You know, the ones that might have made sense in bygone days, but definitely don't any more.
To this day my elderly uncle uses highlighter pens on the addresses of birthday and Xmas card envelopes.
Why? Because "the nice people at the post office sorting depot will spot them quicker, so they're more likely to deliver them on time".
I have tried in vain to explain that the Post Office started automating the sorting process in the 1960's, and that his highlighters actually interfere with modern scanning technology....
Which ironically means that his letters are more likely to be sorted by an actual human...but are therefore also more likely to be delayed...
He muttered something about reliance on machines being our downfall, so I left it at that and changed the subject to the weather.
A more reliable topic of conversation than trying to explain to an octogenarian how OCR technology works.
As I write this I can't help pondering on how his opinion is being mirrored in the current conversation around AI though...
Please help keep AskUK welcoming!
When replying to submission/post please make genuine efforts to answer the question given. Please no jokes, judgements, etc.
Don't be a dick to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on.
This is a strictly no-politics subreddit!
Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
Racism.
To be fair that has come back into fashion across the age spectrum in recent years though.
Signing 'love mum' at the end of every text. Every. Single. Text. Doesn't matter if it's a 20 message back and forth conversation. Adorable.
You'll miss this.
Company loyalty.
Tried explaining that it is a dated concept to my 81 year old FIL. He can't get his head round the fact that employees don't have it anymore or that you would look for another job to better your pay and condition.
Weird one from my grandmother: working out bills in the old imperial money. It's half the reason that I know what a shilling or guinea is.
My Mum is 65 and does the same. Though i know what a guinea it's because of horse racing as while we're not a gambling family my aunt breeds racehorses so we used to watch a lot of races.
The rest I've learnt throughout life but guineas was definitely through racing as the auctioneers commission is 5% so selling in guineas is for easy maths. A horse sold for means the buyer pays £105,000 and the auctioneer gets £5,000. For the owner they know that guineas equals the amount they get in pounds, even if it's something like 765,876 guineas the maths is trivial.
5% of 105000 is 5250?
I think the horse sold for £100000, they just missed that bit out.
I think you missed the bit that would make the rest make sense.
My A level physics teacher was a very odd man, & the brighter lads in our class figured out quite quickly that we could make lessons more interesting by distracting him with questions on imperial weights & measures. Then, being a bit too clever for their own good, they would do all their homework in furlongs & chains etc, and our teacher would mark them accordingly. I dropped physics after a year, but I can still remember how to reckon an inch & a yard by using my own body parts. Thank you Mr Hughes
Haha, our maths teacher was similar in being a horse racing obsessive so we quickly learnt what a guinea was, as well as calculating distances in furlongs. We ended up actually learning a lot of the old measurements.
22 chains for a cricket pitch? I think 😄
I still default to working in Imperial for baking cakes. My mum (b 1933) used to measure flour weight using an imperial tablespoon; an ounce is as much above as below, two is heaped. Basic cakes were ratios - like 2, 2, 1 fat flour sugar, and eggs are an ounce equivalent. Everything was eyeballed, to perfection. It doesn’t work with modern tablespoons, which are metric - you need an old one.
Although writing this I realise I’ve forgotten a lot of the maths and ratios. Sorry Mum.
My parents leave half a cm or so of tea undrunk at the bottom of every cup from the days when only loose leaf was available, so they didn't drink the bits of leaf that got through the strainer :) even though they switched to bags decades ago!
My partner does the same thing but that's because when she was little, her grandma had these mugs that had little frog figures in the bottom and seeing them emerge from the tea as you drank freaked her out.
I do this. It's nonsense but a habit based on 'lived experience' 😁. When I first met my future mum in law, I found out she used loose leaf tea that way and gagged. Also helps for ripped tea bags.
Talking to neighbours
I'm from Hungary where I think talking to your neighbours is still socially acceptable. Our street is very diverse like 20% white British so obviously we absolutely ignore each other, but our next door neighbours on both sides are two lovely old English ladies and my wife and I made friends with them. They're lovely, we give each other cards and one of them buys birthday presents for my kids, and we buy her a bottle of Hungarian wine for hers.
I love my neighbours. I'm throwing a drinks party for them next week!
Treat them right, put crisps in bowls
Just found out the other day my mom like to "warm up" the toaster before putting the bread in 🙄
You say that but the first slice is always under done
Considering a lot of the time the first slices are the only slices, just turn it up
I hope she's got her will sorted. Nice way to burn the house down
Until her death this year, my Nan always used to read out her telephone number when picking up the phone.
"Darrowby 8 5!?"
Sorry, couldn't resist the James Herriot reference
4291... woof.
One foot in the grave
Religion
Church attendance by young people is going up-
Amazing that one religious group can claim their data shows this, and everyone just runs with it as if it's gospel (lol).
