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We don’t really notice how fast time goes by. But this time, we are taking you on a trip to the past that shows how our households have changed beyond recognition since the '70s.

And trust me, in most cases, it’s for the better. Take a chip pan, for example—these crazy fire agents that produced the best chips on the planet your mom can probably still taste in her mouth would keep homes on the brink of tragedy, and yet people adored them.

Thanks to the Memorial Device Twitter page that shared this illuminating guide, we now have the full list of the 40 greatest '70s household dangers all posted in order. Both nostalgic and utterly terrifying, they make you wonder whether people back then had less of a sense of health and safety. Or if it’s us who live in an overly protective mindset. Anyhow, I prefer the latter one.

#1

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Andrew Gibb
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My mum set the kitchen on fire using one of these- we first saw the flames through the serving hatch into the dining room. Luckily the local Fire Chief and his son, a fireman lived next door to us.

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#2

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Nannychachi
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Making the opening smaller results in a quicker draw on the coals which gives a quicker hot fire.

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#3

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Boudica
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Me too, and it is one from the 1980's that used to belong to my mum and dad - exactly the same as this one

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Natalia A
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I used to use this all the time in my parents' shop when I wasn't even a teenager yet. I feel the need to defend it because it would take a lot of stupid to injure yourself with it!

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Neil Bidle
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ideal for carving meat and cutting unsliced bread, useless people being in charge of anything is a problem, don't blame the item when the tool using it is the problem

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Bob Stuart
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When these first came out, they had been carefully engineered to be silent. People couldn't tell they were running, and tested the edge with a finger, as they would with a regular knife. Noise was quickly put back in. These things are superb for carving foam rubber - that's why I have one.

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Night Owl
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hopefully they learned to never again underestimate people's stupidity

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mom24boys
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've got two and have used them for the last 30 years. The issue isn't the electric knife, it is if a drunk is using it.

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Nikki Sevven
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have my mom's and still use it. However, I also use a carving fork so my hands aren't anywhere near the blade. (It also works great at slicing crusty bread.)

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mcborge1
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I actually have that same one! My grandma gave it to me years ago and she had already had it since the early 80's I think. Anyway it's still in full working order and perfect for slicing big cuts of meat.

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Vicky Z
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That is actually very useful! We used to have and it was really good with no accidents! I guess it depends on the brand

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Justacrow
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I guess this one is less eventful for families who don't drink, LOL Never had issues like this

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Kathrin
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i still have the one from my parents. it's the best and nothing ever happened

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Debbie Diskey
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My mom still has hers. She was so happy when dad bought it for her for Christmas. When you're raising four daughters even a ten-dollar item was the height of extravagance

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CincyReds
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

WE had one as kid, my dad used it all the time! Never cut finger off

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Leesa DeAndrea
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Electric carving knives are still a thing. I don't understand this post. It's just a tool like any tool.

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Jennifer Johnson
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

it was either thanksgiving or christmas. My mom was using this to cut a turkey. It slipped, while still on, and she tried to catch it. Our kitchen had blood on the walls, no turkey, a scared large room of family and friends, and mom ( a nurse) just wrapping her hand and getting my dad to drive her to the ER. My mom is a trooper

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Carole Strawn
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wait...I still have one of those. I use it to slice homemade bread.

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Johanne Trudeau
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They were good for the time, but I have better knives now and only keep mine for nostalgia purposes... Will eventually get rid of it someday in a garage sale...

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Kimberly Greenock
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My grandfather, my dad, and now my brother all had one of these. Well my grandfather and dad had the original and now my brother has the modern one. Smh

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Printerman
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I still use the one my wife's parents had. That said, I don't start drinking until *after* the carving.

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Pat Bond
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ha ha ha, my mum has the exact same one, boxed in a cupboard. Comes out once a year.

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Hannah Edwards
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Reminds me of Rocky Horror when Dr Frankenfurter is carving Eddie.

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GoneCrazy
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I still have mine and use it. Although not as much as we used to because we have the ceramic knives now.

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IlovemydogShilo
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We had one of these. Only my dad used it for carving the Sunday roast.

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F. H.
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have exactly the same one from my granny, even in the packaging. It's not dangerous at all, works like a charm.

