You Know You Are Old When

[scootr]

My Mothers parents came over in the 20s through Ellis Island. Many were given Americanized names and all had to learn the pledge of allegiance in english and be able to recite a list of past American presidents as part of the citizenship test. Each one pledged allegiance to the US flag, one nation under God.
Ahhh, the good ole days. None of them made national news beating cops in NYC.

 

[orezok]

My Mothers parents came over in the 20s through Ellis Island. Many were given Americanized names and all had to learn the pledge of allegiance in english and be able to recite a list of past American presidents as part of the citizenship test. Each one pledged allegiance to the US flag, one nation under God.
Ahhh, the good ole days. None of them made national news beating cops in NYC.

I don’t know when they were naturalized, buy “one nation under god” was not added until 1954

My dad and much of his family came over in 1907 or 8. Several of my uncles have similar but different last names and my father does also.

 

[masseyrider]

My first new car, a 1978 Trans Am, had the CB radio option and I ordered it with a 8 track because that's what I already had at home.
Who knew?

 

[deserteagle71]

Several of my uncles have similar but different last names and my father does also.

All too common when officials were trying to change a name from a non-English speaking country into American English. They'd try to phonetically change a name into English and what they came up with was different from person to person. I still have some of my parents' immigration documents and names are spelled differently on different documents.

Myself, I had a heck of a time when I turned 65 and it was time to sign up for Medicare and Social Security. One of the questions asked to prove my identity was my mother's maiden name. But the spelling of what I wrote down (what was on my mother's naturalization certificate) and what Social Security had in their files was very different. Yet the name sounded the same when spoken. Took a bunch of correspondence, including some from the embassy in Austria, to get that cleared up.

 

[ultrarunner]

I asked my neighbor why his name is different from all of his cousins on his fathers side.

When his father arrived from China at SF Angel Island the allocation of persons with the surname Fong had been reached but there was still room for the surname Lum

This is how his family name came to be…

 

[Pixguy]

My first new car, a 1978 Trans Am, had the CB radio option and I ordered it with a 8 track because that's what I already had at home.
Who knew?

What was your CB handle?

 

[ultrarunner]

All too common when officials were trying to change a name from a non-English speaking country into American English. They'd try to phonetically change a name into English and what they came up with was different from person to person. I still have some my parents' immigration documents and names are spelled differently on different documents.

Myself, I had a heck of a time when I turned 65 and it was time to sign up for Medicare and Social Security. One of the questions asked to prove my identity was my mother's maiden name. But the spelling of what I wrote down (what was on my mother's naturalization certificate) and what Social Security had in their files was very different. Yet the name sounded the same when spoken. Took a bunch of correspondence, including some from the embassy in Austria, to get that cleared up.

Is this what I have to look forward to?

Moms spelling appears several different ways made worse by the DMV who gave her a middle initial when she never had a middle name..

For decades 2 jury notices and similar occurred… one with the DMV middle initial and one without.

 

[masseyrider]

Frogger was my handle good buddy.
I used to hop on a lot of y ladies.

 

[deserteagle71]

Is this what I have to look forward to?

Moms spelling appears several different ways made worse by the DMV who gave her a middle initial when she never had a middle name..

For decades 2 jury notices and similar occurred… one with the DMV middle initial and one without.

Yup! So you need to get that all straightened out before you apply for Social Security/Medicare.

 

[WinterDeere]

Great thread! Can't believe I just found it.

Getting old is:

1. Having to pee, while you're peeing.
2. Sitting on the toilet, and having your nuts hit the water.

And on that subject...

You know that you are old (not getting old) when you go to take a whizz and find that your zipper is already down.

I did that in grade school!