Recent anachronisms

[spatch]

Every now and then you realize that a phrase or an action that you remember as common or prevalent or even well-loved has become, due to time and changing social customs and blah blah blah, an anachronism. One of the more observed recent anachronisms is the phrase "You sound like a broken record" which, to anybody under 18, must sound more like the whine of an Olympic has-been rather than an annoying repetition.

This morning I woke up with another one, though it's kinda convoluted. There's an exchange in The Rocky Horror Picture Show where Frank-N-Furter, the sweet transvestite, asks Brad, the "hero", if he has any tattoos. When Brad bristles and says "Certainly not!" Frank asks the same of Janet, the "heroine", who then giggles a bit. Then those of us watching holler "SHOW HIM THE BATTLESHIP, JANET!" and it's all fun, we share a laugh and celebrate the moments of our lives.

Anyway.

The line was written thirty years ago, when tattoos pretty much were reserved for the realm of the freaks (and servicemen, oddly enough.) Nowadays (ack, did I actually just say "nowadays"? next I'll be talking about "kids these days") tattoos are much more, well, mainstream. I think my mom was even thinking of getting one recently. The shock value of the transvestite asking the straight-laced American "hero" (and his fiancee) about tattoos is lost now, as well as the cultural connotations inherent at the time.

So. Anyone else notice any other "modern" anachronisms recently? Go ahead and share; you've got time. I'm makin' English muffins so I got a few minutes here.

Comments

[aussie-nyc.livejournal.com]

The NY Times points out that the Straphangers no longer represent any commuter who has a strap to hang onto.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

One old one you still hear is "ditto" (meaning "me too.") The mimeograph or ditto sheet ceased to exist 35+ years ago, but you still hear the term.

Heya, I have tattoos. And as of last Saturday, a pierced belly button. No battleships, though.

[nathanjw]

Television "snow". Modern TVs and other tuners seem to like to display solid blue or something when there's no signal on a channel, not to mention that for people on cable or whatever, the idea of "no signal on a channel" is pretty wacky.

This mostly bothers me because it means that the great opening line of Neuromancer ("The sky above the port was the color of television tuned to a dead channel") will cease to be properly evocative.

[pecosy.livejournal.com]

People still refer to the remote control as the "clicker" though it's been a long while since they emitted a clicking noise.

"Dial" has come to mean "input the number into the phone." My folks' rotary phone died last year, ending that era in our family home. :(

Not an anachronism, but people now refer to albums as "CDs" as in "I love the new Outkast CD." The word "album" refers to a collection of recordings issued together, regardless of format, but when I talk about an album young whipper-snappers often say "Do you mean CD?"

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Actually, Janet just giggles, and gives no other answer -- thus the (local?) callback "SHE DIDN'T SAY NO!"