Author Topic: You know you're middle aged when  (Read 186616 times)

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #275 on: 03 May, 2016, 11:40:27 am »
When was that? Old analogue landlines were very distorted. The frequency cut-offs forced it.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Kim

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Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #276 on: 03 May, 2016, 12:46:22 pm »
Yeah.  I do however remember when telephones had sidetone, there wasn't a GSM codec throwing away most of the information, and - most importantly - people took phone calls seriously (making them from a quiet room, giving you more than 10 seconds to answer, speaking at an appropriate speed when making recorded messages, etc).

That said, the crappiness of modern telephones seems like a small price to pay for the fact that we no longer have to rely on voice calls for most purposes.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #277 on: 03 May, 2016, 03:18:51 pm »
Yeah.  I do however remember when telephones had sidetone, there wasn't a GSM codec throwing away most of the information, and - most importantly - people took phone calls seriously (making them from a quiet room, giving you more than 10 seconds to answer, speaking at an appropriate speed when making recorded messages, etc).

That said, the crappiness of modern telephones seems like a small price to pay for the fact that we no longer have to rely on voice calls for most purposes.

Maybe. This morning I was talking to the bunch who pay the Inlaw Paw's pension, and they sounded as if they were talking down a drainpipe full of steel wool that someone was shaking. It wasn't just one maladjusted mike at the other end, either, I spoke to a couple of different folk and they both sounded like terminal smokers.

I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Kim

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Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #278 on: 03 May, 2016, 06:02:48 pm »
One of the great things about modern VOIP technology is that it's cheaper than ever to outfit an entire call centre with barely functional telecoms systems.

rogerzilla

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Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #279 on: 03 May, 2016, 07:41:52 pm »
HR do a presentation explaining the differences between Generation X, Generation Y and millennials and you realise you are in the oldest group.  OK, they also mentioned the baby boomers, but I think they've all retired from our place.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #280 on: 01 June, 2016, 10:41:01 am »
I cricked my neck a fortnight ago and it's still paining me.  I'm only 34... :-\

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #281 on: 01 June, 2016, 10:49:04 am »
Accents you're used to have moved on in your absence.  I used to be perfectly at home with the accents in and around London, but when I phone anywhere there now I have difficulty making out what they're saying.

This applies to Paris as well.  My daughter studied linguistics at university, and told us that over the last 30+ years the Parisian accent has taken on overtones of N. African.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

hellymedic

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Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #282 on: 01 June, 2016, 12:29:14 pm »
Accents you're used to have moved on in your absence.  I used to be perfectly at home with the accents in and around London, but when I phone anywhere there now I have difficulty making out what they're saying.

This applies to Paris as well.  My daughter studied linguistics at university, and told us that over the last 30+ years the Parisian accent has taken on overtones of N. African.

Tell me about it!
I am one of the 'kiddies' in this newsreel film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjUFNlqBTvw (white hairband, pushing a car from 0.27-0.29) and the commentator's speech would have seemed 'normal' then...

Mr Larrington

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Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #283 on: 01 June, 2016, 01:05:06 pm »
Accents you're used to have moved on in your absence.  I used to be perfectly at home with the accents in and around London, but when I phone anywhere there now I have difficulty making out what they're saying.

This applies to Paris as well.  My daughter studied linguistics at university, and told us that over the last 30+ years the Parisian accent has taken on overtones of N. African.

What's the French word for "Jafaican"?  Bruv.
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hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #284 on: 06 February, 2017, 10:10:54 pm »
... when you buy yourself a blood pressure monitor. I bought one online today!

I bought one online a few years ago after a visit to my GP showed a high reading.

It NEVER happened at home.

These devices are VERY cheap nowadays. Well worth the cash IMO.

Phil W

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #285 on: 06 February, 2017, 10:29:47 pm »
You no longer care what others think of your choices.

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #286 on: 07 February, 2017, 07:15:19 am »
... when you buy yourself a blood pressure monitor. I bought one online today!

I bought one online a few years ago after a visit to my GP showed a high reading.

It NEVER happened at home.

These devices are VERY cheap nowadays. Well worth the cash IMO.

A friend has bought one, also because visiting the GP invariably raises their blood pressure.  It's some kind of tropism. 
Move Faster and Bake Things

Chris S

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #287 on: 07 February, 2017, 09:30:47 am »
My BP is always higher at the GPs, because I ride there.

It also makes me popular when I donate blood, as I'm all done in under 3 minutes  :thumbsup:.

