How much do you remember?

hissy

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This is a History Exam for those who don't mind seeing how much they really remember about what went on in their life.

Get paper and pencil and number from 1 to 20.

Write the letter of each answer and score at the end.

Then, best of all, before you pass this test on, put your score in the subject line!

1. In the 1940s, where were automobile headlight dimmer switches located?

a. On the floor shift knob

b. On the floor board, to the left of the clutch c. Next to the horn

2. The bottle top of a Royal Crown Cola bottle had holes in it. For what was it used?

a. Capture lightning bugs

b. To sprinkle clothes before ironing

c. Large salt shaker

3. Why was having milk delivered a problem in northern winters?

a. Cows got cold and wouldn't produce milk

b. Ice on highways forced delivery by dog sled

c. M ilkmen left deliveries outside of front doors and milk would freeze, expanding and pushing up the cardboard bottle top.
4. What was the popular chewing gum named for a game of chance?

a. Blackjack

b. Gin

c. Craps!

5. What method did women use to look as if they were wearing stockings when none were available due to rationing during W.W.II?

a. Suntan

b. Leg painting

c. Wearing slacks

6. What postwar car turned automotive design on its ear when you couldn't tell whether it was coming or going?

a. Studebaker

b. Nash Metro

c. Tucker

7. Which was a popular candy when you were a kid?

a. Strips of dried peanut butter

b. Chocolate licorice bars

c. Wax coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside

8. How was Butch wax used?

a. To stiffen a flat-top haircut so it stood up b. To make floors shiny and prevent scuffing c. On the wheels of roller skates to prevent rust

9. Before inline skates, how did you keep your roller skates attached to your shoes?

a. With clamps, tightened by a skate key b. Woven straps that crossed the foot c. Long pieces of twine

10. As a kid, what was considered the best way to reach a decision?

a. Consider all the facts

b. Ask Mom

c. Eeny-meeny-miney-mo

11. What was the most dreaded disease in the 1940's?

a. Smallpox

b. AIDS

c. Polio

12. "I'll be down to get you in a ________, Honey"

a. SUV

b. Taxi

c. Streetcar

13. What was the name of Caroline Kennedy's pet pony?

a. Old Blue

b. Paint

c. Macaroni

14. What was a Duck-and-Cover Drill?

a. Part of the game of hide and seek

b. What you did when your Mom called you in to do chores c. Hiding under your desk, and covering your head with your arms in an A-bomb drill.

15. What was the name of the Indian Princess on the Howdy Doody show?

a. Princess Summerfallwinterspring

b. Princess Sacajawea

c. Princess Moonshado w

16. What did all the really savvy students do when mimeographed tests were handed out in school?

a. Immediately sniffed the purple ink, as this was believed to get you high b. Made paper airplanes to see who could sail theirs out the window c. Wrote another pupil's name on the top, to avoid their failure

17. Why did your Mom shop in stores that gave Green Stamps with purchases?

a. To keep you out of mischief by licking the backs, which tasted like bubble gum b. They could be put in special books and redeemed for various household items c. They were given to the kids to be used as stick-on tattoos

18. Praise the Lord, and pass the _________?

a. Meatballs

b. Dames

c. Ammunition

19. What was the name of the singing group that made the song "Cabdriver" a hit?

a. The Ink Spots

b. The Supremes

c. The Esquires

20. Who left his heart in San Francisco?

a. Tony Bennett

b. Xavier Cugat

c. George Gershwin

 
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hissy

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ANSWERS

1. b) On the floor, to the left of the clutch. Hand controls, popular in Europe, took till the late '60s to catch on.

2. b) To sprinkle clothes before ironing. Who had a steam iron?

3. c) Cold weather caused the milk to freeze and expand, popping the bottle top.

4. a) Blackjack Gum.

5. b) Special makeup was applied, followed by drawing a seam down the back of the leg with eyebrow pencil.

6. a) 1946 Studebaker.

7. c) Wax coke bottles containing super-sweet colored water.

8. a) Wax for your flat top (butch) haircut.

9. a) With clamps, tightened by a skate key, which you wore on a shoestring around your neck.

10. c) Eeny-meeny-miney-mo.

11. c) Polio. In beginning of August, swimming pools were closed, movies and other public gathering places were closed to try to prevent spread of the disease.

12. b) Taxi. Better be ready by half-past eight!

13. c) Macaroni.

14. c) Hiding under your desk, and covering your head with your arms in an A-bomb drill.

15. a) Princess Summerfallwinterspring. She was another puppet.

16. a) Immediately sniffed the purple ink to get a high.

17. b) Put in a special stamp book, they could be traded for household items at the Green Stamp store.

18. c) Ammunition, and we'll all be free.

19. a) The widely famous 50's group: The Inkspots.

20. a) Tony Bennett, and he sounds just as good today..

----------------------------------------------------------------------

SCORING

17- 20 correct: You are older than dirt, and obviously gifted with mental abilities. Now if you could only find your glasses. Definitely someone who should share your wisdom!

12 -16 correct: Not quite dirt yet, but you're getting there.

0 -11 correct: You are not old enough to share the wisdom of your experiences.

 

pinkdaisy226

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Originally Posted by katspixiedust

I was born long after that time (80's) and yet I still got 11 correct. Perhaps I just listened when my grandparents and parents told me stories?
I was born in 1982 and I got 15 correct. :eek:)
 

katl8e

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I was born in 1957 and I got 19 right. I KNEW that watching the History Channel would be good for something!
 

gemlady

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Heh - 18 right, but part of that was from listening to my parents and grandparents.


I do remember Blackjack Gum and the wax bottles of sugar water. And the mimeographed sheets.

Can anybody out there still do the Teaberry Shuffle?
 
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hissy

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Gosh I remember using those coke bottles and sprinkling water all over the pillowcases, the teeshirts and pants. And those old flat irons with the long cords and the big holder at the end of the ironing board? I don't even own an ironing board today! lol
 

ttmom

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Okay, I'm not THAT old! But I got 17 right, if I'd've guessed on the others I would have gotten 19 right. I think my Mom and Dad just raised me in the past (they listened to Glen Miller, etc.).
 

deb25

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I got 18 right, but all of this postwar stuff was before my personal time. I just have a head full of trivia. Some of the questions were like Trivial Pursuit, if you reasoned it out, you could get the answer and elimimate ones that were ridiculous. Case in point: the question regarding polio. 1) FDR had it, and 2) Answers like AIDS are silly for that time period.

Although, on my first car, a '67 Mustang, the high beam switch was still on the floor.
 
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hissy

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That was my first car too Deb! It was aqua with a vinyl roof, and the gas and brake pedals were shaped like feet- God I loved that car!
 

rapunzel47

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20 correct: You are older than dirt, and obviously gifted with mental abilities. Now if you could only find your glasses. Definitely someone who should share your wisdom!
Well, I don't know about wisdom, and since my specs are perched on my nose whenever I'm vertical, that's not much of a problem. Most of the answers I knew, either first hand or from my parents, and the others weren't difficult to fog out. Fun.
 

emma's friend

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I missed two: the one about the car coming & going and the one about the Ink Spots.

FYI: you can still get Blackjack Gum! Our local Rural King Farm Store carries it!
 

okeefecl

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15 of 20 here. Not too bad for a 30-something.

Originally Posted by Emma's Friend

FYI: you can still get Blackjack Gum! Our local Rural King Farm Store carries it!
I love Blackjack gum! They sell it at "Big Fun", a local store dedicated to nostalgia (Elvis lunchboxes, Star Wars toys, etc.).
 
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