Ok, so some things in the golden era were not too cool...

[Stanley Doble]

I used to know a guy from Louisiana who settled permanently in my small town here in Canada. One day in February when it was 20 below and snowing sideways I asked him what he had done, that he had to hide out this far from home. Or if he thought ROTC meant run off to Canada. I don't think he appreciated my sense of humor but he never did tell me, and I could never figure out why anyone would leave Louisiana for Canada.

 

[dh66]

I used to know a guy from Louisiana who settled permanently in my small town here in Canada. One day in February when it was 20 below and snowing sideways I asked him what he had done, that he had to hide out this far from home. Or if he thought ROTC meant run off to Canada. I don't think he appreciated my sense of humor but he never did tell me, and I could never figure out why anyone would leave Louisiana for Canada.

maybe he was looking for his roots.
Louisiana is full of Cajuns, who are , of course, descended from Acadian exiles from Qebec and the maritime provinces.

your story also reminded me of the old joke about the guy who was such a bad alcoholic , that when he saw a billboard that said "drink Canada Dry", he moved up there to try

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[Stanley Doble]

In 1986 I took a trip to the south and in Louisiana I saw the name "coonass" for the first time. When I got back I asked him what a coonass was, he gave me a look and said I hope you didn't call anybody that. I said I don't even know what it means. He never did explain it and I'm still puzzled.

 

[dh66]

In 1986 I took a trip to the south and in Louisiana I saw the name "coonass" for the first time. When I got back I asked him what a coonass was, he gave me a look and said I hope you didn't call anybody that. I said I don't even know what it means. He never did explain it and I'm still puzzled.

it is a racial slur against people of Cajun heritage. Some find it highly offensive, others roll with it and embrace it as a term of cultural identity

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[Renault]

In 1986 I took a trip to the south and in Louisiana I saw the name "coonass" for the first time. When I got back I asked him what a coonass was, he gave me a look and said I hope you didn't call anybody that. I said I don't even know what it means. He never did explain it and I'm still puzzled.

One legend of the word goes back to the battle of New Orleans. One of the Louisiana militia units wore coonskin caps. Which were popular in the time. To distinguish the Louisiana militia unit from others they were ordered to pin the tails on the tops of their caps. During the battle, Jackson was reported to have mentioned that when he looked to the Louisiana unit all he saw were "coonasses"! Meaning they were not about to turn tail and run! Apocryphal perhaps, but a legend nonetheless.

 

[Young fogey]

Reminds me of a tale that I heard from a German American pal from a town in Minnesota. Seems that the Lutherans all drove Chevrolets and the Catholics drove Fords: it had nothing to do with socio-economics, but everything to do with whose fellow church member owned the local dealership and from who they thought they could get a better deal.

Garrison Keillor included something like that in Lake Wobegon Days.

 

[Stearmen]

When I was growing up, people wanted to know if you were a "dunker" or a "sprinkler". To see if you were marrying material.

We used those terms also!

 

[ChiTownScion]

Another thing about the Golden Era that wasn't too cool (if it hasn't already been mentioned): second hand smoke.

I was enjoying a delicious steak dinner this evening last for Father's Day, and I just happened to note the clear air in the restaurant. Cigarette, cigar, and pipe smoke would have ruined the evening. I hated dealing with that as a kid in public places, and I'm glad that kids today don't have to deal with it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Not everybody took the smoke as a matter of course. Members of the pre-WW1 "Anti-Cigarette League" used to go around snatching cigarettes, cigars, and pipes out of the faces of public smokers, dashing them angrily to the ground. Ah, happy days.

 

[itsbruce]

I gave up smoking years ago, but even when I did smoke, I never lit up in a restaurant. Didn't understand why anybody who cared about their food would want to interrupt the meal to coat their tongue in nicotine.

 

[Fading Fast]

Second hand smoke in restaurants is one of those things that I hated at the time, but in retrospect, seems even crazier. The enjoyment of food requires a good sense of smell as many "flavors" are experienced / enhanced by scent, so it seems insane that there was a time that smoking was allowed in restaurants (and airplanes and, well, almost everywhere).

