My Generation: Period Set, Style, Slang, etc.

[Thumper]

On 2/1/2019 at 10:39 PM, marypat57 said:

Coowgirl--I totally understand aboug the pixie haircut.  It was my standard haircut until my college years.  I had a very dear friend who had the most beautiful hair--she could wesr it in ringlets or beautiful ponytails. When I begged my mother for ponytails like my friend, she pointed out that my hair was fine and straight and did not hold a curl. I have not-so-fond memories of pincurls, home permanents and pink plastic rollers.  

I went through a curly perm stage in my late 20s and finally gave up and embraced my natural straightess.   I went back to short hair for a while, but now I am very happy with my shoulder length hair.  I drag out my new 'tulip' curling iron occaisionally to change the look.

My hair was/is the same!  And @Cowgirl, I had a pixie in the late 1960's.  My uncle (who did not visit very often) thought I was a boy!! 😫  The embarrassment!!!

[Cowgirl]

Oh no  @Thumper!  I feel your pain.  I do wish someone would give Lawrence a pixie cut though. 

Edited February 12, 2019 by Cowgirl

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 2/12/2019 at 4:09 PM, Thumper said:

My hair was/is the same!  And @Cowgirl, I had a pixie in the late 1960's.  My uncle (who did not visit very often) thought I was a boy!! 😫  The embarrassment!!!

I was well into my 30s and had short hair, and was at a cafeteria and the guy working the line said, "What can I get for you, sir?"  I said, "I'm a girl!"  He paused for about half a second, and said, "Grow your hair out."

The ironic thing is that I say he was a guy, but I swear I was never positive.  He looked just like Pat from Saturday Night Live, except with no glasses.

My brothers were among the first in our small city to grow their hair out and were CONSTANTLY mistaken for girls.  They prohibited long hair on boys in my youngest brother's junior high, so he wore a wig!  I told him that if he really wanted to make a mockery of the rule, he'd shave his head and thereby conform to the rule but still cause a disturbance, but he wouldn't go for it.

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 2/9/2019 at 5:42 PM, 2727 said:

Lest the faded picture fool you, that was one neon lime 100% polyester dress. Them darts!

Thanks for mentioning the darts.  Yikes!

I know that neon lime green.  I had a dress that was neon lime and hot pink horizontal stripes.  It's memorialized in my school picture.

And if I may, you look so young and fresh in those pictures.  That's one thing I love about the late 60s, when girls moved away from beehive hairdos and lots of makeup and to a more natural look.  Of course, not everyone could pull it off like Michelle Phillips, but by and large, the whole cohort looked cute. 

I feel kind of sorry for people from the 80s.  Egad, everyone looked tortured and awful, and I just shake my head every time I see a wedding photo with huge puffy sleeves and a headband around somebody's forehead.  The only redeeming thing I can say about that era is that pretty much everybody looks better than they did then, even though they're older.  That might be the only time in history that's ever been the case.

[2727]

I got a kick out of the quart can of juice on this week's episode, including triangles cut into opposite sides of the top. Those bottle openers used to be cheap, giveaway indispensables and now I can't remember when I last owned one. (I don't drink beer, though, so maybe some brands still don't use twist tops.)

It was also clear that the boys drank a whole danged can for one meal. No wonder Peg makes fake cereal out of crackers.

That reminds me of the DeBolt family with 19 kids (most of them special needs adoptions) who were featured in a documentary in the mid 1970s.  They were shown grocery shopping so the world could gawk at how much food they had to buy. They would have been the original Duggars if reality TV had been a thing then.

I was trying to remember when the Catholic church mostly switched from saying Holy Ghost to Holy Spirit; the Internet tells me it was after the Second Vatican Council, so that fits with this time period.

[Cowgirl]

On 2/14/2019 at 10:51 AM, StatisticalOutlier said:

feel kind of sorry for people from the 80s.  Egad, everyone looked tortured and awful, and I just shake my head every time I see a wedding photo with huge puffy sleeves and a headband around somebody's forehead.  The only redeeming thing I can say about that era is that pretty much everybody looks better than they did then, even though they're older.  That might be the only time in history that's ever been the case.

