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04-15-2016, 10:47 PM | #1 | |
The future is unwritten
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 71,105
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Apr 16th, 2016: Roller Skates
In 1971, Melanie sang the double entendre laden…
I've got a brand new pair of roller skates You've got a brand new key I think that we should get together and Try them on to see I been lookin' around awhile You got something for me Oh, I got a brand new pair of roller skates You got a brand new key Everybody understood, because roller skates had been around forever. These 100-year-old skates are the type first made in 1897, and are a rare example of 'Road Rollers', which were hugely popular with London businessmen in Victorian times - who skated to and from work wearing the contraptions. Quote:
Legend has it he introduced his invention by skating into a ballroom playing his violin, but hadn’t figured out the steering and stopping yet. He promptly crashed into a mirror, smashing his violin, and nearly killing himself. Inline skates designed to work like ice skates during periods of warm weather, were invented by Louis Legrange of France in 1849. They had the same problem of being hard to steer and stop In 1863, James L. Plimpton in Massachusetts, patented the forerunner of the modern roller skate. Safer and easier to use than existing versions, which were little more than wheels attached to rigid boards, his "rocker skate" allowed skaters to steer simply by leaning left or right. This quad wheel skate is the type everyone thought of when Melanie sang, although the clamp on skate that used a key was passé by the 1970s. The first inline skate patented in the US was in 1953, by Ernest Kahlert of CA. They were used by Olympic skaters and hockey players for summer training. They weren’t available to the general public until Rollerblades hit the market in 1987. Now, the whippersnappers won’t understand Melanie’s dirty lyrics. link
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04-16-2016, 11:11 AM | #2 |
Junior Master Dwellar
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Northern California
Posts: 2,122
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Great foresight providing built-in splints for the inevitable broken ankles.
The song has always reminded me of the "Confucius say" joke about the boy who loses the key to his girlfriend's apartment. |
04-16-2016, 11:24 AM | #3 |
Person who doesn't update the user title
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 13,002
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My mom's name was Melanie. I had that roller skate song on a 45 when I was a kid. She was named after Melanie from GWTW, but still when I hear that song I get weepy. My mom rocked.
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04-16-2016, 11:37 AM | #4 |
I can hear my ears
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 25,571
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A kid bit me once when I was 5 because I wouldn't let him try my skates. They fit over your shoes and you used the key to tighten them. Metal wheels. One tiny piece of gravel, and down you go.
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This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality Embrace this moment, remember We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion ~MJKeenan |
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