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #288 on: 07 February, 2017, 11:26:10 am »
HR do a presentation explaining the differences between Generation X, Generation Y and millennials and you realise you are in the oldest group.  OK, they also mentioned the baby boomers, but I think they've all retired from our place.

I thought Gen Y and millennials were one and the same?

(I'm right on the boundary of X/Y, depending on whose definition is being used!)

barakta

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Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #289 on: 07 February, 2017, 11:45:37 am »
I'm also on the Gen X and Y boundary.

I would distinguish between someone born in early 198x and someone born after 1990 or 1995 which modern definitions don't differentiate. I had originally thought millenials were those born after 1990 or 1995.

Kim

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Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #290 on: 07 February, 2017, 12:49:22 pm »
Also on the boundary (I remember Challenger), I think I have more in common with Gen X than Y.

Barakta, although only a few months younger, has very Gen-Yish cultural references, on account of her deafness.

'Millenials' seems to be used sloppily, referring to either Gen Y, Z or Y+Z depending on context.


I would distinguish between someone born in early 198x and someone born after 1990 or 1995 which modern definitions don't differentiate. I had originally thought millenials were those born after 1990 or 1995.

Those are Generations Y and Z respectively.

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #291 on: 07 February, 2017, 01:46:42 pm »
I think 'gen x' definition is too broad and a bit ridiculous.

Those born in the 60s like me had teenage/youthful years when quartz watches were a novelty, a sony walkman cassette player was the height of tech cool. Computers and suchlike didn't come into it. They scarcely appeared in movies. Direct telephone dialing from the UK to Australia was set up when I was about 6. Before then it was manually switched by the international operator and frequently you had to wait for a line.

The change happened sometime in the 70s.

People born in the 80s were going to school surrounded by tech, a computerised world. The internet appeared by the time they were 20. Everything was changing.
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Kim

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Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #292 on: 07 February, 2017, 01:50:40 pm »
Agreed.  But they're all a bit ridiculous anyway.

Morat

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Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #293 on: 22 February, 2017, 11:21:39 pm »
Accents you're used to have moved on in your absence.  I used to be perfectly at home with the accents in and around London, but when I phone anywhere there now I have difficulty making out what they're saying.

This applies to Paris as well.  My daughter studied linguistics at university, and told us that over the last 30+ years the Parisian accent has taken on overtones of N. African.

Tell me about it!
I am one of the 'kiddies' in this newsreel film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjUFNlqBTvw (white hairband, pushing a car from 0.27-0.29) and the commentator's speech would have seemed 'normal' then...

"A spare two acre site in Camden that no-one wanted" - that seems to date the clip as much as anything else :)
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ElyDave

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Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #294 on: 22 February, 2017, 11:29:17 pm »
I'm definitely gen X, which is ace as I also used to work for department X
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Torslanda

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Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #295 on: 23 February, 2017, 02:12:18 am »
"Is Vic there...?"
VELOMANCER

Well that's the more blunt way of putting it but as usual he's dead right.

ian

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #296 on: 23 February, 2017, 07:52:02 am »
I suppose what makes me feel old (seventies child) is periodically having to explain the world before technology to younger people and watch their expression go through surprised to astounded to horrified.

I had to explain the other day that we once had the choice of a cream or a grey phone (rotary dial!) and they only had the grey model. Then came the trimphone, but there was a two year wait. And my mum wouldn't let anyone use the phone ever, because we couldn't afford to pay for actual calls. I do the mobile phone size graphic in some presentations to illustrate change, I suspect revealing the pre-mobile era would be too much for anyone under the age of 20. God knows, it's hard enough to get them look up from their phones for more than a few seconds.

I confess, I have no idea what people did before the internet. My grandad used to dig coal out of the ground* apparently. Seems implausible now.

*or did until the mine roof fell on his head and broke his back, after which he became a bin man, which doesn't make much sense.

ElyDave

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Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #297 on: 23 February, 2017, 07:57:57 am »
And try talking to the under 20's about doing actual research using actual books, in an actual library rather than t'internet.
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #298 on: 23 February, 2017, 08:04:16 am »
<heresy>
When you're sneakily glad the weather's due to cut up rough because despite having done nothing to merit it you really don't have the oomph to get on the bike this morning.
</heresy>
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

ian

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #299 on: 23 February, 2017, 08:08:49 am »
I have, upon my desk, an actual printed volume of the Science Citation Index that I use to scare children.

Slightly predates me, in my day, we searched MEDLINE on CD-ROM, one disk for each year...