What??!!  Nooooo!  I loved our style in the 80's and have thought that pretty much every era since had no discernable style.  I loved my big puffy sleeves and wedding veil headband. And, I'm TOTALLY waiting for big hair to come back!!  I look SOOOO much better with big, poofy, feathered hair! 😘

[SoMuchTV]

Oooh!  Wendi's crocheted sweater vest (in the cemetery, in "Nine Birthdays") - based on the same pattern as Roseanne's couch afghan!  Even the cool kids (who looked down on "handmade") were into those!

[Snow Apple]

This show really nail a lot of the little details. Get a load of the McDonald's bags in the birthday episode.

[dcalley]

Some of you might enjoy reading Sting-Ray Afternoons by Steve Rushin. Here's a review.

I am younger than the baby on this show, but I remember briefly having a bookstrap I probably found at a yard sale. I remember knowing it was a bit of a relic. (This was in the '80s.) I think I used it a few times, but it wasn't practical. Mine was sort of like this one.

[Cowgirl]

That book sounds good @dcalley.  If I can rembember, I'll have to check it out. It is weird that the reviewer says that the 70's was the era of jumbo jets (yes) and boom boxes. (No!  Boom boxes were an 80's thing! The 70's was the transister radio era.)

[SmithW6079]

On 3/3/2019 at 8:02 PM, dcalley said:

Some of you might enjoy reading Sting-Ray Afternoons by Steve Rushin. Here's a review.

I am younger than the baby on this show, but I remember briefly having a bookstrap I probably found at a yard sale. I remember knowing it was a bit of a relic. (This was in the '80s.) I think I used it a few times, but it wasn't practical. Mine was sort of like this one.

I had a book strap like that! 

[Cowgirl]

I haven't noticed any macrame items in the show yet.  Am I just missing them? That was a huge fad sometime in the 70's. I think I remember that Frank had a God's Eye in one episode, but no macrame plant hangers have appeared yet that I know of. (And I know God's Eyes weren't macrame; my point is just that they were a similar craft.)

Edited March 13, 2019 by Cowgirl

[methodwriter85]

Eagle Rock Mall is a real mall that opened up in Glendale in 1973, which is a little anachronistic but they keep emphasizing that it's a brand new mall and it's possible earlier phases could have opened up in '72.  It's called Eagle Rock Plaza now and it's apparently really popular with Filipinos.

[lucindabelle]

I HAD THAT CROCHETED VEST! There are many pictures of me in it as a little girl.

ALSO SARA LEE DESSERT CAKE!!!!! They don't make that frozen Sara Lee chocolate one layer cake anymore, but it was the best thing EVER! You had to let it defrost and then sometimes if you didn't wait you could peel the frosting back in a clump. It was areally a chocolate pound cake. I have begged and pleaded with Sara Lee to bring it back.

[Snow Apple]

The writers must read these boards. Little Pat was playing with clackers in today's episode. They even referenced how dangerous they are 😄

[Yeah No]

On 2/20/2019 at 3:56 PM, Cowgirl said:

What??!!  Nooooo!  I loved our style in the 80's and have thought that pretty much every era since had no discernable style.  I loved my big puffy sleeves and wedding veil headband. And, I'm TOTALLY waiting for big hair to come back!!  I look SOOOO much better with big, poofy, feathered hair! 😘

We make fun of the '80s today but I had such style back then.  I had tons of big poofy layered hair.  Shopping malls were at their apex and you could "shop till you dropped".  There were tons of clothing boutiques and the fashions were amazing.  I miss those days!

The problem is that in hindsight we only seem to remember the crazy stuff and have forgotten that a lot of the styles we wear now were big back then, like leggings and tunics and pointy toed shoes.  I have a photo of me taken in 1985 where I'm wearing what we would now call "jeggings" with a pair of pointy toed ballet flats and a "moto jacket" I bought at Top Shop in London that actually looks quite current.  I still have it because I loved it so much, but I was a size 2 back then so I'd never fit it now!

I could do without big hair coming back, though.  I was lucky enough to have a copious mane back then but now at 60 I doubt I could get that level of volume without a lot of work!

[hoodooznoodooz]

On 4/14/2019 at 1:51 AM, Yeah No said:

We make fun of the '80s today but I had such style back then.  I had tons of big poofy layered hair.  Shopping malls were at their apex and you could "shop till you dropped".  There were tons of clothing boutiques and the fashions were amazing.  I miss those days!