Do you feel edgy for saying that?
Why is any criticism of religion dismissed as being “edgy”
Actual criticism should not be dismissed, but just quoting 'religion' as outdated is not actually saying anything. Why do you think it's outdated? You call it criticism - say something that actually means something then. Just throwing out the word 'religion' as an answer to the post is not smart, it's just an attempt at being edgy.
Are you holding every comment in this thread to this standard or jus this one? Because there’s plenty of comments just saying a thing with no explanation. Why does religion demand more detail?
Why can't you criticise religion on here without someone calling you edgy? Especially on a UK sub where religion is undoubtedly a lot less widespread among thr younger people
My grandad still asks us to check the football scores on Ceefax when he comes over. My brother just pulls up the BBC sports app, but we all call it Ceefax.
My godmother wouldn’t put water in her iron because “it’s dangerous to mix water and electricity” (she did eventually switch to an electric kettle though).
My dad made us all learn how to read physical maps and orient ourselves when out and about. He was convinced one day the Chinese government would take out all the satellites and therefore GPS. Tbh, it seemed crazy at the time but now I feel like it’s something Elon might do, and it is a useful skill to have.
Reading maps can be very interesting.
Map reading is really important. We did a lot of it at school for one reason or another. It's very easy to follow a digital line in an app, but being able to look at the lay of the land and understand it is entirely different.
Watching terrestrial TV.... Wouldn't even know what channels there are to watch now. I find it bizarre and just pop some headphones in when Sat at the In laws now or I force them to hold a conversation. Be fucked their favourite program is on at a set time.. watch it on streaming when in gone. Cannot stand advertising every ten minutes or so either.
My mother still does this. She has a smart TV and all the ability to record shows or stream them, but still insists on sitting down and watching her soaps when theyre on live. God help you if you try and call during Eastenders. Shes only 69.
It’s routine really. My stepmother does this too and she’s only just hit 50. I suppose the ad break is useful to pee or make another cup of tea.
It’s not that hard to understand it wasn’t that long ago this was the norm for everyone.
Yeah. I don’t watch any soaps and don’t have regular TV anymore but back when I was younger, there was something quite cosy and comforting about knowing you’re tuning in and sitting to watch a soap with however many other people in the country at the same time. I get why people still enjoy that. Plus soaps watched ‘live’ give some routine and structure and are a balm for loneliness for many.
That's a classic! I love how those old habits stick around. Makes for some interesting conversations when they try to explain it!!
This made me chuckle.
Nice safe weather chat.
My grandmother, long gone now, used to insist on plugging something IN to every socket before bed. She seemed convinced that electricity was some sort of heavier-than-air gas that would drip out and fill the rooms, and would invisibly poison us during the night.
Breathing
saying the phone number when answering a call
listening intently to radio 4 news every lunch time
washing things out to put in the recycle and separating labels etc. who does that, what's the point when nearly everyone else doesn't
Because if you contaminate the lot it has to be thrown away? Am under forty of course I wash the fucking recycling. Why even do it otherwise
Washing things out before you recycle is a boss move. Stops everything in your recycling bin being covered in bean juice.
Who WOULDN'T wash the recycling before putting it in the bin?!
Recycling didn’t exist when they were younger. If you don’t wash stuff like jam jars, yogurt pots etc out before recycling then you’re a dirty, lazy get.
I’m in my 30’s and still wash stuff😂 mostly because the recycling bin is open where I am so stops stuff smelling
As someone who was on the receiving end of recycling until recently- it doesn't need to be sparkling, but not full of food is appreciated! Makes the product easier to sell when it looks and smells better, makes our lives easier when we handle it constantly, and reduces the number of flies, rats, etc that flock on site to eat it and nest in the bales!
So if you're able to clean your items even roughly it's appreciated 🙏😁
I had to tell the in-laws to stop putting crisp packets in the recycling. They said their council recycles them. We had a bit of a massive argument over it. Well a year later their council sends out a recycling sheet of items etc... guess what I fucking saw hanging up by their bin. That very same sheet clearly saying to not recycle CRISP PACKETS.. when challenged over this fact their response was that their local council have now stopped it... No they have never collected crisp packets for recycling.
I'm 37 and I always wash out plastic / metal containers because I find it disgusting not to
I rinse them but if is going to need a scrub to get rid of dried on jam, or whatever, then in to the normal bin it goes.
I can barely find the wherewithal to do my actual washing up be buggered if I am going to add to it by scrubbing recycling out.
The ones that really grind my gears are paper towels and pizza boxes - they cannot be recycled as they will be contaminated. Finally got my husband and son to just leave pizza boxes on the side so I can sort them.
"what's the point in rinsing stuff for the recycling, it all ends up in the same place anyway" - morons that cause it to end up in landfill by contaminating the recycling.