Things That Never Seem to Change

[Inkstainedwretch]

As a compliment to the "Things that have disappeared" thread, I'm introducing this one, about those things that seem unaffected by the passage of time. I don't mean simple tools like clawhammers, but products that were new within, say, the last hundred years, and have defied change ever since. My first example:

Recently I was in the toy department of a store when I noticed a display of Silly Putty. It was sold in plastic eggs, exactly like the first Silly Putty (the brand I first encountered was sold as Nutty Putty) I ever saw, some 60 years ago. The only noticeable difference was the day-glo colors on some of the eggs. Some products are nearly perfect when first introduced and are very resistant to change.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Vaseline.

Alka-Seltzer. (It doesn't come in a glass tube anymore, but the tablets themselves haven't changed.)

Marvel Mystery Oil. (Comes in a plastic bottle instead of a tin can, but the label, the color, and the smell are the same.)

Sani-White shoe polish.

Bayer aspirin.

Bakewell Cream.

Jiffy biscuit mix.

One-Pie canned pumpkin.

Bell's Seasoning.

Marshmallow Fluff.

 

[Trenchfriend]

The authentic trenchcoat.
-double-breasted
-belt
-gunflap
-stormflap
-D-rings
-epaulettes
-collar-clasp
-pop up-collar
-sleeve-latches
-cape-collar

Forgot something?

 

[HudsonHawk]

Lena Blackburne's Baseball Rubbing Mud. It's been used to rub up baseballs since 1938. It's still harvested, by hand in shovels and buckets, by the same family, from a secret location on the Delaware River.

 

[tonyb]

The Slinky (but I hear they make a plastic version now).

The Weber Kettle barbecue grill.

Cast iron skillets, Dutch ovens, etc.

KitchenAid stand mixers.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona chair, and numerous other "iconic" pieces of modernist furniture from the likes of George Nelson and Harry Bertoia and the Saarinens and the Eameses, most of which date from much earlier than most people would ever guess, and most of which are still in production.

 

[TimeWarpWife]

I've been using these items since the 60s and 70s and other different packaging I find them the same:

Prell shampoo
Jergens face cream
Noxzema
Ponds cold cream
Ivory soap

 

[GHT]

Dutch ovens.

Talk about lost in translation. What we call a Dutch oven is the gross act of farting in the bed then holding the covers over your partners head.
You're right, some things never change.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^

Well, stick around here long enough and we'll learn you how to talk proper American.

I hear that "tush" has a gender-specific meaning over on that misty isle, but that it's still not quite impolite. Mildly naughty, right? Or no?

As to things that survive mostly if not quite entirely unchanged ...

A2 jackets

Blue jeans (some of 'em, anyway)

Jeans jackets (ditto)

Red Wing boots (likewise)

 

[Stearmen]

The Franklin Stove.

 

[Fading Fast]

Vick's Vaper Rub

Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers

 

[GHT]

^^^^^

Well, stick around here long enough and we'll learn you how to talk proper American.

I hear that "tush" has a gender-specific meaning over on that misty isle, but that it's still not quite impolite. Mildly naughty, right? Or no?

Not really, tush, meaning derrière, has fallen out of everyday parlance.
As for talking proper American, I find that an English accent tends to open a lot of doors, when visiting The States that is. Over the years I've learned that expressions used in English period dramas, and that are never used in everyday English, evoke a smile, retailers and others will often go out of their way to help or explain something. For example, a lady at a restaurant asked when could we be expected, I told her that we would be there: "Within the hour." She repeated the expression with a quizzical tone. Noting the time was just after seven, I said, yes, before eight. "Oh right," she replied, as though she had just cracked a secret code.
Another time, when agreeing with someone, I said: "Quite so!" Certainly not in use since before WW2, but it had been used in the Jeeves & Wooster series, and again, it was repeated, with a chuckle. I tell you, being English, as long as you are polite and respectful, can get you a long way in your country.

 

[tonyb]

And to think I am left relying on charm and good looks alone to open doors.

Oughta learn how to affect a British accent.

 

[philosophygirl78]

Seasons in Miami...

 

[Fading Fast]

Seasons in Miami...

cute

 

[GHT]

Oughta learn how to affect a British accent.

You could take a leaf out of my lady's book. She has this stare, pure napalm. One of our guilty pleasures when visiting your shores, is IHOP. They don't trade in Europe, so we make the nearest IHOP one of our first stops, I particularly like the eggnog choice. Unfortunately IHOP isn't just child friendly, it's uncontrollable, loud, little sh*ts friendly too. One little guy, about four, maybe five years old, was running up and down between the tables, arms outstretched, colliding with diners and screeching at the top of his voice. He caught my wife's arm, she brought the full weight of that withering stare of her's, straight into the lad's eyes. Must have been a full fifteen seconds, I saw the little fellow's bottom lip quiver, then he was up and gone. A minute or so later we heard this rather cross female voice say: "What do you mean, she looked at you?" He wasn't old enough to be able to articulate stare from look, so it cost him a scolding from Mom too. Ha!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Rock salt.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Rock salt.

Ah! The last time, I've heared this name, seems long ago. And I never heared the word https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halite, before. Interesting.

 

[tonyb]

Can a person can still find saddle shoes all but indistinguishable from the ones made 60-plus years ago?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yup. The ones I have, from "Muffy's," could've stepped right out of the Sears catalog in 1937 -- brown saddle, coral rubber sole, genuine Goodyear welt, cotton laces. And after wearing them for the past ten years, they're authentically filthy dirty, as was the style.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Ah! The last time, I've heared this name, seems long ago. And I never heared the word https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halite, before. Interesting.

I just scattered ten pounds of it on the sidewalk out front of work. You get fined in this town if you don't keep your sidewalk clear of snow.