The problem is that in hindsight we only seem to remember the crazy stuff and have forgotten that a lot of the styles we wear now were big back then, like leggings and tunics and pointy toed shoes.  I have a photo of me taken in 1985 where I'm wearing what we would now call "jeggings" with a pair of pointy toed ballet flats and a "moto jacket" I bought at Top Shop in London that actually looks quite current.  I still have it because I loved it so much, but I was a size 2 back then so I'd never fit it now!

I could do without big hair coming back, though.  I was lucky enough to have a copious mane back then but now at 60 I doubt I could get that level of volume without a lot of work!

I wore white Mia pointy-toed flats. When they wore out, I bought another pair. My college roommate bought a pair, too. 

I bought as much Esprit as possible from Urban Outfitters in Cambridge, then Philadelphia. 

I loved my black leggings. My BF would affectionately call them leggin’s.

[bad things are bad]

One of the characters last night said "full disclosure". Nope. That was not a thing people said in the 70s, 

[biakbiak]

6 hours ago, bad things are bad said:

One of the characters last night said "full disclosure". Nope. That was not a thing people said in the 70s, 

William Safire would disagree.

[OnceAgain]

6 hours ago, bad things are bad said:

One of the characters last night said "full disclosure". Nope. That was not a thing people said in the 70s, 

And Willam reads “excessively” 🤣

[lefawn]

I’ve been rewatching some of the episodes since I’ve heard news of the cancellation and notice that Peggy always wears the same basic dress.  Different necklines, different sleeves, slight different pleating but the main form is the same with a shirt top, fitted waist, and a slightly flared skirt.  We know she sews so I imagine she’s been working off the same Simplicity pattern for decades.  Her look may be slightly outdated (or, not - I think it’s pretty timeless.  I wear dresses like that to work now although with flats instead of heals.) but it complements her body and, at this point, she can probably crank one of those out in an afternoon. 

[dcalley]

1 minute ago, lefawn said:

We know she sews

Thanks to Aunt Tess!

[bybrandy]

I'm going to miss this show. 

My mom was 6 years older than my dad and was divorced with 4 children.  Needless to say my grandparents were not okay with this.  They loathed her.  They gave him such a hard time about her she baked him a cake shaped like a baby''s bottle for their first birthday together.  Then they went to visit and my mom was smart and funny and active and her kids were smart and funny and polite and they decided she wasn't quite so bad  A few months later I oopsed my way into the world and my grandparents decided she was grand.   Having 4 other kids at home and working two jobs full time my mother was willing to send me for weekends away to them when I was just a baby and pretty much the only thing my grandmother ever wanted her whole life was a grandchild.  So...   It worked out... more or less.  Worked out for me, anyway.   

My dad passed away 20 years ago last month.  My mom's decided in her retirement that she's going to become a chocoltier because she tried to convince all the rest of us to go that way and all of her adult grandchildren and she finally decided last year that if you want something done right you might as well do it yourself.   

[doodlebug]

14 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Well....I was sad watching this episode and am still hoping for a miracle.

I loved @anna0852 's post above about what happened to them all, except for the part about the parents dying so soon.  I guess because my own Dad is 91 and still kicking that I think the Cleary parents should have lived longer.  Perhaps if they died closer to the present I'd feel better about it.

Also, I think Fiona's age was intended to be genuine, not some kind of exaggeration by the character.  I think the show wanted to make it look like Lawrence was really going way outside the norm with her, which would be in character for him to do.  I do agree that she would have looked older in the early '70s if she were really 43, though.  Not 60 older, though.  My mom was 48 in 1972 and didn't look THAT old! 

BTW, women in their 40s in the '70s didn't normally wear jeans.  That was a younger generation thing to them.  They might wear pants now and then, but not the kind of jeans younger people wore.  In those days clothing was very age specific.  Most 40 something women wore dresses like the mom on this show.  Perhaps they were going for an aging hippy thing with her, but that was still not a "thing" back then.  Older people didn't act or dress like the younger generation even if they wanted to be more "hip and cool".  They did so in ways that the younger generation thought was funny and misplaced.  Like those guys that wore the soon-to-be everywhere "leisure suit".  The younger generation thought that was "farty" and dumb right away.  We were wearing worn out jeans and army surplus, not polyester.

But I hate to nitpick on what is the last episode of this show.  I can still hardly believe it especially knowing it had better ratings than some renewed shows.  Like most everything I focus my attention on these days, it seems unfair.

