forgotten skills

[imaginethat]

What's a skill people had 40 or 50 years ago, that was fairly common, that has all but disappeared?

[CaliforniaNow]

good penmanship; I think that's not a class in grade school anymore - so many kids can't read cursive much less write it legibly.

[TeeBubbaDee]

My grandpa was a blacksmith. At one time, a blacksmith was a very important part of many peoples lives. He had a blacksmith shop in a garage behind his house for as long as I can remember. He didn't have actual bellows.(maybe he did before I came along) but I used to love to hang out there cause he used to let me turn the crank on a devise that fed oxygen to the fire. I remember when he went "big time" and bought a trip hammer that allowed him to beat  red hot iron without using a hammer. He made some wonderful things, but the one that stands out in my mind is the wrought iron "tombstone" that he made for my grandma. 

[Lifesighs]

My husband's grandfather had a blacksmith shop at the ranch also TeeBubba, he was a carriage maker originally from New York. They did it all by hand back in those days.

[Karin M Fichtner]

My dad and my first husband worked on cars. If something went wrong, they dug under the hood, or raised it up on ramps, and did the work themselves. With all the modern electronics and computerization on cars today, most people haven't got the knowledge, or the tools, for do-it- yourself repair.

[Johnnieboy]

The use of a slide rule. In my college days they were the preferred tool for doing mathematical calculations. The hand calculator was just coming into usage and they were relatively expensive. I had a chemistry professor who required us to list the method we used for math calculations on our exams. He found that the most math errors were from the ones who used calculators. The second most, were slide rules, and the least errors were made by those who did the math themselves without any instruments!

Most in the younger generations don't even know what a slide rule is, let alone how to use one!

[flippr 2.0]

I saw a show on tv yesterday about slide rules and the introduction of the pocket calculator,they were really expensive when they first came out.

[Johnnieboy]

Yep $150 in the sixties. That was live a grand now. Now you can buy them for $5.00.

[imaginethat]

Counting back change after making a sale. Not only can they not count it back, but if the electricity went out, they could likely not even add the total on paper. I have seen it with my own two eyes. They are crippled without calculators to do it for them.

I have to agree about handwriting. Sewing has gone by the wayside. We learned how to sew in home economics and from our Mom.

[Karin M Fichtner]

I've told this story before, so if you've heard it....I apologize.  I went to Burger King on lunch break to get something for my (then) husband.  I was in the drive-thru line.  It was 12:15, so it was busy.  When I got closer to the window, I saw an older gentleman in a Burger King hat walking around between the cars, coming up to the windows and then leaving.  When he got to me, he explained that he was a maintenance man, part-time, but their registers were down, and he was "The only person there who knew how to make change".  That's just plain sad.  What good is being educated.....if you have no common sense? 

[Johnnieboy]

Yea, like reading Morse code churning butter.

[The Dyslexic Dodger]

Very fine woodworking and jointery

[officerripley]

Carrying on a conversation with people face-to-face.