UKC

Skills that we took for granted and are virtually extinct in less than one generation. How many can we document here to look back at with our rose tints on?

Programming a VCR
Using a whirly dial telephone (or even just using a public telephone)
Setting the points on your car ignition
Installing windows 98
Warming a tin of soup in a pan
Teasing a cold engine up to temp with a manual choke
Remembering loads of phone numbers

In reply to wilkie14c:

Fingering

In reply to wilkie14c:

Writing a letter with an actual pen.

In reply to wilkie14c:

Telling jokes to a group of mates.
Changing a record player needle.
Using a peddle back brake on a Raleigh Striker.
Ironing pants whilst drunk for the local nightclub.
Protecting milk bottle tops from magpies.

In reply to the power:


Speak for yourself mate!

In reply to Malcolm Tucker's Sweary Aunt:

Good call on the remembering phone numbers. I think I know about three now, as opposed to dozens in the 80s.

In reply to wilkie14c:

Phone numbers!
Using choke on winter starts.
changing a wheel - all my mates wait for rescue.
oh and I've forgotten how to walk in high heels but I think that's individual.

In reply to flopsicle:



I've NEVER mastered that skill

In reply to wilkie14c:
Wiping bottom with 'medicated' toilet paper. You know the grease proof stuff that spread out rather than achieving any sort of removal.

In reply to mypyrex:

Sounds like a NY resolution to me!

In reply to Aztec Bar:


Bronco? Izal?

In reply to wilkie14c:
My mrs needs to learn to
Sew/knit/darn
Cook a Sunday dinner
Make proper pastry

In reply to wilkie14c:

Wiring a 13A plug.
Winding the tape back into a cassette with the aid of a pencil.
Bump starting a car or motorbike.

Mental arithmetic.
(Amateur or professional - how many 21st century bar staff tell you how much a round will be before they've been to the till and keyed it all in?)

Repairing just about anything, as opposed to chucking it out and getting a new one.
(Clothes especially - patching jeans, darning socks etc..)

Among children - going out to play, independently, without their parents knowing exactly where they are.

Doing nothing. (Just being bored - as opposed to being bored whilst checking facebook on your phone etc..)

In reply to wilkie14c:

....using a map and compass?

.....picking up litter.

.....corect spelling

....irony

In reply to wilkie14c:

Using a slide rule
Bulling shoes
Servicing a car

In reply to Skol: I teach a beginners sewing class as well as a dressmaking class as this is a skill that is disappearing. I was taught in primary school, along with the boys, but it's no longer deemed necessary now. I'm running 2 classes starting soon in Cheshire. Let me know if anyone wants more info!

In reply to wilkie14c:

Climbing trees
Using a library
Fixing things
Courting.

In reply to wilkie14c:

Hitching
Trying to organise trips using public telephones
Dying out prn mags found in hedges

In reply to wilkie14c:

Using A-Z maps

In reply to wilkie14c:

Making a single Saver Strip last all term... kerching!

In reply to wilkie14c:

Using a map and compass to fid out where you are
Finding an address using written directions and reading road signs
Walking to the shops
Sending a Greetings Telegram
Using a public phone box
Cashing a cheque
Tying onto a rope with a waist knot
Doing a Classic ab

In reply to wilkie14c:

How about a straw poll?

Who does and does not own a toolbox?

And for bonus bragging points, who has the best/worst toolbox contents?

I'd say wiring a plug is right up there with lost skills within a generation.

Personally, I'm lost when it comes to modern cars. I can change the plugs, air/oil filters and oil but that's about it.

Keeping it up-to date, who could fix their own computer at a domestic level. Not you Mr Wilkie sir.

However one skill that I fear is hard wired into women's brains and will never be lost while they have breath in their bodies is.......







nagging.

In reply to wilkie14c:

I own a toolbox and can wire a 13A plug (and 15A plug) in record time...but neither of those should be surprising as I do it for work on a very regular basis, so maybe I shouldn't count...

In reply to Trangia:
I've done all of those bar the ab, waist knot and telegram this week
I'm old fashioned though.

