A list of things Steve Rogers would historically be unfamiliar with:

ohsweetcrepes:

ardentlythieving:

buckobarns:

buckobarns:

buckobarns:

I fell down a rabbit hole of research about inventions circa the 40s and was surprised by a bunch of things that have been around way longer than I thought and some that are strangely reccent, and compiled them into a list. Aka, a resource for fic writers.

• Bananas (or rather, the ones we have today. The ones he’d be accustomed to, the Gros Michel, a sweeter, creamier species, went extinct in the 50s and was replaced with the bland Cavendish banana.)
• High-fives (the low-five was actually invented first, around WW2, and he may have been familiar with that)
• Buffalo Wings (invented in the 60s)
• CPR (not really used until the late 40s, not widely known until the 50s)
• Tiramisu (invented in the 80s)
• Big Macs & McNuggets (while McDonald’s was founded in 1940, the former wasn’t introduced until the 60s, and the latter, the 80s)
• Seat belts (the first car to have one was in the late 40s, and only became mandatory to wear them in the 80s. holy shit.) 
• Walmart (invented in 1962. Or really, the large-scale supermarkets as we know them today really)
• Yellow tennis balls (prior to the 70s they were usually black or white)
• Panadol (first sold in the US in the 50s)
• The smiley face aka 🙂 (popularised in the 60s)

Now alternatively, here’s a list of things Steve WOULD (or possibly would) be familiar with:

I’m not sure why some of these surprised me.

• Modern Sunglasses (have been around a lot longer than I thought, and were mass produced in the 20s)
• Nokia (was first founded in 1865. I’m not kidding. They began as a pulp mill and moved into making rubber respirators for military from the 30s onwards)
• Nintendo (been around since 1889 as a toy company, during the 40s they made playing cards. Wouldn’t be implausible that he knew about Nintendo, perhaps from Morita)
• Krispy Kreme (opened in 1937, didn’t spread widely until the 50s however)
• Kool-Aid (introduced in the 30s)
• Oreos (introduced in 1912)
• Printed/graphic tees (didn’t become a trend until the 60s-70s, but they certainly existed in the 40s)
• Hoodies (originated in the 30s, worn by workers in cold New York warehouses. Meaning, it’s entirely plausible Bucky could’ve been wearing hoodies in the 40s)
• Malls (they weren’t called that back then, but they certainly had shopping centres or plazas since the 1800s)
• Converse sneakers (invented in 1908 and have barely changed since!)

I didn’t expect anyone to really reblog this wow! Here’s a couple more things to add to the list:

Would not have known about:

• Velcro (patented in 1951)
• Modern Sunscreen (in 1944 they had ‘Red Vet Pet’, used by soldiers it was described as a “disagreeable red, sticky substance similar to petroleum jelly”)
• Bubble Wrap (1957)
• Slinkies (Not sold until 1947)
• Microwave oven (invented just a year after he went under)
• Frisbees (invented in 1948)
• Acrylic paint (not sold commercially until the 50s)
• Roller blades (1979)

Would have likely known about:

• Reeses’s Peanut Butter Cups (introduced in 1928)
• Mountain Dew (introduced in 1940)
• Twinkies (1930)
• M&M’s (1941)
• Lay’s Potato Chips (1932)
• Tootsie Pops (1931)
• Levi’s Jeans (been around since the 1850s!)
• Duct Tape (been around since the early 1900′s, at this time it was called duck tape)
• 3-D movies (the first 3-D movie with the red/blue glasses was in 1922!)
• Monopoly (1935)
• Nescafe coffee (1938)

Coming back to this because I found out a few more!

More things he would likely not be familiar with:

• Butter chicken (1950s)
• Wireless TV remote (invented 1955)
• Superglue (not sold until 1958)
• Saran wrap (1949. ok and cool fact, the name Saran comes from the combined names of the creators cat and dog, Sarah and Ann!)
• Colour TV (invented in his time, but not broadcasted until the 50s)  

Things he would possibly/likely be familiar with:

• Electric guitars (invented 1931)
• Electric washing machines (as early as 1904. They look nothing like they do now though and I doubt he owned one.)
• Laundromats (since the 30s or earlier)
• Electric razors (produced in 1937)
• Air conditioner (invented in 1902)
• Pop up toaster (1919)
• Robots (in 1928 the humanoid robot Eric was created. Funnily enough during Steve’s time the word ‘robot’ was pronounced as ‘row-boat’) 
• Pez candy (1927)

@radio-charlie

… omg i didn’t know steve’s bouncy frisbee of death predated actual frisbees I’M SO DELIGHTED RN