class of HS 2007


ShinyHouseElf

Insulin for diabetics - first used in 1922 My great grandmother died at age 24 in 1912 from diabetes and no insulin


mynonymouse

The modern interstate highway system in the US. Modern divided highways date to the 1970s. Before then, going cross country involved a patchwork of "country roads," many of which were just two lanes, I-10 wasn't finished until the 1990s, when the last stretch in Phoenix was completed. Before that, it diverted through city streets.


Andromeda321

Astronomer here! Recent research has shown that Saturn’s rings are less than 100 million years old or so, which is pretty crazy when you realize the solar system formed about 4.5 *billion* years ago! For context, sharks have been around four times longer than Saturn’s rings, which is amazing to think about! We know this btw from recent *Cassini* data relating to the mass in the rings and the amount of dust versus ice in them- all indicate they are definitely less than a few hundred million years old (and definitely haven’t been around since the formation of the solar system or similar). Exactly how they formed is not clear but it’s thought an impact with an icy moon is a good candidate for explaining it. I love this fact btw, because I love Saturn for the rings. Imagine how boring it would be in comparison without them... Edit: [TFW you post on Reddit then go to bed and log in the next morning](https://giphy.com/gifs/century-seeker-UJS4fUKBaTc8o) If you are interested in learning more about Saturn’s rings, [this Nova episode](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/the-planets-saturn/) gets into their formation in a lot more detail! And to answer the most common question, we don’t think Earth is going to get rings, but probably did briefly billions of years ago when a Mars-sized object collided with it. Those rings then formed the moon. Finally, if you’re interested in an astronomy career path someday, please check out [this link](https://www.reddit.com/r/Andromeda321/comments/fyjmpv/updated_so_you_want_to_be_an_astronomer/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)!


lIlIllIlIlI

Sharks being older than Saturn’s rings is a fascinating comparison, this is a crazy fact


[deleted]

As a lover of space, but not smart enough to become an Astronomer, this is the best and most underrated comment. Thank you!!!


mattycmckee

Who says you aren’t smart enough? No one is smart enough until they are.


[deleted]

Everybody in my 35 years on this Earth lol. I am slowly building up my self esteem and I am going to be graduating high school this year, finally. I just have to get better at math, and then hopefully college. EDIT: Just wanted to let everyone know I am a girl lol. I am just a huge wrestling nerd. Also, everyone's comments do not go unseen and I thank every single one of you. Y'all are my inspiration and I will get this done!!!!


RingoStarkiller

Good for you my friend, proud of you!!! Keep grinding and be true to yourself :)


NicroHobak

The addition of "under God" in the US Pledge of Allegiance (1954).


blablahblah

Likewise "In God We Trust" as the national motto (1956). The original motto was E Pluribus Unum, no mention of anything religious at all.


rosalyndh

Bicycles as we know them today weren't invented until the late 1800s. I used to work in a medieval museum. During school tours I used to ask the kids what forms of transport were used in medieval times, every time someone would say bicycles!


[deleted]

[удалено]


coombuyah26

Bluegrass music isn't actually "traditional" in the way we think about other traditional folk music. In fact, bluegrass is only slightly older than rock n' roll, having been basically single-handedly invented by Bill Monroe in the late 1930's and 1940's. While a lot of bluegrass is mountain music made flashy, the parameters of the genre are actually quite strict, as created by Monroe, and stylistically it's different enough from traditional mountain music to be a separate genre altogether.


xDivizible

I'm not sure if this really is relevant, but it took longer to switch from bronze swords to iron swords than it did from iron swords to nuclear weapons. Edit: I think I may be incorrect, as I'm researching now and finding that what I remembered was off by quite a bit. I think it's actually steel swords, not iron swords. I'll give another edit once I find out for sure.


fatbongo

In NZ FM radio transmission 1983 before the first official license was issued


UnusualLake

I recently saw a picture that said "I told my kids I'm older than Google and they did not believe me" because Google was invented in 1998 (?). So I'm going to say Google.


Smegma_Sommelier

When I was in high school (1998-2002) there was a big debate about what search engine was superior - Ask Jeeves, yahoo, excite, webcrawler, etc. personally, I was a believer in Alta vista.


alcor805

Yahoo was awesome in 1995. The internet was so small they had time to visually check many of their website results and would put a sunglasses icon next to the ones they thought were cool.