This is from an article in the St. Petersburg

Times Newspaper on Sunday.

The Business Section asked readers for ideas

on "How Would You Fix the Economy?"

Dear Mr. President,



Please find below my suggestion for fixing

America's economy. Instead of giving billions

of dollars to companies that will squander

the money on lavish parties and unearned

bonuses, use the following plan.

You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 40 million people over 50

in the work force. - Pay them $1 million

apiece severance for early retirement with

the following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Forty-million job openings - Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty-million cars ordered - Auto Industry fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - Housing Crisis fixed.


It can't get any easier than that!

PS -If more money is needed, have all members in

Congress and their constituents pay their taxes...




I came across this phrase yesterday

'FENDER SKIRTS.'


A term I haven't heard in a long time,

and thinking about 'fender skirts' started

me thinking about other words that quietly

disappear from our language with hardly

a notice like 'curb feelers'



And 'steering knobs.' (AKA) suicide knob,

Neckers Knobs.



Since I'd been thinking of cars, my mind

naturally went that direction first.

Any kids will probably have to find some

elderly person over 50 to explain some of

these terms to you.

Remember 'Continental kits?'

They were rear bumper extenders and

spare tire covers that were supposed to

make any car as cool as a Lincoln Continental.



When did we quit calling them

'emergency brakes?'

At some point 'parking brake' became the

proper term. But I miss the hint of drama

that went with 'emergency brake.'

I'm sad, too, that almost all the old

folks are gone who would call the

accelerator the 'foot feed.' Many

today do not even know what a

clutch is or that the dimmer switch

used to be on the floor.

Didn't you ever wait at the street for

your daddy to come home, so you

could ride the 'running board' up

to the house?

Here's a phrase I heard all the time

in my youth but never anymore –

'store-bought.' Of course, just about

everything is store-bought these days.

But once it was bragging material to

have a store-bought dress or a store-

bought bag of candy.

'Coast to coast' is a phrase that once

held all sorts of excitement and now

means almost nothing. Now we take

the term 'world wide' for granted.

This floors me.

On a smaller scale, 'wall-to-wall'

was once a magical term in our homes.

In the '50s, everyone covered his or her

hardwood floors with, wow, wall-to-wall

carpeting! Today, everyone replaces

their wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood

floors. Go figure.

When's the last time you heard the

quaint phrase 'in a family way?' It's

hard to imagine that the word 'pregnant'

was once considered a little too graphic,

a little too clinical for use in polite company,

so we had all that talk about stork visits

and 'being in a family way' or simply 'expecting.'

Apparently 'brassiere' is a word no longer

in usage. I said it the other day and my

daughter cracked up. I guess it's just 'bra'

now. 'Unmentionables' probably wouldn't

be understood at all.

I always loved going to the 'picture show,

' but I considered 'movie' an affectation.

Most of these words go back to the '50s,

but here's a pure-'60s word I came across

the other day - 'rat fink.' Ooh, what a

nasty put-down!

Here's a word I miss - 'percolator..'

That was just a fun word to say. And

what was it replaced with? 'Coffee maker.'

How dull.. Mr. Coffee, I blame you for this.
?
I miss those made-up marketing words

that were meant to sound so modern and

now sound so retro. Words like 'DynaFlow'

and 'Electrolux.' Introducing the 1963

Admiral TV, now with 'SpectraVision!'




Food for thought - Was there a telethon

that wiped out lumbago? Nobody complains

of that anymore. Maybe that's what castor

oil cured, because I never hear mothers

threatening kids with castor oil anymore.

Some words aren't gone, but are definitely

on the endangered list. The one that

grieves me most, 'supper.' Now everybody

says 'dinner.' Save a great word. Invite

someone to supper. Discuss fender skirts




Someone forwarded this to me. I thought

some of us of a 'certain age' would

remember most of these.





Just for fun, pass it along to others of

'a certain age'!





IF YOU AREN'T OF A CERTAIN AGE.

YOU MUST KNOW SOMEONE WHO IS.

Happy Cooking,
Sum