So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[LizzieMaine]

Under 25 years old is just "that crap in the attic."

 

[LizzieMaine]

Also, my God, when did graduating from middle school or even high school become an massive celebratory event? I didn't even go to the small ceremony my high school had and my family acknowledged the event with a pizza dinner - my Dad's view was if you can't graduate from high school, you have a problem (doing what you were supposed to was not an achievement in my family or in most of the families in my neighborhood). And my Dad didn't go to college - this attitude wasn't a snob thing. I really don't want to become a curmudgeon, but every little achievement doesn't need fireworks and a brass band. And to Lizzie's point - the title inflation of these events is just part of the same pathology.

In our town, and in most towns around here, high school graduation was and is in the gym, with people sitting on folding chairs. But go down the road to the upscale community of Brunswick, and the district spends tens of thousands of dollars on high school graduation, because "it's a tradition." Yeah, maybe if you can afford to go on to Bowdoin it is.

My grandmother was the first member of our family to graduate from high school, and in our family it was considered a noteworthy thing, if only because there were still many of our people alive who hadn't. But nobody I knew, not even the kids who were well off, ever got a car or a trip to Europe for graduation. I don't think I got any kind of a family present at all, except for a small amount of cash from assorted relatives that I lived on that summer while looking for a job.

 

[jamespowers]

Under 25 years old is just "that crap in the attic."

And 70s clothing is just plain "crap."

 

[Bamaboots]

And 70s clothing is just plain "crap."

What, no polyester leisure suits in your closet?

 

[jamespowers]

What, no polyester leisure suits in your closet?

To quote myself:
"Hell No!"

 

[ChiTownScion]

But nobody I knew, not even the kids who were well off, ever got a car or a trip to Europe for graduation. I don't think I got any kind of a family present at all, except for a small amount of cash from assorted relatives that I lived on that summer while looking for a job.

Didn't own my first car until I was 28 and well over a year out of law school. Rode an awful lot of city buses and subways before that, so that when I finally bought my first car (an 1 year old Ford that I affectionately dubbed, Das Boot: it was owned by a little young internal medicine resident from Pasadena. I sold it to buy my wife's engagement ring.). I really loved that old car.

I was promised a trip to Ireland for law school graduation from an uncle: that turned into 2 weeks in Aspen, but it was likely a lot better for my health in terms of the clean air and exercise that I got. Didn't get to Europe until my honeymoon: hey, even marriage was worth that. Finally got to Ireland in 2011: I think that I appreciated it a lot more after having studied about its history and culture for decades.

I think that the moral is that you appreciate things a lot more when you've earned them. Parents really do their kids no favors by handing things like cars and fancy trips to them on a platter. If you can afford to send your kid to Bowdoin, Dartmouth, or Bennington, good for you... but if the kid is a lazy slug content only with attending frat parties and obtaining the Gentleman's C, you're wasting your resources and rewarding mediocrity, even if he's your kid and you love him more than life. On the other hand, if your kid exceeds all expectations, studies like a fiend, and works summers for spending money that goes toward tutors and MCAT preparation courses, maybe an occasional, "I'm proud as hell of you!" won't spoil or harm him either.

 

[Stearmen]

And that's the way it's been pretty much my entire life. We owned a gas station, I worked in radio stations, and now in a theatre. Except for the time I spent in the factory, I've never worked a regular 8-hour/5-day week/holidays off job. And even the factory had compulsory overtime.

I work every Thanksgiving and Christmas at the theatre, and will sometimes do everything myself, from selling tickets, to making popcorn, to running the show, to cleaning up, so the kids can have those days off.

I bet when you worked at the radio station, you didn't mind so much! When I was in aviation, I would often get calls Friday night by my boss, and told to be at the hanger by 5:00AM, gone the whole weekend. I remember one Thanksgiving morning, I was still out at the hanger at 3:00AM, trying to get an old BT13 ready for the day after. It was a worm night for November, I went out to my truck to get something, turned around, the hanger doors were open, the plane under the hanger lights, the stars and moon, wish I had a camera, it was magic! Lots of fun, but not much money, you probably know that one!

 

[Stearmen]

When did high school students start earning "high school degrees?" I didn't get any "degree" when I graduated, I got a diploma. I don't go around calling myself "LizzieMaine, H. S." It's not a "degree." It's a "diploma." All newspaper feature writers and education columnists, please copy.

Now they give diplomas to Kindergartners, and getting out of grade school!

 

[HudsonHawk]

I'm late to this thread, having been away for a while so apologies if this has already been mentioned, but my pet peeve is seeing any clothes post 1960 sold as 'vintage'. To my mind, that's strictly 'retro'. The amount of horrid 70's bri-nylon horrors and nasty 80's shell suits I see labelled as 'vintage' ! Maybe it's just my age...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but "vintage" would describe any piece actually manufactured in the period, and "retro" would apply to a new creation desinged to look period? At least that's how I've seen the term used. Of course, if something is old and used I just call it "old and used".

