I was asked recently by my boss's daughter what I meant when I absent-mindedly said I wanted to "tape something" on TV. 🤦 My 45-year old self nearly crumpled into ancient dust and my soul was about to search for an abandoned Blockbuster to live in for eternity.

My trivia game tonight had an entire category for VHS. Us genxers were stoked! We got all of them correct. category descriptions: “On this day in 1977, the Video Home System, or “VHS,” was introduced to the United States.”

I still remember when we got our first VHS. It was 2 separate boxes/consoles, and it was super expensive. That thing still continued to play videos until about 10-15 years ago. They don’t make ‘em like they used to (well, they don’t make them at all anymore)!

Phhft! Our first machine was Betamax and that beat was so heavy I’m sure affected the earth’s rotation

And by the mid 80s the porn industry made VHS the king and left Beta in the trash bin of history.

Oh shit that's dope! 🤣👍

I'm feeling so much second-hand embarrassment for all of you! Hold up, my mp3 is skipping again

I need a pencil because the tape in my cassette got pulled out

People I know still call it taping

people I know call it recording, which seems pretty neutral (?)

Long Live Blockbuster!

🤣👍

It seems like they are now using the word 'video' as a verb as their usual option. As in, "Let's video the cat doing that trick!"

There's still one living in Bend, Oregon!

My kids think it’s hilarious when I pull out my phone and say “I need to video tape this.”

Take refuge with we extremely elderly people, currently hiding out where the Tower Records used to be, not far from the old Mervyn’s. You know the place.

My Gen Z kids use "tape something". They picked it up for us and just use it themselves!

I went to Gamestop to get a new ps5 controller and accidently called it a paddle., Dude looked at me like I had 2 heads

That's a paddlin'.

Calling a video game controller a 'paddle'?.... oh you better believe that's a paddlin'

Unexpected Simpsons quote right here

I would also accept joystick.

That word can have different meanings I think.

RIP Apple 2e, Roger Rabbit game and joystick.

I totally forgot that word for it until just now, lol.

Same. Back in the 80's I remember hearing it referred to as a "joy paddle." I also remember "Trak ball" controllers for the Atari.

We also tied an onion around our belts, as was the style at the time

Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. "Gimme five bees for a quarter," you'd say.

Burns and Smithers deep, resigned sigh always kills me. 😂😂

My kid has a portable Atari and loves it. Yes, she's probably the only kid in first grade that has mastered Yars Revenge, but I digress... One of the games it comes with is Circus Atari. And I distinctly remember calling the controllers for that game "roller controllers". Lol

Crap, I forgot they used to be called that!

My Dad still refers to any video game as a "Nintendo cartridge.". Funny thing is, we had a Sega Master System, then a Genesis.

Dude, my mom doesn’t even call it a paddle anymore………..

oh yes she does… ;)

naw... paddle is my new nickname for controllers now.

If it helps, I work at a shop that still sells gift certificates. We're old school 👍

I tried to explain gift certificates to my teen recently, and added in writing checks to pay for them. He was confused by how these pieces of paper were somehow money.

That’s funny how they can comprehend that some pieces of paper are money but these other pieces of paper aren’t legal tender. It makes the concept of “money” even more ridiculous, in that context.

now try to explain a busy signal or the Card Catalog to them.

Try explaining the Sears mail order center or layaway. Buying stuff was so different when we were kids.

Layaway (or lay-by as us Aussies called it) was the best...and unlike using credit cards, let you only really buy stuff you had the cash to pay for (via instalments), so you didn't get into huge debt like so many do with credit cards

When I had to explain it one day, I described it as a promise. A check is a written promise of money. I promise that if you take this special piece of paper with my signature on it to a bank, they will verify my signature, verify that I have the money, then give you the value and deduct it from my bank account.

like money?

My favorite local coffee shop still does as well!

Do you take travelers checks?

Nope. And no C.O.D.s either, youngster.

I use old words all the time … on purpose! Shenanigans, fisticuffs, coitus, fornicate, bullocks, randy, etc. If I’m feeling particularly cantankerous, I’ll use “irregardless”, which isn’t an old word per se, but it irritates some people.

