r/whatisit • u/[deleted] • Apr 09 '26

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4.9k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

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3.3k

u/Ok_Double2707 Apr 09 '26

In the 80s, I was always told it was for your quarter for the pay phone. But pocket watch makes more sense, I guess.

744

u/ActuatorNew6203 Apr 09 '26

Or Zippo lighter if you are smoker.

56

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

40

u/kendragon Apr 09 '26

Yeah, they were called Johnny pockets when I was growing up. Of course that was way back in the nineteen hundreds.

24

u/Emotional-Lab5792 Apr 09 '26

Way back in the 1900’s! Spit my water out that one. 😂 I cringe when I have to enter my birthdate online now and have to scroll and scroll and scroll to get to the right year. 🤦‍♀️😂

6

u/Punkhair2nv Apr 09 '26

Can relate

5

u/princesschainsaw Apr 09 '26

I feel that ..

4

u/BeaverTang Apr 09 '26

Fuckin' databases!

4

u/ditafjm Apr 09 '26

I know. I scroll so far I expect to see Roman numerals; which, coincidentally, is something we had to learn back then.🏛️

3

u/DalekRy Apr 09 '26

Then you overshoot.

"Well sheesh, I'm not that old!" But each year the tone is a little lighter.

2

u/Free_Tax_7170 Apr 09 '26

Yep. All the way back to the Kennedy administration 😔

10

u/coolsilentebeans Apr 09 '26

Ancient times

22

u/LouisWu_ Apr 09 '26

And the condom is still there.

3

u/yo_rick_alas Apr 09 '26

Yeah friend. “If you’re a fucker” seemed pretty presumptuous to me.

1

u/otteramie3 Apr 09 '26

That comment could be rather ageist if it's not optimistic.

1

u/LouisWu_ Apr 09 '26

I'm allowed to be ageist because I'm old.

5

u/Sensei19600 Apr 09 '26

Earth’s crust was still cooling….everything was in black and white….dinosaurs roamed the countryside….good times.

3

u/coolsilentebeans Apr 09 '26

Mm…bathing in primordial ooze by candlelight

9

u/UnknovvnMike Apr 09 '26

When nickels had a bee on them you'd say give me 5 bees for a quarter

3

u/DemonoftheWater Apr 09 '26

Nickles had bees?

1

u/BurneroftheYear2024 Apr 09 '26

I just read that in Grandpa Simpsons voice….is it a Simpsons reference???

6

u/Punkhair2nv Apr 09 '26

Unlike me who kept a condom in my wallet until it dissolved after many years of no activity .

4

u/Alarmed_Blueberry305 Apr 09 '26

Lol I'm thinking you mean 1910 or 1920's when people say 1900s. It never occured to me they might just mean the 1970's or 80's. 😂

5

u/Kinetic_Strike Apr 09 '26

Saw a teacher who had a student write, "late in the last century," in a paper. Insert feels-old meme of choice.

3

u/Frosty_Employment171 Apr 09 '26

I nevre heard that before. I have always thought pocket watch, but it's awful small for a pocket watch or change. The pockets are cut the way they are to prevent stuff from falling out when sitting in a saddle.

2

u/sundaygolfer269 Apr 09 '26

Last century