What's something modern you won't miss when it becomes obsolete?

[Gregg Axley]

As long as you don't follow that with "and I am here to help you." I grab for my wallet when I hear that as it usually means they are here to help themselves to my money.

Don't worry.
I'm not motivated enough to help you.

 

[Zombie_61]

Don't worry.
I'm not motivated enough to help you.

Yep, you're with the government all right. lol

 

[Gregg Axley]

Yep, you're with the government all right. lol

It's the lack of coffee that brought personality to me.

This may have been mentioned, but those Bluetooth ear pieces.
I can't tell whether someone is on the phone, or just talking to themselves.
If they ARE talking to themselves, their conversation is awfully one sided.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Disney Princesses.

Don't remind me! I'll have that form of cultural inundation to look forward to in the next few years as one of my housemates has a six-year-old daughter who's already into the Disney Princesses and my other two housemates, the couple with the baby... well, it's a girl, so I'm pretty sure she'll also be into it in the next few years.

But on the other hand the Mom and Dad are just starting to develop an interest in vintage so maybe there's hope.

 

[jamespowers]

Yep, you're with the government all right. lol

Oh yes!

 

[sheeplady]

Gendered products that should have no gender (such as pink tools for delicate little ladies.)

Disney Princesses.

How about gendered toy aisles? Go into any box store and the toy aisles are color coded- pink for girls and blue for boys.

I don't remember this happening years ago.

 

[Gregg Axley]

How about gendered toy aisles? Go into any box store and the toy aisles are color coded- pink for girls and blue for boys.

I don't remember this happening years ago.

I haven't seen that.
We don't have kids, but I do pass by the kids section at Walmart, on the way to the garden section (for charcoal).
I've got to look at this Saturday.

 

[LizzieMaine]

How about gendered toy aisles? Go into any box store and the toy aisles are color coded- pink for girls and blue for boys.

I don't remember this happening years ago.

I never noticed that until about ten years ago when I was shopping for a present for one of the nieces and walked into a toy aisle at Wal-Mart, and the pink hit me in the face like a sock full of pennies.

What's with all the *pink* anyway? I remember a sort of mild turquoise as being the coded color for "girl" toys when I was little, certainly not this incessant, migraine-inducing Pepto-Bismol pink that's everywhere now.

I could not raise a child in this era. I'd run off and live in a cave in the woods before I'd expose a kid to the brainwashing of modern marketing.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

How about gendered toy aisles? Go into any box store and the toy aisles are color coded- pink for girls and blue for boys.

I don't remember this happening years ago.

I remember the Pink Aisle from at least the 1990s when I used to hit the stores early in the morning in search of Hot Wheels.

 

[Gregg Axley]

Because of this, I'll add (if someone hasn't) Data Mining.

Somewhere, somebody researched and assumed that parents can't find the right toy for their child.
If they divide the section into boys and girls, this helps the stupid Walmart shopper out.
Really?
What if the girl likes Hot Wheels? (She'd have to fight Brunswick for them, or get there earlier.)
The girls HAVE to like pink? They HAVE to like dolls?
The boys HAVE to like blue (I personally like green), and they HAVE to like football or basketball (mine was soccer)?
I grew up with girls that didn't like those things, instead they liked cars, horror movies, and hard rock music.
I grew up with boys that didn't like football or baseball, instead they liked soccer or rugby, and some even listened to country or alternative music.
The ones that didn't like any sports, and liked the color pink, ended up in the world of finance for some strange reason.
Back to Data Mining, I got a degree in Marketing, and was just learning about this new concept because the internet wasn't that old yet.
Yes there is a target audience, and yes you can predict what they might buy based on income, past buying habits, etc.
But the first time I realized the power of data mining, was when my sister received coupons in the mail for laundry softener, the exact one she bought, using her "Kroger" card. Or other items she bought for her kids, the exact coupons would just come in the mail. :eeek:
So stores are starting to section parts off based on sex/gender?
Doesn't surprise me, especially if it's Walmart.

 

[Feraud]

How about gendered toy aisles? Go into any box store and the toy aisles are color coded- pink for girls and blue for boys.

I don't remember this happening years ago.

Fascinating! I have not yet noticed this gender designation. I'll remember to throw this in the next person's face who insists women today are so empowered compared to those female wilting lillies of "The Old Days"...

 

[LizzieMaine]

The word "bromance."

The assumption that everyone carries "personal technology."

The phrase "personal technology."

Internet doctors.

The cult of the "bad boy."

Expressionist postmodern architecture.

Middle-class white people who insist they know what's best for Those Other People.

Magazine covers that feature blurbs about "Get That (whatever) Bod Now!"

People who use the word "bod."

The word "bod."

Art schools that prey on the creative dreams of naive young people and leave them waiting on tables and $100,000 in debt.

Dances that involve standing in one spot and shaking like you're having a spasm.

People who wear campaign buttons a year before the election.

People who call appetizers "starters."

The phrase "mummy tummy."

 

[HeyMoe]

Threads about modern things that we wont miss when they become obsolete.