I like the cut of your jib

Yeah, they have real moxie!

I will take your moxie and one up you on using "gumption."

Ooooh gumption is a good one. Need to lay that one the Gen Zs at work.

You've got a lot of "gusto" too!

Could cause a real broo-ha-ha

I have been know to be rabble rouser myself.

Hey, that type of thing could land ya in the clinker.

They've got sand!

As a sailor, I love this! And use it without irony!

Indubitably!

Radical 🤘

Tubular!

Gnarly!

*Bitchin'*!

Wasn't there a cereal mascot that used that word?

Wow. That search brought something back I totally forgot about. Crispy Critters https://youtu.be/w78XG_HK3kA

Coitus? 

I was talking about my rug.

Dude just wanted his rug back.

It tied the whole room together.

Interruptus?

Don’t be fatuous, Jeffrey

I like asking people to wait while I get combobulated, or remind them that I'm actually quite gruntled.

This comment makes me thoroughly plussed.

It’s so whelming

I am snort laughing 🤣🤣🤣

Shenanigans is one of my favourite words (and pastimes).

I don’t know why, but this reminds me of when my parents used to tell me to “cool my jets.” Clearly I was up to shenanigans a lot.

No more shenanigans, no more tomfoolery, no more ballyhoo.

I had a kitty named Shenanigans. She was the best little trouble maker

That is some jiggery-pokery right there.

Me too or I use new slang wrong on purpose to irk my daughters. Nothing like the look from a tween and a teen when i cannonball into the pool, they glare at me because they got wet, and i tell them that was skibidity toilet because i have rizz.

A capital idea!

This is ballyhoo

Tomfoolery.

I’d say it’s all ticketyboo.

I use Crackalackin at work and it always gets a good laugh.

Abso-smurfley splendiforous

Very Smurfy!!!

Fo’ shizzle!

Don’t believe you - sounds like malarkey to me

Hoopla, kerfuffle, dungarees, lavatory, behooves, salve…

My wife uses "skedaddle" much to the chagrin of our children.

For all intensive purposes, I agree with my x brother.

Word.

.... To your mother.

Same. But I'm a shenanigator (one who initiates shenanigans) so there's that

I was feeling unwell at work the other day and asked my coworker if she had a "tincture." She busted up laughing. I like that word, and ain't nobody using it these days.

Herbalists and folks into natural remedies use both the word tincture and actual tinctures regularly.

I've started using bamboozled!

Irregardless of your grammatically incoherent double negative, the rest of this is gold.

I see these kind of mistakes alot, like everyday, and its the worse; really brakes my wife and I’s hearts.

This physically hurt me. Kudos.

I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight.

Rules of Grammer is something schools should insure there alumnis know about.

AAAAAARRRRRRGGHHHHHH!!!!

I’m a fan of poppicock and bollocks. Balderdash if I’ve had a drink.

It’s not a conversation until someone rolls their eyes.

Every once in a while, I’ll call somebody “jackanapes” and blow their freaking minds. They have no idea how to respond.

Shenanigans and fisticuffs are two of my favorite words

Shenanigans is a favorite of mine! Reminds me of super troopers. I love to drop “Tomfoolery” whenever I can also

I used pompous today in an email. Great word.

Exactly! I use old words on purpose

Curmudgen!

I enjoy using "whippersnappers"

Add lollygag to that list and we could be related. Except irregardless. That's a negative from me.

Truly, the bees knees!

I told a coworker that another coworker could "get bent" and they had never heard that before.

Sit on it!

Kiss my grits!

Sit and spin!

> get a gift card for my daughter’s teacher (she’s only 8). Damn. I knew some states were legalizing child labor but 8 year old teachers? That's too far

Ha ha! Got to start them working when they are young!

I’m 54M and work as a school counselor at a middle school included in the US News & World Report rankings. My students enjoy hearing our terms, and I learn their lingo too. The word they adopted as their own this year is “tomfoolery.” Whenever we have teachable moments, we say, “I dare you to use this word today!” A couple of weeks ago, they used “sigma,” and I asked if they were using the mathematical term. Well, they weren’t, but they dared me to use the word that day. Oh, I have rizz too! 🥳

Hey, I just want to thank you for helping support kids during a tough time in their lives! Anyone who takes you for granted can go suck a 🍋! 🤣😂

You are so based! (Is that still kid vernacular?)

