Mastodon/Fedi is the social network for people who read the encyclopedia for fun as a kid 🤔
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@FlockOfCats My father spent a night in jail in an American small town for selling encyclopedias door to door in the late 1960s.
@softicecreamlesley @FlockOfCats please tell me it was funk & wagnall's??
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Mastodon/Fedi is the social network for people who read the encyclopedia for fun as a kid
@FlockOfCats Yup!
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Mastodon/Fedi is the social network for people who read the encyclopedia for fun as a kid
@FlockOfCats brand new World Book 1985 set donated to my family. the gilt edges made me feel so rich. M and A were my favorite volumes.
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@softicecreamlesley @FlockOfCats we had two(!) sets of encyclopedias in the 1960s, presumably so Grandpa could flex. It was great until I got to college and found out Czechoslovakia was no longer one country
@soycamo @FlockOfCats hahahahaha
There was actually a Reel on Instagram where someone commented that they tried to send a letter to the Czech Republic at a Japanese Post Office and the worker said, “Oh, you mean Czechoslovakia?” Then the worker hauled out THE BOOK and looked it up, and to her surprise found out it was no longer 1992.
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@FlockOfCats I did.
My parents bought one in the late 60s. It's crazy how even in the early 90s I sometimes still used it as a source for this or that.
Maybe that's why the world was going slower back then. Because we all had decades old encyclopedias?
@David My encyclopedias were from the year I was born (1972). So you can imagine that, by the time I was in high school, they weren’t that useful. I took a straight razor to the P-Q volume and cut the middles of the pages out. It made a good place to stash stuff I didn’t want my parents to find.
In 2002 my mom still had them! I showed her the P-Q volume and she was horrified.
@FlockOfCats -
Mastodon/Fedi is the social network for people who read the encyclopedia for fun as a kid
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@softicecreamlesley @FlockOfCats please tell me it was funk & wagnall's??
@scoutie @FlockOfCats I have absolutely no idea!
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Mastodon/Fedi is the social network for people who read the encyclopedia for fun as a kid
@FlockOfCats Hmmm, I did do this...
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Mastodon/Fedi is the social network for people who read the encyclopedia for fun as a kid
@FlockOfCats
Oh shit I feel so seen! I DID THAT! -
Mastodon/Fedi is the social network for people who read the encyclopedia for fun as a kid
@FlockOfCats @paco
I mean jusr @ all of us next time. -
Mastodon/Fedi is the social network for people who read the encyclopedia for fun as a kid
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Mastodon/Fedi is the social network for people who read the encyclopedia for fun as a kid
@FlockOfCats oh crap. Yeah. Guilty as charged.
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Mastodon/Fedi is the social network for people who read the encyclopedia for fun as a kid
@FlockOfCats Dictionary, but yep. It me.
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Mastodon/Fedi is the social network for people who read the encyclopedia for fun as a kid
@FlockOfCats My mom had a complete OED when I was a kid. It came with a magnifying glass because the text was so small.
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@FlockOfCats Oh god. My grandmother had this humungous unabridged dictionary, and I did read it as a kid. Oh god.
@aspeed I still read dictionaries sometimes, and I'm 41
@FlockOfCats -
Mastodon/Fedi is the social network for people who read the encyclopedia for fun as a kid
@FlockOfCats @shansterable I *knew* I was in the right place!
We never had an encyclopedia until 10th grade when my dad remarried and we moved into my stepmom’s house.
My stepbrothers were partying and playing sports and dating girls, but I was no good at those things, and besides, have you seen the encyclopedia???
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Mastodon/Fedi is the social network for people who read the encyclopedia for fun as a kid
@FlockOfCats Back in the day new parents were haunted by pushy salesmen who convinced them that they were neglecting their newborn by not immediately purchasing a set of encyclopedias.
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Mastodon/Fedi is the social network for people who read the encyclopedia for fun as a kid
@FlockOfCats dies world craft count? I think that is what those were
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Mastodon/Fedi is the social network for people who read the encyclopedia for fun as a kid
Guilty.
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@FlockOfCats Oh god. My grandmother had this humungous unabridged dictionary, and I did read it as a kid. Oh god.
@aspeed @FlockOfCats There's a book about the making of that dictionary.
True Color: The Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color—from Azure to Zinc Pink by Kory Stamper
https://pussreboots.com/blog/2026/comments_06/true_color.html
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