# I was just speaking with a friend of mine....



## AZ Jim (Jul 23, 2015)

we were talking about how things have really changed.  Now, I was born in 1936 so I've see a fair piece of time so far.  When I was a kid, we had several in school who stuttered.  I don't see that anymore.  Another thing I never saw in my schools was braces on teeth.  Folks just couldn't afford 'em..How often do you see crooked teeth today?  When James Naismith invented Basketball the average male height was around 5'8".  The basket hasn't moved up to keep pace but now players are 7' tall.  Nutrition?  I dunno....Move the basket up proportionately and eliminate the easy slam dunk.


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## Bullie76 (Jul 24, 2015)

I remember a kid or two who stuttered, but haven't run into anyone in years who does. Of course in schools today they have specialist to help children with speech problems. As far as braces goes, I had them. Wasn't that uncommon when I was in school and my parents were not wealthy by any means. I had them around 1966-69. And basketball has certainly changed with the taller players. I don't even watch anymore.


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## Warrigal (Jul 24, 2015)

Nobody seems to get boils anymore, but food allergies are very common.

Could it be that getting boils and festered splinters your fingers prevented some allergic reactions?


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## hollydolly (Jul 24, 2015)

Impetigo..!! I remember a few of the ''poorer' kids coming to school with purple gentian violet painted  on their faces. I was always too polite to ask why and it was years after before I learned what it was, but you never see that today do you..?

Incidentally my eldest brother has stammered all his life..it's a bad stammer where you have to be very patient and let him say what he wants without completing his sentence for him....and once we had a neighbour who stammered badly, so badly that it could take 20 minutes for her just to get one sentence out.

I agree today that it's probably the onset of speech therapists who have now made stammering almost a thing of the past. Incidentally do you know a stammerer doesn't stutter when they sing?


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## Warrigal (Jul 24, 2015)

Over here impetigo was known as paspalum sores because it was thought that the long paspalum grass passed it from person to person on bare legs.


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## hollydolly (Jul 24, 2015)

Interesting DW..but of course we now know  it's a bacterial infection passed from one person to another by contact usually through a cut or some kind of broken skin..especially where there are humid conditions..


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## AZ Jim (Jul 24, 2015)

I was in elementary school in the 40's.  Braces then were non-existent in my schools.  By the 60's things had changed.


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## AZ Jim (Jul 24, 2015)

hollydolly said:


> Impetigo..!! I remember a few of the ''poorer' kids coming to school with purple gentian violet painted  on their faces. I was always too polite to ask why and it was years after before I learned what it was, but you never see that today do you..?
> 
> Incidentally my eldest brother has stammered all his life..it's a bad stammer where you have to be very patient and let him say what he wants without completing his sentence for him....and once we had a neighbour who stammered badly, so badly that it could take 20 minutes for her just to get one sentence out.
> 
> I agree today that it's probably the onset of speech therapists who have now made stammering almost a thing of the past. Incidentally do you know a stammerer doesn't stutter when they sing?



I don't know about the purple on faces but I did know that country singer Mel Tillis who was a terrible stutterer sang flawlessly but couldn't speak three words without the stutter.


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## Ameriscot (Jul 24, 2015)

AZ Jim said:


> I was in elementary school in the 40's.  Braces then were non-existent in my schools.  By the 60's things had changed.



Seems every kid has braces in the US.  But I can't recall even seen a kid with braces in the UK.  All my nieces and nephews had them - in the US.


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## AZ Jim (Jul 24, 2015)

Ameriscot said:


> Seems every kid has braces in the US.  But I can't recall even seen a kid with braces in the UK.  All my nieces and nephews had them - in the US.



Yes, it's almost impossible to find American kids without perfect looking smiles.  Not in my day.


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## Ameriscot (Jul 24, 2015)

AZ Jim said:


> Yes, it's almost impossible to find American kids without perfect looking smiles.  Not in my day.



Yea, perfect teeth in every kid under 35 in my family, and my sister who was the only one who got braces when we were kids.


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## SifuPhil (Jul 24, 2015)

Don't hear as much about measles as we did in the U.S. public schools back in the '60's ... but then, we didn't have metal detectors or psycho shootings either.


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## Shalimar (Jul 24, 2015)

Children in Canada are vaccinated for measles, also, boys for mumps, and girls for rubella.