I said that I called in an order that I actually placed online and the staff momentarily panicked.

Remember filling out the form from the catalog and sending it in with a check or money order? Then you’d wait for a month or two for it to show up

I still hand the cashier the credit card like they are going to slide it through the machine that has the carbon paper

I feel so dumb when they reach over and tap it on the machine in from of me. I interact with these machines all the time, but give me a live person and I revert to the old ways.

Extra fun to do with a newer non-embossed one! 

At least you didn't ask for the layaway plan.

I keep saying “back up the truck” does that count? My hubby also uses “shut the front door” lol

Roll down your window.

My car has roll down windows! My nephew once said that he knew what “rolling down the windows” meant because of my car. I felt like I contributed a little to his social wellbeing.

Hold the phone.

Oh snap!

Tried to explain green stamps to someone who has very little experience with actual stamps. I left it as old-school promo code.

Someone recently gave me an actual printed $25 gift certificate to a local farmers market type place. I didn’t believe it was real, but any of the stalls accepted it. They do exist! Lol!

I always say “let’s tape that” - meaning record. Or “have you heard the new record/CD?” - meaning album. Lol

“Let’s go to the videotape!”

Every now and then, I'll had my CC to the cashier to swipe, as if tapping, swiping or the chip reader on the customer side hasn't been invented yet.

Your CC made me think: the other day I tried to explain to my kids that cc and bcc in emails stood for Carbon Copy and Blind Carbon Copy. Let’s just say the hole I dug got deeper and deeper trying to unravel what those words meant

the save icon is still a disk

“Do you have any Grey Poupon?”

“But of course!”

I told my kid when she was on the phone with a friend to hang up the phone now because dinner was ready and she ended the call and then wandered around confused, looking for a charger of some kind to hang my phone on. (She was six)

I enjoy shucks, rambunctious, and get up (for your fit) just to watch my teens eyes roll.

Use their own lingo incorrectly. It really bothers them. "That is cap, my fam!" was when my son disowned me I think.

I just asked my 10 year old if he knew what a gift certificate was and he gave me a very detailed explanation with examples. I asked him how he knew that and he said because teachers both give and receive gift certificates. They're often used as prizes in so many random contests for kids. I'd also add that it's still normal to see ads for gift certificates at a lot of businesses. They may not be as prevalent as they were before gift cards came about but they're definitely not a forgotten item from a bygone era either so I don't think you're acting old. Also customer service in general has gotten so weird lately. So often rather than asking for clarification or communicating options the person just stares blankly. Which makes me sound like an old person for saying that but I both worked and hired/trained customer service positions for over a decade. There's been a big shift overall post pandemic. It might not have been your situation at all but Gen Z especially does seem to be good at staring blankly at customers. Or idk maybe that's just my locale which does have a reputation for terrible customer service. 

I know the kid in the McDonald's window isn't getting paid enough, but that stare... no thank you, no have a nice day? No response when I thank them. I miss friendly customer service. I didn't want to be treated special, I just want some normal human interaction.

I try to work "23 skiddoo" into my conversations at least several times per week!

My wife says discombobulated at least once a month

I often do the opposite. I’ll say something that is a current slang term (or maybe slightly outdated slang term) and follow it with, “… as the kids say.” For example, “And that burger just hit different, as the kids say.” If I use slang that millennial teens may have used, I’ll tweak it slightly, such as, “This burger is da bomb, as the kids say. Do the kids say that? Maybe this slaps, is that more correct for the times?”

I don’t care if I’ve been using a digital phone camera for years now, I still “tape” my son’s games. You can pry that word from my cold dead hands.

I still call videos “footage“. Which hasn’t made sense since the film era.

🤔 OP, are you referring to your charming anachronism that harkens back to a simpler & better time?

There’s a stupid commercial that plays Take Me Out to the Ballgame on a ballpark organ, but it gets stuck and keeps repeating the “Cracker Jack” part. It’s irritating as hell. Anyway, I said it sounded like a broken record.

