Don't tell me to 'take a powder'!

Posted: Mar 7, 08 6:19am

Over the holidays I had the misfortune of having an automobile accident which necessitated the use of a rental car for several weeks.

It was a nice car (much nicer than the hunk of junk I usually drive) and it came with a remote device that allowed you to do things like set the alarm, open the trunk, turn on the lights and sweep your driveway all with just the push of a button.

I didn't even need a key to start it. There was a button on the dash for that!

I noticed, however, that whenever the collective 'we' were ready to go somewhere, someone would always ask, "who has the keys?"

There were no keys! It was a little piece of plastic with push buttons. No key involved.

Yet, it was constantly referred to as "the keys".

I began to think of other phrases and colloquialisms that we use daily that really don't make sense anymore.

If a friend pulls up next to me in traffic, I'll often signal for them to "roll" down their window and move my wrist in a circular motion. Does anyone really "roll" down windows anymore?

The T.V. remote control in my house is still referred to as the "clicker".

Honestly, when was the last time that you heard one of those buttons go "click"?

I still say "hang up the phone". Hang up the phone on what? I still say "dial" a phone number and "ring" me up. I don't really think the theme from The Pink Panther qualifies as a "ring".

Probably the one that makes my kids laugh the most is when I refer to Vanna White as a "letter-turner". It makes me feel so old to think that the letter turners of the world no longer have to work as hard as they used to and now manage to get by with the mere push of a button.

Anybody have any other little idioms that should be obsolete, but are still in use?

Let's see how old we can make ourselves feel today.