In reply to wilkie14c:

There must be loads more:-

1. Knitting?

2. Making cakes or indeed any cooking which does not involve opening tins, pre prepared food etc., etc.,

3. Repairing clothing & 'cheap' goods aka the-throw-away-society. And sometimes throwing away perfectly good gear for the simple reason that people can't be bothered to take it away. I was doing a job on a camping site and people often left perfect tents and their contents behind, such as the odd sleeping bag, chairs tables etc., , unused and unopened food still in date. In the end I was recycling brand new kettles still in their boxes that people threw away there was so much kit left.

4. Pressing button A or pressing button B (you'll only know that one if you were around in the early 70's probably.

5. And a personal; one for me. There are no Radio Operators on ships anymore, military or civilian. Morse Code along with Teleprinters and manual typewriters and associated skills have all but gone apart from enthusiastic amateurs.

6. Sharpening knives on the kitchen step.

7. In 2014 I think over seven languages have become extinct and one of those never had its words or grammar recorded.

8. Watching your single glazed windows run with condensation or frosted on the inside in winter.

9. How to light a fire with matches, paper and wood in a hearth.

In reply to wilkie14c:
How to skin, gut and cook fresh game.

In reply to flopsicle:


But changing a wheel is easy and all cars still have wheels! Surely this is laziness rather than the skill actually becoming redundant?

I'd say winding a film into a camera. (I know some people still use film but it used to be 100% necessary for taking a picture.)
Changing a typewriter ribbon.
Typing a text when you had to push each button once, twice or three times to pick the right letter...!

In reply to Alyson:

Wheels, yes. A spare wheel and a usable jack? Possibly not.

In reply to Alyson:

Not laziness necessarily, possible lack of knowledge. I think lots of these skills have been lost due to an increasingly specialization in society.

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." - Robert A. Heinlein

In reply to flopsicle:

>oh and I've forgotten how to walk in high heels but I think that's individual.

on the evidence of two graduation ceremonies I went to this year, this is not a dying skill. I didn't see one trip from the hundreds who walked across the two stages.

In reply to Dave Perry:


Does a wood burner count? If so, I've just been teaching my 7yo daughter exactly this. I don't think this skill will be lost any time soon.

In reply to Dave Perry:



Just about to do this one right now. Substituting the paper for a fire lighter though. Is that cheating?

In reply to Dave Perry:











I know numerous people who know (and regularly practice) almost all of those skills, apart from the lost languages and the Radio Operators. In fact, half of the "lost skills" in this thread are alive and thriving.

In reply to Only a hill:

Yea but you live in 1911

In reply to Alyson:

Both manual typewriters and film cameras are experiencing a renaissance. They won't return to mainstream use, obviously, but they're more widely used than they were five years ago.

In reply to tehmarks:

Theatrical lampie? (I used to do that.)

Related to that profession:
Focus a truss full of parcans quickly and efficiently.
Patch a 72-way Avo rack.
Pin-patch an analogue lighting desk.
Change the string on a scroller.
Operate a carbon arc spotlight.
Change over seamlessly between reels from one 35mm projector to the other in a cinema.

And more generally:
Draw a technical drawing (any kind of technical drawing) to scale on a drawing board.

In reply to deepsoup:


This is still taught in school and is by no means a "lost skill".

In reply to wilkie14c:

Calculating basic add/subtract/multiply maths in your head.

In reply to wilkie14c:


Pffft, take another hundred years off that and we're talking

In reply to Only a hill:

Cool. Didn't know that.

Almost nobody still out there doing it professionally though. Which reminds me of another, not yet lost but definitely dying out professional skill made obsolete by CAD: making architectural (and also theatrical set-design) scale models.

(Yes yes, OaH, I know there are still a gazillion people making scale models as a hobby.)

In reply to wilkie14c:

While making a mix tape for someone, looking at the tape left on the reel and working out how long a song you can fit on before the end of the side.

In reply to victim of mathematics:
I never did properly get the hang of that one. Had many a "Clunk! Bugger!" moment as the tape ran out before the record was finished.

Oh, that reminded me of another one:
Editing reel-reel tapes (1/4" or otherwise) with a razor blade and sticky tape.

In reply to deepsoup:


Really? (That was a genuine voice not a sarcastic voice BTW!) My car is fairly new and it has both. I assumed it was a requirement to have them but it appears I'm wrong. It honestly wouldn't occur to me to ring for breakdown help for a flat tyre, that would be like calling the RAC out to refill my fuel tank or something.