I guess "scratched CD" doesn't have the same ring to it.

Scratched CD is more like 🎶buy me some peanuts and crcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcr crcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcr

Do you take travelers cheques?

How about the “save” icon still being a floppy disk? It’s not just us

My phrase and will always be my phrase is “That’s cheesy”.

Wait .. is cheesy not said anymore?

I still use that term a lot. I assume people understand it, but who knows

Some places, especially mom and pop places, still have good ol’ hand-written gift certificates. It’s not that outdated.

Imagine if you asked for a “baker’s dozen”.

I said this to my son (13), and he was like, "What is that? You mean a dozen?!"

I think the important thing here is that you understand the importance of gifting teachers with delicious treats.

My son was recording me a few years ago and I told him to stop “taping” me. He finished me immediately. I was a shell of myself by the time he was done mocking me.

I love a good old “what’chu talkin’ bout Willis?”

I was picking up takeout one night and told the hostess I “called in an order.” She looked at me like I had two heads.

I was just thinking that I never hear the term “male chauvinist” anymore.

I thought this was gonna go somewhere much darker before I read it. Relieved.

I was talking about tent caterpillars and was told the term i used wasn't correct so I said, "sorry, Romani moths," without thinking.

The first thing that popped into my head was the $5 McDonald's certificate for Christmas. (Was it $5? That sounds off for some reason.)

I thought it was a book of $1 coupons. And speaking of books, the lifesaver’s book in your stocking with the tootsie roll bank.

>lifesaver’s book in your stocking I loved those!!!

My 15 year old informed me that nobody uses the term doggy bag anymore for a to-go container. It’s the term I learned when I moved to Canada 30 years ago.

Honestly, "gift certificate" shouldn't even be hard for anyone with enough brain cells to figure out what is meant. it's not THAT far apart in obvious meaning. Besides... you can still buy them online and print them out. Is that a card? No. It's a certificate.

You mean an artisanal gift card.

Stick with Gift Certificate. If you really want to be a a Gen Xer, then give up on all generation mumbo jumbo. They are made up and arbitrary nonsense designed to create division.

My grandfather called the refrigerator the "ice box" until the day he died in 2004.

Fuck that dumb ass teenager. Anyone with an IQ of 2 knows what you meant. STOP APPEASING THEM. We are the parents and grandparents now. “I’m sorry sir/ma’am, we have gift cards if that’s ok”.

Yeah I'm with you on this one. That kid needs to pull her head out of her ass. It's not *that* obsolete of a term.

I remember, a few years ago, asking a child working at MacDonalds for a dozen nuggets. Not a clue…

In 1986, there was a girl in 10th grade who thought a dozen was 9. We only found out because she was wrapping orders for the cinnamon roll fundraiser and people were complaining they didn't get a full dozen. She did know how to write in cursive, though.

I referred to a task as being a "pain in the dick" today, and I haven't pulled that one out (pun probably intended) in years.

Nah, that's not outdated, there are a lot of places around us that still sell paper gift certificates, not plastic cards.

I keep calling them “books on tape” instead of audiobooks

I said "sliding board" in a work meeting today. The only person who knew what I was talking about was also GenX and then we had to explain those metal slides we used to burn ourselves on in the 80's.

I have no idea what a "sliding board" is. GenX 1971 midwest.

I went to a new hair stylist and before she put me under the hair dryer she asked if I needed anything. I asked if they had any magazines. She gave me an odd look. And I kinda muttered, oh, I have my phone!

I sometimes call detergent "washing powder."

Sorry, (and this is true), I’ve only ever heard it as *warshing* power.

"Ring" for phones. I'm going to ring such and such. I rang them. The phones ringing! Ringtone. Etc. We've gone to the American "call"

I occasionally refer to the tv remote as the "clicker"

Does anyone put gifts on layaway anymore?

Just try and buy a travelers check nowadays.

My friend’s mom still calls conditioner “cream rinse”. That was a blast from the past!

OMG - I felt old in February (my birthday) when my son,25, apologized for getting my card to me late. I said it’s no big deal and he goes “Well I forgot to put the sticker on there 1st time so they sent it back” I didn’t laugh on phone but definitely did afterwards.