"Fender skirts!" What a great blast from the past!

I hadn't thought about fender skirts in years. When I was a kid, I considered it such a funny term. It made me think of a car in lady's clothing.

Thinking about fender skirts started me thinking about other words that quietly disappear from our language with hardly a notice.

Remember "curb feelers" and "steering knobs"? Since I'd been thinking of cars, my mind naturally went that direction first. You kids will probably have to find some elderly person to explain some of these terms to you.

Remember "Continental kits?" They were rear bumper extenders and spare tire covers that were supposed to make any car as cool as a Lincoln Continental, but never worked, in my estimation.

When did we quit calling them "emergency brakes?" At some point "parking brake" became the proper term. But I miss the hint of drama that went with "emergency brake."

I'm sad, too, that almost all the old folks are gone who would call the accelerator the "foot feed."

Here's a phrase I heard all the time in my youth but never anymore, "store-bought." Of course, just about everything is store-bought these days. But once it was bragging material to have a store-bought dress or a store-bought bag of candy.

"Coast to coast" is a phrase that once held all sorts of excitement and now means almost nothing. Now we take the term "worldwide" for granted.

This floors me On a smaller scale, "wall-to-wall" was once a magical term in our homes. In the '50s, everyone covered their hardwood floors with, wow, wall-to-wall carpeting! Today, everyone replaces their wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors. Go figure.

When's the last time you heard the quaint phrase "in a family way?" It's hard to imagine that the word "pregnant" was once considered a little too graphic, a little too clinical for use in polite company. So we had all that talk about stork visits and "being in a family way", simply "expecting", or "P. G."

Apparently "brassiere" is a word no longer in usage. I said it the other day and my daughter cackled. I guess it's just "bra" now. "Unmentionables" probably wouldn't be understood at all.

It's hard to recall that this word was once said in a whisper, "divorce." And no one is called a "divorcee" anymore. Certainly not a "gay divorcee." Come to think of it, "confirmed bachelors" and "career girls" are long gone, too.

Most of these words go back to the '50s, but here's a pure-'60s word I came across the other day, "rat fink." Ooh, what a nasty put-down!

Here's a word I miss, "percolator." That was a word that was fun to say. And what was it replaced with? "Coffee maker." How dull. Mr. Coffee, I blame you for this.

I miss those made-up marketing words that were meant to sound so modern and now sound so retro. Words such as "DynaFlow" and "ElectraLuxe." "Introducing the 1963 Admiral TV, now with SpectraVision!"

Food for thought: Was there a telethon that wiped out lumbago? Nobody complains of that anymore. Maybe that's what castor oil cured, because I never hear mothers threatening their kids with castor oil anymore, either.

I know of another word that has changed meaning just in the last few years. Thongs used to mean shoes that are now called flip-flops. Guess what "thong" means now!

Some words aren't gone, but are definitely on the endangered list.

The one that grieves me most, "supper." Save a great word. Invite someone to supper.

I am going to add one here. Happened the other day a meteor came through the atmosphere above the Pacific Northwest. The news reports said it was the size of a 'computer monitor'. Struck me funny as in our day it would have been the size of a "bread box". Now people don't know what a bread box is. I feel old.

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There's someone in my head, but it's not not me - Pink Floyd