:rofl:

Sorry I couldn't resist.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Threads about modern things that we wont miss when they become obsolete.

:rofl:

Sorry I couldn't resist.

I'm surprised it took this long.

 

[HeyMoe]

What can I say? I am slow on the uptake.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The girls HAVE to like pink? They HAVE to like dolls?
The boys HAVE to like blue (I personally like green), and they HAVE to like football or basketball (mine was soccer)?
I grew up with girls that didn't like those things, instead they liked cars, horror movies, and hard rock music.

The most rabid baseball fans I knew as a kid were girls. We lived and died by the Red Sox, and it wasn't just because Tony Conigliaro was cute. My grandmother never missed a Sox game on the radio, and one of the last things she said to me before she died was "Why the hell don't they get rid of Bob Stanley."

My mother is even more fanatical than her mother was -- she calls me after every game to dissect the outcome. I dread west coast road trips.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

What if the girl likes Hot Wheels? (She'd have to fight Brunswick for them, or get there earlier.)
The girls HAVE to like pink? They HAVE to like dolls?
The boys HAVE to like blue (I personally like green), and they HAVE to like football or basketball (mine was soccer)?
I grew up with girls that didn't like those things, instead they liked cars, horror movies, and hard rock music.
I grew up with boys that didn't like football or baseball, instead they liked soccer or rugby, and some even listened to country or alternative music.
The ones that didn't like any sports, and liked the color pink, ended up in the world of finance for some strange reason.

I do like blue but I'm not a football or basketball fan. Very early on there were pink Hot Wheels but it was very short-lived because they didn't think boys would want a pink car. Now those early pink redliners are much sought after by collectors.

Lizzie ---as an English chap I would claim Banksy as one of us rather than the glamorous sounding "mysterious European". I have to admit that I have never heard of this Bud Selig person featured on your blacklist but Mr Google tells me he has something to do with baseball (or rounders as we call it over here ).... and ignorant as I may be of Green Monsters and such it is nevertheless clear you are a woman of fine discernment and I think I love you.

Looks like Lizzie will be getting her wish as Bud Selig is stepping down as baseball commissioner after the 2014 season.

I thought politics were verboden on the Lounge?

You know we don't talk politics here. We... philosophize a lot... yeahhhh.... that's it.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Any time a company starts euphemizing its employees -- excuse me, "associates," -- that's when they should start looking for the knife in their back.

I think the whole trend started with Disney when they called their employees "Cast Members."

 

[sheeplady]

Somewhere, somebody researched and assumed that parents can't find the right toy for their child.
If they divide the section into boys and girls, this helps the stupid Walmart shopper out.
Really?
What if the girl likes Hot Wheels? (She'd have to fight Brunswick for them, or get there earlier.)
The girls HAVE to like pink? They HAVE to like dolls?
The boys HAVE to like blue (I personally like green), and they HAVE to like football or basketball (mine was soccer)?
I grew up with girls that didn't like those things, instead they liked cars, horror movies, and hard rock music.
I grew up with boys that didn't like football or baseball, instead they liked soccer or rugby, and some even listened to country or alternative music.
The ones that didn't like any sports, and liked the color pink, ended up in the world of finance for some strange reason.

I never liked pink as a child. I've warmed to the color a bit since having a daughter, mainly because we were given a lot of pink clothes as hand-me-downs. Otherwise, she would own nothing pink just because it's not my favorite color (that and it doesn't look as good on her as other colors). The other day I was at a museum shop and I heard a woman tell a young girl (I'd assume the woman to be the girl's mother or grandmother) "You don't want a car, girl's aren't supposed to have cars. Cars are for boys."

The pink and blue aisles irritate the sh*t out of me. What's fascinating is that if you go through the toys in age progression they start out non-gendered. The aisles are typically some gender neutral color. Then you get to about three years old and you have aisles with pink or blue backboards behind the toys. So apparently it's ok to have gender neutral toys until age three, but then the sexes must be separated. Now I don't know if *every* store is this way, but our local walmarts, kmarts, and targets all are set up this way. I can't remember if Babies'R'Us is this way, and I haven't been in a Toys'R'Us since I was about 9 or so.

Also, it really irks me what toys are placed in the pink or blue aisles. The toy kitchens are placed in the pink aisle. Because obviously, only girls would like a toy like that. Let's ignore the fact that many professional chefs (particularly famous chefs and chefs at high end places) are men. Let's also ignore the fact that men can and do prepare food, and some boys might like to play in a play kitchen to mimic their fathers.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Also, it really irks me what toys are placed in the pink or blue aisles. The toy kitchens are placed in the pink aisle. Because obviously, only girls would like a toy like that. Let's ignore the fact that many professional chefs (particularly famous chefs and chefs at high end places) are men. Let's also ignore the fact that men can and do prepare food, and some boys might like to play in a play kitchen to mimic their fathers.

And let's not forget that if a girl wants to play with sports equipment, she's considered "empowered." If a boy wants to play with an Easy-Bake Oven or a sewing machine, he's probably "differently gendered."

We've Come So Far.