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VeryDarkMatter
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think we had exactly that one in the picture.. still hearing the sound .. hrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr 😆

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Terry Tobias
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can still hear the sound of my mom's knife from every Thanksgiving we had while I was growing up.

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Momma Jess
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A few years ago I had one and used it for crafting stuff, lol

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James016
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have on of these, I still use it and it looks like it's from the 70s. Hand me down from my parents

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Serbob
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I got one years ago as a wedding gift. Never used it on food. It instantly got relegated to the craft room to cut foam.

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Donkey boi
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My mum gave me her old one back in in the 90's, that thing was about 30yrs old when it broke a few months ago. Those things would cut through the chopping board!

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DC
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Grandma had THAT exact one. Disappointing at best - the knife operated so slow I thought the batteries were dead, changed them, and then got to know that they were just new already, and it still worked annoyingly slow.

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Hugh Cookson
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Horrid thing, not a carving knife, more like a macerating knife !!!

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3ke
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I see these and think trashy tool for some reason. Never had 1 growing up in the 90s.

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Bored Panda reached out to the authors behind the Memorial Device Twitter page who shared this viral thread which listed 40 dangerous things that were casually used in ’70s households. Introducing themselves as “a band from Airdrie,” a town in Scotland, the creators said that their account was inspired “100% by the book ‘This is Memorial Device’ by the genius Scottish author, David Keenan.” They added that “You will have to read the book to really understand the account.”

#5

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Here's the bizarre video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQcGIZioqQE&t=4s&ab_channel=FunFinder

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Robert T
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My grandma had a manual mangle (wringer). Before the advent of washing machines with a decent spin cycle, my mum had a spinner, which was basically a small washing machine drum mounted vertically and it did a better spin to get more water out.

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When asked how they came up with an idea to create the guide to all the miscellaneous stuff from the past, the creators said that it’s just one of many countdown lists on the “Memorial Device” account. “But it’s the one that most people seem to identify with,” they said and added that it may be because it’s “Proper working-class history.”

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Donkey boi
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I nicked the red bulbs out of our and used then in my bedroom light fitting. The whole street thought my parents had started a brothel.

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#9

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DC
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I used one of these in 2014, 2015 in Berlin, because I couldn't afford a decent place to be ... so I lived in the basement of a guy who was too old (>90) to take out the trashy and broken furniture.

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We also asked if they can imagine anyone living with some of these crazy household objects these days, the authors said that they in fact experienced “the bathroom ceiling heater in Whitby last week. Switched it on—nothing happened. Came back later and it was glowing hotter than the sun. And it was fitted above the bath.”

The band added that they’re “Big fans of the coal effect fire and the immersion heater, along with the working-class shower,” and found “drawing the fire as total madness.” “As is buying a full-size crossbow from the Kays catalogue on HP,” the Memorial Device concluded.

#10

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Laura Jones
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

they gave out fantastic heat but the gas bottles when full were so heavy and it gradually went up in price to a ridiculous level

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#15

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Natalia A
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People are so overly cautious. Unless you put your fingers in there (and you'd have to be stupid to do that), what would go wrong?!

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#19

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Redfox
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had these. Whacked myself in the nose so hard I thought my nose had gone to the other side of my head. I obviously did not learn co-ordination nor skill.

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#22

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DC
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That wasn't really frowned upon until the nineties. All my friends' parents, mine, and basically every adult we knew smoked in his house, his car, everywhere. Children's rooms ... not that often, but sometimes, too.

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#25

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Rain WhiteBuffalo
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

OMG I miss these shoes. I want a pair right now!! I remember having a pair in every color they offered (tan, white, navy and black). I loved these!!!

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#34

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Dhukath
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Worst when your foot can off and the whole thing sprang up and smacked you under the chin!

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#36

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WilvanderHeijden
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Only in dysfunctional families would these be used a lethal weapon. The rest of the world used them to throw them at dartboards.

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#39

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Natalia A
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We do this in Cyprus for new year's. You clean the coin, wrap it in foil and drop it in the cake batter. Everyone knows it's there so they're careful:)

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#40

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M O'Connell
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Leaving a battery on an unregulated charger is something a moron would do. 1970s or otherwise.

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