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Obsolete things

198 replies

FourEyesGood · 26/01/2019 22:07

Please can you help me? I’m trying to compile a list of things that are now obselete, like fax machines and VHS tapes. (They don’t have to be technology-based, though.) This is for an amateur film I’m loosely involved in planning.
Thanks!

Just thought of another one: cheque books!

OP posts:
PurpleDaisies · 26/01/2019 22:44

You can still get lion bars

zen1 · 26/01/2019 22:44

Sanitary towel incinerators in women’s toilets
Phone cards
Radios with a built in cassette player

Onceupontwotimes · 26/01/2019 22:46

My children's schools all have blackboards as does the classroom I teach in. I also use fax machines, cheque books and video rental stores!

  • men's sock suspenders
  • spats
  • phone cards for public payphone
  • ink wells
  • umbrella repair shops
  • ceramic hot water bottles
  • carpet sweepers
zen1 · 26/01/2019 22:46

Red traffic lights that have STOP written on them in black

ChristmaspArti · 26/01/2019 22:47

I still use Tippex.

What about darning mushrooms, Tilley lamps and fondue sets?

Heratnumber7 · 26/01/2019 22:48

Cheque books and faxes aren't obsolete. Obsolescent maybe, but still plenty around.

DrCoconut · 26/01/2019 22:48

I wonder what the demise of directories such as yellow pages will do to the genealogists of the future? I've loved finding ancestors in old directories.

Onceupontwotimes · 26/01/2019 22:48

Hostess trolleys
Anti-macassars

Dapplegrey · 26/01/2019 22:49

Thermometers with mercury which go under ones tongue. We’ve still got one with degrees in Fahrenheit

Dapplegrey · 26/01/2019 22:51

Christmas - I used a darning mushroom the other day to mend some cashmere bedsocks. They are too warm and unitchy to throw away.

empa · 26/01/2019 22:51

Wind up clocks. Hall telephone tables. Wall mounted can openers.

Onceupontwotimes · 26/01/2019 22:51

Cinefilm
Dictaphones
Typewriters

AndromedaPerseus · 26/01/2019 22:51

Glass inners in thermos flasks

Annoyance · 26/01/2019 22:51

Floppy disks for computers. 3 inch and 5 inch floppies. Also zip disks never really caught on.

Sony mini disks.

Onceupontwotimes · 26/01/2019 22:52

Bookplates

jomaIone · 26/01/2019 22:52

My parents have a coal fire and an emersion heater! Defo not obsolete in older houses!

I don't know anyone other than my Grannie who still writes cheques!

Onceupontwotimes · 26/01/2019 22:52

Annoyance - my work computer still takes floppy disks!

pasbeaucoupdegendarme · 26/01/2019 22:53

ChristmaspArti I long for my mum’s darning mushroom... I have to use a plastic bottle or something when darning socks 😢

We also have (and use!) a fondue set.

Obsolete things I can think of include cine cameras...

EdtheBear · 26/01/2019 22:53

Re the plastic rain hoods they were called Rain-mates sold in hairdressers.

Cagoules still exist my LO had one for days out in sunmer with out of school care.

Onceupontwotimes · 26/01/2019 22:53

Manual indicator flags instead of lights on a car.

2cats2many · 26/01/2019 22:55

Encyclopedias
Stove top chip pans

Onceupontwotimes · 26/01/2019 22:55

Not really obsolete but not as common - vests and petticoat. I never used to wear a skirt without one.

Ploppymoodypants · 26/01/2019 22:55

Micesqueekcatsmeaow, we had those single glazed lead windows painted in peeling white paint until December! They were the original ones from the house being built (1950’s). We can’t get over how warm the newly glazed house is or how smart and clean it looks!

Anyway here is my list:
Paper diaries (Photobox are stopping them as there is no market for them apparently. Apart from DH and my mum)
VHS and Cassette
Talcum powder
DVD’s and CD’s (almost)
Watches
Pocket camera / disposable camera

Gbarmy · 26/01/2019 22:55

White dog poo...

ChubRubTheStruggleIsReal · 26/01/2019 22:57

Tvs on trolleys we used to have in schools

Overhead projectors

Answer phones

Pagers

Monorail at chessington

Watches

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