The Word Vintage Has Been Ruined. RANT ALERT

My barn is full of texture. Most everything is from Reedville, and my life as WoodyBoater.

I love..wait, loved the word Vintage. It used to actually mean something. Technically from a specific time. Like, a 1956 Vintage, or its a wonderful 1965 Vintage wine, etc. And you can also simply communicate an aged item by adding vintage. BUT.. And this is where I go off. But shysters have been marketing through search engines the term Vintage as in Aged, or as if its old. And because people are replicating Patina now, and quite well, I might add, you can be fooled.

Love my old flags and hats

And it can cost you. Why? Because it’s new crap that’s mass produced and is in the end crap. Future Junk. BTW, I am sorry if I offend anyone here. But dang! It’s like the fake Statue of Liberty in Las Vegas. And further more ruining the entire joy of patina. I cant even say that word now either without getting pissed off. HEY, I am 60 now, I am finding my fuse is getting shorter and shorter. Forget all the PC crap out there of words that cant be said anymore. Patina and Vintage are more offensive to me personally. Because they are used to lie, cheat and trick people. Sorry Vintage, sorry Patina.. I am going to replace you with my words, my spelling. “PreRestoric” and “Real Old” or Junk!

Stinky is perfect being imperfect, AND REAL!

 

 

21 replies
  1. ScottK
    ScottK says:

    A segment of our society wants that “real” feel. But they are lazy and cheap and want it at WalMart prices.
    The “good-enough” mentality.

    • Mike U
      Mike U says:

      We live in a more ‘instant gratification’ society than ever before. Who sacrifices to save up for a sizable down payment anymore – car or house? Whatever happened to ‘starter’ houses? Nope, go big right off the get go and finance it to the max.

  2. Darthtrader
    Darthtrader says:

    Along the same vein as the word vintage, the heretofore rigorous requirements of “provenance” have fallen victim to creative embellishment. In so many cases instead of showing proof or support for certain claims it becomes lack of evidence to the contrary which becomes the basis for fact.

  3. m-fine
    m-fine says:

    Funny you should bring this up today. I just found some vintage leftovers is the back of the fridge growing a lovely patina.

  4. Greg Lewandowski
    Greg Lewandowski says:

    Wow, I could have guessed you turned 60 from the tone of your story today. Welcome to the Old Varnish Heads club. It’s really sort of fun and doesn’t hurt a bit, even if it does annoy the first mate once in a while!

  5. Bilge Rat
    Bilge Rat says:

    Congrats on joining the “vintage” human club too. I’ve been there a while and although I’m not ready to use an AARP card to receive a 10% discount on a coffee just yet, I am working silently on my personal “patina, pre-restoric, real old, junk” appearance.

  6. tim
    tim says:

    I am a natural contrarian and started to get annoyed by all of this in about 1996 when reading the prices vintage cars were selling for and described as. Being a poor car fanatic, I knew I would never be able to buy such items and over the years got more and more aggravated by talk of monetary value dominating over the talk of the beauty of this or that. I decided in 2000 to ditch these people and their whims and undertake the art of designing and building my own “rare” things. I learned how to use an English wheel, CNC mill and Computer software and I designed a car, electric bicycle, wrist watch and various things like microphones, tube HIFI and guitars. I have been actively designing and building these items for almost 20 years. Sure, it is a crazy amount of work but I could care less how much things sell for or are titled as and I will eventually be the only one who owns my designs. There is something liberating about this endeavor even though it is quite hard and lonely. Woodyboater gives me inspiration to design and build a boat. http://sculptrite.blogspot.com

  7. Joseph A. Ryan
    Joseph A. Ryan says:

    I’s not just vintage, I read an article where someone purchased NGK spark plugs through Amazon and they were third world counterfeits. They called NGK and they admitted was a serious problem.

  8. Wesley Emmanuel
    Wesley Emmanuel says:

    How about “rare?” I bet 25% of all eBay listings include the word rare. “Rare 1974 whatever. 1 of 3,589,657 produced.”

  9. Dick Dow
    Dick Dow says:

    What’s important is knowing the difference – I will still use the terms “vintage” and “patina” when referring to the real deal – and “fake” when it is. Like anything in life – it only counts when it’s true.

    • Wilson
      Wilson says:

      Me too and wait until Matt, like some of the rest of us, gets closer to 90. Guess I won’t be around to see that..

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