 

[LizzieMaine]

I bet when you worked at the radio station, you didn't mind so much! When I was in aviation, I would often get calls Friday night by my boss, and told to be at the hanger by 5:00AM, gone the whole weekend. I remember one Thanksgiving morning, I was still out at the hanger at 3:00AM, trying to get an old BT13 ready for the day after. It was a worm night for November, I went out to my truck to get something, turned around, the hanger doors were open, the plane under the hanger lights, the stars and moon, wish I had a camera, it was magic! Lots of fun, but not much money, you probably know that one!

When I was last in radio I lived in an unbearable tourist trap of a town -- if you weren't a cone-eater, there was no point in being there during the day. But when I finished writing my morning copy, usually about 4:30 AM, I'd take a long walk around and I was, on most days, the only person out and about. Not even the joggers and dog-walkers were up, so I had the whole town to myself for half an hour, and that was pretty much the only thing that made living in that town bearable for as long as I did.

The worst thing about that job was the day I had to climb up on the roof -- of a six story building -- and lash the satellite dishes down with rope. During Hurricane Bob. Despite those precautions, the Associated Press dish -- the one that was absolutely essential to operations -- was blown off the roof and ended up in the middle of the street.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but "vintage" would describe any piece actually manufactured in the period, and "retro" would apply to a new creation desinged to look period? At least that's how I've seen the term used. Of course, if something is old and used I just call it "old and used".

Or you could go the eBay route and call it ART DECCO MAD MEN VLV EEMS ERA HOME FRONT.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Or you could go the eBay route and call it ART DECCO MAD MEN VLV EEMS ERA HOME FRONT.

I'd be more tempted to buy something that was simply old and used.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'd be more tempted to buy something that was simply old and used.

I'd be more tempted to pick up something that was simply old and used if I found it at the side of the road.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I'd be more tempted to pick up something that was simply old and used if I found it at the side of the road.

I've bought things off of eBay, and have no problem with it. I just prefer an item description of "it's an older model, but it still works just fine." Same with Craigslist. I've bought everything from a kitchen table to tractor parts. If anyone tries to sell me "vintage" John Deere parts, I steer clear.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Though people seem to be suckers for "haunted" things and ex-wife stories on eBay.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The difference between "vintage" and "old" is rarely less than fifty dollars.

Another one I can't stand to hear is "classic." "Wow, now that's a classic car." "No, a classic car is a 1928 Packard. This is a *used* car."

 

[Fading Fast]

As my girlfriend and I are restoring / renovating a 1928 apartment, we have been buying lights, phones, hardware, furniture, etc. from that period or, in some cases, from close to the period but aesthetically consistent (as we are not trying to make a museum or perfectly historically accurate restoration, just something that looks good and has mainly original items where we can).

To that end - as as we are very budget conscious - all I really want to know are the facts - what years, who was the maker / manufacturer are the parts original or has work been done, etc. All the words "vintage," "classic", "historic," "rare," etc. are just noise to us - give us the facts and we will decide what price we will pay.

To be fair, we've had good and fair responses from most Ebay sellers when we've sent them specific questions - even from those sellers who use all the buzz words. And, overall, we are buying things off of Ebay at dealer prices (most of the competition we've found are dealers bidding against us on Ebay).

 

[HudsonHawk]

AsTo be fair, we've had good and fair responses from most Ebay sellers when we've sent them specific questions - even from those sellers who use all the buzz words. And, overall, we are buying things off of Ebay at dealer prices (most of the competition we've found are dealers bidding against us on Ebay).

This is the problem with eBay. You're not bidding against another schmoe who wants the same thing you're wanting because it's a hard to find item, you're bidding against a dealer who wants to then re-sell it on eBay next week.

 

[Fading Fast]

This is the problem with eBay. You're not bidding against another schmoe who wants the same thing you're wanting because it's a hard to find item, you're bidding against a dealer who wants to then re-sell it on eBay next week.

Yes, but since I'm not a dealer, if I buy 5-10% above what a dealer will pay, I'm still paying less than the dealer's 2 to 3 times store mark up. We have seen pieces we bought on Ebay in stores for 2 and 3 times what we paid for them. To be fair, I'm sure we could bid the store owner back, but not half or 2/3rds down.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'll occasionally buy records on eBay, and it drives me nuts to see 78s listed or described as "vinyl." Yes, there were vinyl 78s, including V-Discs, some types of kiddie records, and those razor-edged ones from the 50s, none of which are anything I'm interested in buying. But when I see "vinyl" used as a catch-all term by a seller to describe *all* records, I know to steer clear of that seller -- because a seller who doesn't know enough not to describe shellac 78s that way is a seller who, you can bet, has no idea how to pack and mail such records properly. These are the sellers who send you a bare record, wrapped in bubble wrap in a recycled pizza box, and act surprised when you tell them it arrived in six pieces.