15 Random Skills Before '90s, According To Older Adults

Buzz Feed

6 days ago

Before technology blew up into what we know it to be today, people had to remember random skills in the '90s just to get through life. Think: maneuvering a TV antenna and learning cursive. So we asked the BuzzFeed Community: "People born before 1990, what trivial skill do you possess that no one uses anymore?" So many people shared their talents with us. Here's what they said below.
"As a former Blockbuster manager, I could still repair a VHS tape if I had a splicer. Lol, haven't used that skill in a while."
—laurae4525fb3d9
"The paper fortune tellers, I make dirty versions for my husband to this day, LOL."
"I can drive a stick shift."
—fuzzybritches"Because I drove a stick shift for so long, it's muscle memory to rest my right hand on my shifter even though I don't have to shift anymore. My mom saw it one day and thought it was hilarious."—wagrobanite
"I can make an artist's canvas and prime it. Now you can get these at Walmart!"
"I can make a weed pipe out of a Coke can."
—keetawnandon
"I can correctly use a Thomas Guide (each map book) to locate a street. You'd look up the street in the back of the book to find which page and which 1" grid it was. Columns being lettered and rows numbered."
"I can sing all of the lyrics to the 'Library Card' song from Arthur. That should count for something. Oh! And the ZOOM theme song."
—theicebox720
"I can run programs in MS-DOS."
"I knew how to set up two VCRs so that you can make a copy of a movie from the video store, and remember to remove the plastic tab so no one can record over it. Lol."
—bbrownjrcrc
"I remember texting with a Nokia without looking at the phone and noticing my now husband peering over at me like I'm a freak. Well, I could do it flawlessly because 1) Practice, practice, and 2) The dude's thumbs are like fat breakfast sausages; you can't even regular smartphone text with those babies."
"When those old cassettes would snag in the cassette player: 1) how to rewind it with a pencil, and 2) if it tore, how to splice it back together to kinda sorta play again."
—deannpetrachkoff
"Here's a truly trivial skill: I can fold a sheet of paper up into a cute little self-contained envelope. That was important for passing notes in class — I wouldn't want anyone to read it but the intended recipient."
"Ok, SO brown paper bag book covers — I actually DID THAT recently and was pleased I could still recall how."
—cailian13
"I was in class of '94 and majored in film production. I learned how to thread a projector, load and remove 16 mm film from a camera (make sure the core isn't stuck in the film because it must go back in the camera!), and to edit by *splicing and taping* the film back together. You had to be very thoughtful about editing. Anything cut had to be tracked or would be lost on the editing room floor, or it would take forever to figure out which of the cuts was the one you wanted. And you better not cut off too many frames or you'd have problems either from having too many short splices (which could cause projector issues) or from cutting away too early in the shot, which would look weird. Don't even get me started on lighting and sound! Now, anyone with an iPhone and an app could potentially be a filmmaker!"
"Another skill that's no longer needed (thank goodness) is that I can pin a diaper on a baby without sticking them with the pin."
—cathyholm
People born before the '90s, do you have a trivial skill? Tell us what it is in the comments or anonymously in the Google Form below.