Imagine that a time traveller popped up from the 50’s and 60’s who had somehow missed the decades between then and now. Rip Van Winkle – remember that story? Apart from the very obvious changes in buildings, shops, technology, instant communication etc etc, I think there are many words and phrases which would baffle them in conversation. Here is a very small selection.
Family
When I was starting my family in the early eighties, nobody had events called baby showers. I’m not sure when the idea first appeared here in Britain but it’s certainly massive now. When my children had a friend come to play or, when a bit older, had a friend come to stay the night, these were not called play-dates and sleepovers.
Music
Back in the 50’s and 60’s we had classical, jazz, blues, music from films and shows and rock and roll. In the early 60’s we saw the emergence of pop. Now there is a plethora of musical genres. Garage, hip hop, grime, dub, Indie … to name just a few!
Miscellaneous
The world of famous people has changed enormously, largely due to the new ease of communication. Some words which would bewilder a time traveller from the 50’s and 60’s are fashionista, paparazzi, celeb.
In the 1950s we had newspapers and some people had televisions. Now we have podcasts, sound bites, boxed sets, binge watching,
Back when I was a child ‘environment’ was a word we rarely heard and we never used expressions like ‘saving the planet’ or ‘good for the environment’, plant-based, eco friendly, flexitarian etc.
And finally . . .
Mindfulness, exfoliate, click and collect, chip and pin, glamping, fatbergs. And many, many more.
Note. This is my own work, written from my own memories and opinions. Credit to Wikipedia, Google, Google Images used for fact-checking. I make every effort to avoid infringing copyright. However, if anyone objects to my use of any particular image, please contact me and it will be removed.
Childhood Memories of growing up in the 1950s and 1960s. 
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John S Lynch gunner.lynch@gmail.com gunner.lynch@gmail.com
On Tue, Nov 18, 2025, 5:41 a.m. Childhood Memories of growing up in the
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I haven’t chosen that! I’ll try and correct it!
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Great, thank you!
John S Lynch gunner.lynch@gmail.com gunner.lynch@gmail.com
On Tue, Nov 18, 2025, 1:09 p.m. Childhood Memories of growing up in the
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I’ve been through my settings on WordPress and Jetpack and I think I’ve spotted the glitch. Please can you test my repair by sending a one word comment? Tomorrow will do!
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OK
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Thanks! Fixed!
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I wonder whether the time traveller would have been impressed or otherwise by the visit.
Of course, many marvellous inventions and improvements (healthcare, for example) but many other things not so impressive: today’s TV, films and books would be a shock. Also the throw-away culture (clothes, cars, even people) would be in stark contrast to that of the 1950s/1960s.
Possibly, the most disturbing might be the all-pervasive nois of today; perhaps sufficient to send them diving back into their spaceship. Beam me up, Scotty!
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I agree with all of that! Medical science has given us some of the greatest improvements we’ve seen. But the time traveller would be appalled to see how little mending and repairing is done, especially on clothes. Thanks for commenting – and for alerting me to a fault in the comments section of my blog!
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In the US, it seems that “gender reveal parties” have replaced the baby shower as a “thing.” I’d never heard of a “play-date” until I was an adult. There are many words now that baffle me, and I pretty much ignore them as passing fads.
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That’s probably the best thing to do with them, Liz. Meryl
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Thanks, Meryl. I’m embracing my old lady crotchetiness.
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It also occurred to me that many of the things we miss today are things we discarded previously as being old-fashioned or stale.
Certainly, there were practices that were tiresome and, perhaps, out of date and I recall being impatient for change. However, after the upheaval, it seems there is no going back and to even suggest it today is to invite mockery.
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Yes! In the 1950s my mum had a local Hoover repair man (who had once lived in Tristan da Cunha – but that’s irrelevant!) who came to the house whenever our very ancient Hoover was playing up. In the 1980’s, with my own home and family, I had a friendly neighbourhood repair man who specialised in TVs but would also come to the house to see to a malfunctioning radio, vacuum cleaner etc. And as a young girl my mum taught me how to darn so that I could repair holes in knitwear. Which I still do when necessary!
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And I recall, as a teen, getting ready for school, occasionally a button might come off my shirt and I would quickly thread a needle and sew it back on.
Also, I would put new soles and heels on my shoes as needed.
i can’t imagine this now.
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All small towns had cobblers. My husband, 76, is still perfectly capable of doing a small running repair with a thread and needle. Just as you describe. One wonders how many young men today can sew a button on. Interesting musings!
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Yes, darning socks, too. I recall inserting a cup into the sock so that the hole was stretched across the cup opening and then repairing the hole.
Also, repairing bicycle inner tubes, although perhaps that’s still done today.
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When I learned to drive my dad insisted that I knew how to change a tyre if I had a flat. He showed me, the way he’d shown me how to use a puncture repair kit on my bike several years earlier. We really were one of the last generations who could mend and repair!
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