In reply to deepsoup:

Yes indeed - although these days it tends to be more corporate and big arena stuff than theatre. I'd be quite disappointed to work with someone who couldn't do most of what you've listed, with the exception of carbon arc spots and 35mm projection!

In reply to Alyson:
Yes, really. It's increasingly unusual for a new car to come with a spare wheel these days, even a space-saver.
(I know, rubbish eh?)

I've called the RAC out once for a flat - it was on the off-side and I was on the hard-shoulder of a busy motorway late at night. No way was I going to spend 20 minutes grovelling about there - one nod of a sleepy HGV driver and that would've been that.

After the RAC man had towed me to the nearest service station I did briefly try to persuade him to bugger off and leave me to change the wheel myself, but he was having none of it.

In reply to tehmarks:

Yep. Fair point. More gently rusting skills than properly dead ones for the most part.

In reply to deepsoup:

Having said that, I suspect there's a fair number of newly graduated 'freelancers' who wouldn't have the first clue where to start with a misbehaving scroller or needing to change the string!

In reply to wilkie14c:

Making butter.

And

Re-thatching the cottage

In reply to andymac:




One I can do from a rudimentary experiment 25 years ago, one i most certainly cannot.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:
So ,

How long did it take to make the butter?

And did it taste heavenly?

In reply to andymac:

A long time, hard work and yummy. In fact you've just inspired me so much that my daughter is currently making butter in the lounge. She doesnt believe it will work.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I'm intrigued.

Does one add salt?

Watched it being made once .

Do you have the wooden pats.or whatever they're called

In reply to deepsoup:


I know the Oxford Playhouse keeps a scale model of the stage in their workshop. It's especially useful for convincing the designers for student shows why their hair-brained ideas won't work.

In reply to andymac:

Add salt to taste at the end. Ill make some and post a link if successful.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc84/RichieRambler/Butter_zps672fb2d2.jp...

And there it is. Butter made in 1 hour.

In reply to Only a hill:

Really? So who do you know still has to press button A to allow the coin operated telephone to take your money and/or Button B to get your money back if no one answers?

In reply to wilkie14c:

I quite yearn for the days when I used to make an arrangement to meet someone, somewhere at a particular time and hours/days weeks ahead and then hope for the best. I used to love turning up in an unknown bus station somewhere in Europe with the anticipation/hope of "will they or wont they be there". Then sometimes following the "mmm I think they are not coming today moment " which resulted in the detective work of notes being placed on boards in hostels, trailing around wondering where they may be staying and so on.... something of a long lost skill I believe.

In reply to The Lemming:
I have loads of tools/ toolboxes, my own and my father's / Father in law' s both were engineers / mechanics.

I do however, rarely use anything other than basic tools nowadays , so whilst I have done kitchen/ Bathrooms in the past, and can fix bikes/ do some basic car repairs , plumbing/ woodwork / electrical etc. and have the tools, the inclination to do so is just not there these days.
I don't think the tools I have accumulated will be passed on from me to son in laws, they have no interest in such tasks.
( anyone need a 3foot long torque wrench and heavy duty impact screwdrivers ?)


Edit past for last

In reply to Dave Perry:


Well, apart from that one too

In reply to wilkie14c:
Making a 'Blue Print ' copy of a linen drawing. ( no more, thank goodness , I hated that. )

In reply to wilkie14c:

Setting pit traps.
Gutting, skinning and butchering a wild animal.
Curing an animal skin.
Starting a fire with flint or two pieces of wood.
Identifying wild plants that are safe to eat (no, magic mushroom do NOT count!)
Tracking animals.
Creating a water tight shelter from plants and dead tree branches.
Giving birth (without drugs and technotoys and a hundred assistants)
Smoking a joint of meat.

The world was a basic place when i were born in t'80s

In reply to henwardian:


Gah! Must resist urge to do puerile quote original revisions....

Don't know if it is a skill but - look up rude words/things in the dictionary/biology text books as soon as they are issued in the new school year.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

Good work.

Good that you have passed these skills onto another generation.

Now ,Mr Bakers ,and Miss Bakers;

Do you know how to make Black Pudding?

You will require;

A sheep
A knife
A bucket
A stirring implement.

Good luck!

In reply to wilkie14c:

My motorbike has a manual choke, as does my Dad's collection of classic cars - although it's been a while since I've set points or adjusted timings. Are you familiar with overdrive?