Yesterday, I was walking down the street and took a full blast of a smoker's exhale (he was in front of me and the wind just took it right into my face - he didn't intentionally or even thoughtlessly do anything wrong) and I thought two things: (1) why can't we make it illegal to smoke outside in public (smoke on your property all you want, but not on the public streets) and (2) how crazy was it that only a few decades ago you'd walk down the street and (seemingly) every other person was puffing away.

 

[dh66]

I gave up smoking years ago, but even when I did smoke, I never lit up in a restaurant. Didn't understand why anybody who cared about their food would want to interrupt the meal to coat their tongue in nicotine.

Right there with you, not to mention what the smell of a cig can do to the smell of the food. It's rarely a complement.

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[Stanley Doble]

All part of sharing the planet with other people. Unfortunately, you can't force the world to cater to your every whim, every second of the day. Sometimes the air just won't cooperate.

 

[Zombie_61]

Not everybody took the smoke as a matter of course. Members of the pre-WW1 "Anti-Cigarette League" used to go around snatching cigarettes, cigars, and pipes out of the faces of public smokers, dashing them angrily to the ground. Ah, happy days.

If anyone ever did that to me, their face would immediately follow my cigarette to the ground. I'm not a "militant" smoker, and I do my best to be conscientious and not annoy people with my habit, but if a non-smoker approaches me and starts being rude the gloves come off.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

If anyone ever did that to me, their face would immediately follow my cigarette to the ground. I'm not a "militant" smoker, and I do my best to be conscientious and not annoy people with my habit, but if a non-smoker approaches me and starts being rude the gloves come off.

Exactly. Same here Zombie.
HD

 

[Stanley Doble]

If anyone ever did that to me, their face would immediately follow my cigarette to the ground. I'm not a "militant" smoker, and I do my best to be conscientious and not annoy people with my habit, but if a non-smoker approaches me and starts being rude the gloves come off.

It was always WOMEN doing this. Your move.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I don't put up with anyone jerking anything off my person..no matter who they think they are. That would lead to something very seriously unsettling for anyone who dared to be so bold.
HD

 

[Zombie_61]

It was always WOMEN doing this. Your move.

It makes no difference. Now, I wouldn't actually cause physical harm to someone (man or woman) for doing this because that would clearly be an over-reaction, but at the very least I'd have some very choice words for them.

 

[Fading Fast]

It makes no difference. Now, I wouldn't actually cause physical harm to someone (man or woman) for doing this because that would clearly be an over-reaction, but at the very least I'd have some very choice words for them.

As a passionate non-smoker, I agree with this completely. We have laws, rules, regulations that came out of a democratic process - like the result or not, respecting them is part of being a civilized person. There is a place for civil disobedience, but taking and destroying someone's property (cigarettes, etc.) is theft of personal property - march on your local government if you want change, start a petition, but don't attack law abiding individuals.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The past was truly a foreign country, especially the pre-WW1 past. The veneer of "social niceties" then was a lot thinner than modern nostalgics would like to admit. The elegant gentlemen and refined ladies were a decided minority, a thin skim over a population of roughnecks, hardboiled characters, fishwives, and scrubwomen who weren't afraid to make their views known as emphatically as possible. They were far more likely to pitch a rock thru your window or at your head than they were to march around holding a sign.

As far as the Anti-Cigarette League was concerned, a large proportion of the general public endorsed and supported their campaign. In just the first decade after the League was founded, a dozen states passed laws prohibiting the sale or posession of cigarettes within their borders, and there was constant pressure for similar laws in other states. It was only after WW1 promoted mass addiction to cigarettes among soldiers , and after heavy lobbying by Big Tobacco, that these laws were repealed.

Lucy Page Gaston, founder of the ACL, was a woman fifty years ahead of her time in understanding the dangers of tobacco. She was attacking the use of chemical adulterants in cigarette manufacture, warning against the clinically-addictive properties of nicotine, and suggesting a link between tobacco use and cancer as far back as 1910. After knocking the cigarettes out of the mouths of public smokers, she would offer them chunks of gentian root to chew as a way of minimizing nicotine withdrawal symptoms.