I'm So Old That I Remember...
- Thread starter dr morbius
- Start date
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Linda0818
Head Chef
That was the absolute best! That smell was intoxicating.
I thought it was an interesting smell until I volunteered to crank the machine for making the copies. That smell got old pretty quick.
Linda0818
Head Chef
Awww, that's a bummer. That was one smell I wouldn't have wanted to get tired of.
I'm on taxy's side. That bloody machine was constantly jamming up and the wax would - gads, just tear and leak the letters. Hated it. Don't even remember the smell at all, just the aggravation.
Linda0818
Head Chef
Glad I never did that and just enjoyed the smell of the final result.
However, working in many offices throughout my life, I can completely empathize with jammed machines.
I got curious about mimeograph machines and did a DuckDuckGo search. At the same time as the mimeograph, there was also the spirit duplicator, which also made mostly purple printouts. It was also used in schools and was cranked by hand. That may have been what I used. I remember my mum had a small portable version, that didn't have a crank. Now that I have read a bit about spirit duplicators, I think that both my mum's and the ones at my school were spirit duplicators, also called ditto machines, was what I am familiar with.
Didn't know there was more than one machine. What ever they were called, as I remember they were typed on a sheet coated in wax, the typing cut through the wax and then placed on a huge drum type thing which was turned around, the cut part of the type allowed an "ink" (what ever it was) which was as taxy says - purple, print on the paper.
Always thought it was called a "ditto" machine, but who knows?
Always thought it was called a "ditto" machine, but who knows?
msmofet
Chef Extraordinaire
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2009
- Messages
- 13,946
I knew it as a mimeo. Unmistakable smell.
ah yes, mimeo-graph machine!
GinnyPNW
Master Chef
The pony!!!! The little brown & white pony. A guy came around with him and took kids' pictures. I lived in So. Cal. and I swear, my cousins in Texas had pictures on the same darn pony!
Who else remembers that little pony...and where did you live then?
Who else remembers that little pony...and where did you live then?
Aunt Bea
Master Chef
There was an Italian man that used to take holiday and birthday pictures of kids, with his pony, when my Mother was growing up. They said he used to remove the back seat from his car so the pony had a place to ride! 
This isn’t Mom, just a picture that I harvested from the internet.
This isn’t Mom, just a picture that I harvested from the internet.
I remember there was something about having pictures taken on / with a pony. I don't remember details. It was a long time ago.
pepperhead212
Executive Chef
Actually, this is something from so long ago I don't remember it, but my neighbor (whose latest BD was her 90th) told me of it, when she asked me if I used butter or margarine, and she answered her own question by saying something like "Oh, I'm sure you use butter, and I know your cookies have butter!" I told her she was right, and I use butter, but not very often. And that the last time I remember using margarine was when I was a child, and my Mom would use it, due to the cost of butter, which we would have on holidays, and things like that. That's when she asked if I remembered those "little red disks they used to have for coloring the margarine?" I said that was before anything I remember - the margarine was already "yellow" when we got it. But my mind started racing and I caught her before she went back in, and I told her I probably have the stuff they used to make that "red" - annatto. She had no idea what I was talking about, but I told her that they use the stuff for the color, to add to margarine and butter, to make it yellow, and add more to cheeses, to make them orange. She said that as she was thinking about it, she realized that it was something from way back, maybe "during the war", as she put it, but she didn't remember when they stopped it, and the margarine just started coming with the color in it. I told her if she ever feels that her margarine doesn't have enough color, I have some annatto powder. She gave me a look, like "yeah, right!", and went back inside.
Aunt Bea
Master Chef
At one time margarine was dyed pink!Actually, this is something from so long ago I don't remember it, but my neighbor (whose latest BD was her 90th) told me of it, when she asked me if I used butter or margarine, and she answered her own question by saying something like "Oh, I'm sure you use butter, and I know your cookies have butter!" I told her she was right, and I use butter, but not very often. And that the last time I remember using margarine was when I was a child, and my Mom would use it, due to the cost of butter, which we would have on holidays, and things like that. That's when she asked if I remembered those "little red disks they used to have for coloring the margarine?" I said that was before anything I remember - the margarine was already "yellow" when we got it. But my mind started racing and I caught her before she went back in, and I told her I probably have the stuff they used to make that "red" - annatto. She had no idea what I was talking about, but I told her that they use the stuff for the color, to add to margarine and butter, to make it yellow, and add more to cheeses, to make them orange. She said that as she was thinking about it, she realized that it was something from way back, maybe "during the war", as she put it, but she didn't remember when they stopped it, and the margarine just started coming with the color in it. I told her if she ever feels that her margarine doesn't have enough color, I have some annatto powder. She gave me a look, like "yeah, right!", and went back inside.
Why was Margarine Pink in the USA? - Perry Ponders
Most houses today have a tub of margarine in the fridge, but what is margarine, where does it come from and how is it different to butter? Butter is created from cream which rises to the top of milk when it sits for a period of time, this is usually gathered from cows. Through the …
perryponders.com
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
I try to avoid fake stuff when I can easily buy the real stuff - butter, whipped cream, etc.
You are right Andy - when you can afford the real stuff. I purchased margarine because I could not afford the butter for a family of 6 and at that time - it wasn't common knowledge if one was better than the other.
I cont'd to use margarine up until a few years ago. There was one on the market you could hardly tell the difference in taste. Only real difference was it was soft and in a tub.
My mother, with family of 7 also used margarine.
Yes, pepper - I remember the red discs! Man! those bags were really stiff to knead! I would poop out and give it back to mom, let her soften it a bit and then I was happy to keep kneading it 'til it was almost one colour. (although I'm pretty sure I probably left a goodly amount of white streaks in it).
I cont'd to use margarine up until a few years ago. There was one on the market you could hardly tell the difference in taste. Only real difference was it was soft and in a tub.
My mother, with family of 7 also used margarine.
Yes, pepper - I remember the red discs! Man! those bags were really stiff to knead! I would poop out and give it back to mom, let her soften it a bit and then I was happy to keep kneading it 'til it was almost one colour. (although I'm pretty sure I probably left a goodly amount of white streaks in it).
pepperhead212
Executive Chef
That's interesting, @Aunt Bea! And you're right, dragn, the cost was the main reason for Mom using margarine, but also, at the time, it was thought to be so much "better" for us, than eating animal fat (some may have still had animal fat in it back then, but the ones we had were always vegetable oil). Later, of course, it was discovered that the trans fats in the hydrogenated vegetable oils in those early margarines, made them as bad as the animal fats they were replacing. Later they figured out how to correct this, but that was way after my early days of eating margarine.
I only use real butter. But, the rest of my family will only use margarine. They honestly think it is healthier. When I cook for them, in their kitchens, I have to sneak butter into the house. Seriously, if they found out I used butter to cook something, they probably wouldn't eat it, in fear of having a heart attack five minutes after dinner.
CD
I remember margarine being very popular in the UK, in the 80s/90s, for three reasons: healthier because it was not made with animal fat, cheaper and easier to spread on your breakfast toast, whereas butter used to be so tough when you took it out of the fridge that it would just break up all your toast as you desperately tried spreading it.
The brand Flora was particularly popular, very soft.
The brand Flora was particularly popular, very soft.