I won't touch much on a modern engine, but brakes and suspension are still fair game for the home mechanic - I have most of the tools and Dad has the rest.

I'd be mortified if I couldn't do a number of the things noted on here - although I've never needed to do others, such as make butter. I'm intrigued to try, however.

In reply to Dave Perry:



And the fact that an old penny used to work instead of a new 2p!

In reply to wilkie14c:

Even on a limited budget, being able to go and buy major items of stuff with a minimum of fuss, e.g. a fridge/freezer, a rucksack, or a secondhand bicycle, and then being content with the item. Managing to do this without extensive pre purchase dithering, or subsequent consumer anxiety that you've made the wrong choice.

Hard to believe, but it used to be possible to do this without frittering your life away on internet searches, trying to reassure yourself that there wasn't an even 'better' one to be had, and wasting yet even more of it by searching for where it could be bought even cheaper.

In reply to wilkie14c:

Changing channels on the telly with a snooker cue.

In reply to wilkie14c:

Compiling a complex index first with the use of file cards then typing it up and insertng fresh entries by cutting the foolscap into strips with scissors and gluing them in.

In reply to felt:

Cutting and pasting with scissors and glue instead of right clicks.

In reply to henwardian:


I gave birth in my living room. No drugs.

I do agree though that medical intervention is becoming standard rather than for emergencies only. The rate of c-sections in the USA is now a third of all births!

In reply to Alyson:
Although dying in childbirth is also a rare skill now

Actually, maybe not in the USA

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/apr/12/maternal-mortality-rat...

In reply to Alyson:


Might be company cars, a lot of larger companies don't allow you to change without wheel because your not trained to do it.

In reply to MG:

The WHO calculates that a rate of between 5% and 10% of births being c-sections has an optimal outcome for mothers and babies. Higher than 10% and the risks of major surgery outweigh any benefits.

In reply to Dax H:

Being able to do anything without someone citing elf and safety.

In reply to marsbar:

do a maths exam using a book of mathematical tables for square roots, sin, cos and tan and logs/antilogs etc

hand code assembler to machine code and debug on a home made veroboard computer (then save to a cassette tape!)

work with high voltages inside a valve radio

In reply to wercat:


>

Or use a slide rule for the same purpose?

I've still got my Four Figure Tables by Godfrey and Siddons published by the Cambridge Universty Press in 1961which i used to sit my "O" Level Pure Maths, "O" Level Applied Maths, and "O" Level Physics that year.

In reply to Trangia:

I think it's quite amazing how much time was taken up just by the mechanics of looking values up in the tables! Having problems with transcribing numbers without making mistakes and constantly having to re-check made it hard to finish everything. IIRC to multiply 2 numbers using logs involved looking up the log for each of the numbers and writing down the log to 4 decimal places, then adding these up by hand and then looking up the result in the antilog tables. Not to mention time taken flipping through the book to find the page for the table you wanted, all the time under pressure of the exam!

In reply to wercat:
As you say loads of scope for mistakes, it's amazing when you look back on it.

Once I had got used to it, I found the slide rule quicker, but it played havoc with your eyesight!

I remember when I first starting using a calculator, I didn't trust it and used to attempt to solve the same problem by different routes as a cross check! Gradually I came to realise that it was always right, so long as the input was correct!!

In reply to wilkie14c:

Using a mangle to get clothes dry?

In reply to Dave Perry:

Or a little bit more modern - a spin dryer. (Or do the washing in a twin-tub.)

In reply to Trangia:
We didn't have those when I took School Certificate (8 credits and a pass)!

In reply to wilkie14c:

Making crowdie.

In reply to wilkie14c:

hand jamming

In reply to wilkie14c:

Common sense and its use in general.

In reply to Sempafi:
Having sensible conversations with people. Now people constantly think whatever's happening on their tablet /I phone is more important than the person their speaking to.

I believe this new phenomenon is called a 'nonversation'.

The circle is complete I have become my father!

In reply to wilkie14c:

On the subject of Morse code, I've not used it in anger for years (military). More recently, only for identifying beacons (aviation).
However, I can't get Morse out of my head, it's like a disease. I'm forever looking at road signs, headlines, stuff on here etc and blasting it out in morse inside my head, I sometimes even do it all backwards.....eg. F is .._. In reverse, that's ._.. which is also L
It'll put me in a mental home!