My mom was in her 40's in the 70's and she never wore housedresses, always wore pants.  Or shorts or 'pedal pushers' as she referred to them. Same thing during  the 60's.  When she went out, she might've worn a dress, but pantsuits were pretty popular for women in the late '60'sand into the '70's and my mom had quite a few.  She didn't wear jeans often, but she did have a pair or two during the 70's and she wore them to picnics and such.  I had friends whose moms were roughly the same age as mine and the vast majority of them wore pants around the house too.  I would agree that all of our moms tended to choose polyester type pants rather than the jeans my friends and I favored, there was definitely a fashion gap based on age. I grew up in a large Catholic family in a Midwestern city.

Despite my mother's more liberal mode of dress, she would've made a far bigger stink than Peggy did if any of us had moved in with a boyfriend back in the day, particularly the oldest child.  One of my sisters did eventually live with a boyfriend while my mother was still alive, but she was child #5 and I think my mom was kind of over it by that point.  None of the first few of us would've dared to even think about it. My older sister wanted to move to the college town where her boyfriend lived and share an apartment with his sister, also a student.  My mother went ballistic, so my sister scuttled that plan.  She eloped at age 19 instead because she really, really wanted to be with him.  Since the marriage is now in it's 44th year, I guess my sister was right.

Edited May 23, 2019 by doodlebug

[Yeah No]

6 hours ago, doodlebug said:

My mom was in her 40's in the 70's and she never wore housedresses, always wore pants.  Or shorts or 'pedal pushers' as she referred to them. Same thing during  the 60's.  When she went out, she might've worn a dress, but pantsuits were pretty popular for women in the late '60'sand into the '70's and my mom had quite a few.  She didn't wear jeans often, but she did have a pair or two during the 70's and she wore them to picnics and such.  I had friends whose moms were roughly the same age as mine and the vast majority of them wore pants around the house too.  I would agree that all of our moms tended to choose polyester type pants rather than the jeans my friends and I favored, there was definitely a fashion gap based on age. I grew up in a large Catholic family in a Midwestern city.

My mom was a city dweller (NYC) and her wardrobe reflected that so true 5 pocket rivet stud blue jeans of the Levis or Lee variety were not in her repertoire or any woman in her 40s there.  Her idea of "jeans" was not my idea.  Hers were side-zip or pull on with very fine knit almost-jeanlike fabric, kind of like the way we have jeggings today made out of knit fabric that aren't really what we young'ns would have considered jeans back in the '70s.  The definition of jeans held by the younger generation back then was a lot narrower than ours today.  I went out to the Midwest and West in 1973 so I know women could dress differently than us New Yorkers.  My mom was born in 1924 and died in 2001, BTW.  May she rest in peace (genuflects).  🙏

That said, my mom was waaaay ahead of her time wearing mini skirts and even a dashiki, which was very acceptable even for white women to wear in the early '70s.

[Yeah No]

I turned 14 in the summer of 1972 so which brother is closest in age to me?  I admit I have always been confused about that and it looks like people here might have a better idea than I do!

[biakbiak]

18 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

I turned 14 in the summer of 1972 so which brother is closest in age to me?  I admit I have always been confused about that and it looks like people here might have a better idea than I do!

Probably Joey who is the fourth but might be in between him and Frank.

[Yeah No]

6 hours ago, biakbiak said:

Probably Joey who is the fourth but might be in between him and Frank.

Thanks, I was thinking it would be Joey.  I can live with that although I didn't much care for Frank.

[Angeltoes]

9 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I turned 14 in the summer of 1972 so which brother is closest in age to me?

Timmy and I were both born in late '59 and we were 12 that summer, so you and Joey would have been classmates.  

[MartyMart]

10 hours ago, biakbiak said:

Probably Joey who is the fourth but might be in between him and Frank.

Joey is definitely 14, in the episode, The Love List, Mike's work buddy (Ken Jeong) calls out Joey and refers to him as "the 14 year old."

[lefawn]

I think Markie Post’s character (Helen?) is probably dressed as the more “modern” woman while Peggy is still the throw back.  Money, time, and just general personalities probably all contribute to this.  

As a Peggy myself I’d prefer to look slightly out dated rather than too on trend. 

Also I love Mike’s plaid zip up jacket.