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## Butterfly (Jul 24, 2015)

Never saw obese children (at least not in schools I attended) either.


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## AZ Jim (Jul 24, 2015)

Butterfly said:


> Never saw obese children (at least not in schools I attended) either.



I know the reason..  We used to get home from school, change clothes and hit the block to see what kids were out to play ball, fly kites with, have out top spinning contests with, play our war games with, cowboys and Indians, etc.  When the street lights came on, if mom hadn't already called us in, we went home.  Today, kids are on their cell phone, parked at the computer or playing their video games.  THAT is why todays kids are fatties and we were not.  One other thing, NO fast foods then, no Mickey D, no burger King, no KFC....


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## oldman (Jul 24, 2015)

It's called progress. (BTW, I always thought Brits had bad teeth as far as straightness goes.)


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## hollydolly (Jul 24, 2015)

Butterfly said:


> Never saw obese children (at least not in schools I attended) either.



We had a 'fat' girl in our school but she stood out because she was the only one in a school of over a thousand kids...but when I think back she wouldn't be described as obese today compared to so many children who are truly huge..


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## hollydolly (Jul 24, 2015)

oldman said:


> It's called progress. (BTW, I always thought Brits had bad teeth as far as straightness goes.)



Not these days...not for many years.... Of course like anywhere in the western world there are some who just don't look after their teeth, but the poor dental health of the children due to the terrible dentists way back in the 50's and 60's did indeed allow the majority of children to grow up with crooked or bad teeth  ..however it's not like that now, but it's a name that's stuck with us..Brits have bad teeth. It's just not the case for most these days!!


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## Bee (Jul 24, 2015)

oldman said:


> It's called progress. (BTW, I always thought Brits had bad teeth as far as straightness goes.)




All my brothers and myself had naturally straight teeth, in fact I used to be complimented on my teeth, so I don't know where you got that idea from.


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## SifuPhil (Jul 24, 2015)

Bee said:


> All my brothers and myself had naturally straight teeth, in fact I used to be complimented on my teeth, so I don't know where you got that idea from.



Monty Python skits were my first exposure to the world of supposedly bad Brit teeth ... 

And yes, I know that's like assuming all Americans are like Jerry Springer. layful:


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## jujube (Jul 24, 2015)

I can only remember a few fat kids in the 40's and 50's.  Impetigo, ringworm and..gasp...head lice.....was a great disgrace.....only "dirty" kids got that.   As far as head lice goes, it's an epidemic here in Florida.  It's almost a given that your kid is going to come home from day care or elementary school with them at least once.


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## Butterfly (Jul 24, 2015)

AZ Jim said:


> I know the reason..  We used to get home from school, change clothes and hit the block to see what kids were out to play ball, fly kites with, have out top spinning contests with, play our war games with, cowboys and Indians, etc.  When the street lights came on, if mom hadn't already called us in, we went home.  Today, kids are on their cell phone, parked at the computer or playing their video games.  THAT is why todays kids are fatties and we were not.  One other thing, NO fast foods then, no Mickey D, no burger King, no KFC....



That's the absolute truth!  I don't think I ever sat down except for supper, and then back out till dark.  We were always playing something or another, all over the neighborhood.  At suppertime, you could hear the moms hollering for their kids.  And you're right -- back then fast food was a sandwich at home.

As an older child, I'd get my homework done and then back outside.  We walked everywhere we wanted to go, too; between all that, and PE in school, we got plenty of exercise.


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## Warrigal (Jul 24, 2015)

Same where I grew up. We had no car and no TV so we walked everywhere or later rode a bike. We played in the street and in each other's back yards when young and later played tennis and jived a lot. Weekly visits to the local Olympic pool was a Summer pastime. Entertainment was radio, movies and books or comics, but mostly playing with the other kids in the street.


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## oakapple (Jul 25, 2015)

My children had braces even though I didn't think they really needed them. British children have had them for years here now.There is nothing to pay, it's all done for free!


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## oakapple (Jul 25, 2015)

Fat children were a rarity here and also when my own children were at school. haven't seen any at grandchildren's school either, though I Know they are supposed to be everywhere now.


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## Cookie (Jul 25, 2015)

I never see fat kids around here these cays - there were only a couple when I was in school.  Maybe it's a low income thing - eating a lot of carbs and junk food.


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