Legos are fun, but I never had any growing up.
My construction materials were Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, Playmate Building Blocks, and some other kind of building block that I can’t remember. Maybe other Boomers will remember. They were white blocks about 3/4 inch long with two squares on top for connecting.
Lincoln Logs were invented by the son of Frank Lloyd Wright and included instruction on how to build Lincoln’s Cabin.
Tinkertoys were invented after a stonemason saw kids being totally entertained by building things with pencils and spools of thread. LEGOs were invented by Ole Kirk Christiansen, a master carpenter who lived in Denmark. The word comes from the Danish words LEg and GOdt, which together means “play well.” They later discovered that in Latin, Lego means “I put together.”
Lego my Ergo.
Usually my construction project was a combination of Logs, Tinkers, and blocks because I wouldn’t put away my toys and pieces disappeared over time.
Unlike Wes, I didn’t bother to keep a list of all the toys I had. My toys were also from the ’50’s and had not reached the same sophistication as the Whammo Astro-Ray Gun.
But the world is now Lego nuts. Everywhere I turn I see Lego!
Forget the giant Lego buildings, I presume you have seen them everywhere too. And Lego people are everywhere including Lego people involved in adult adventures.
Lego replicas of every icon have been constructed: Star Cruiser, Batmobile, Death Star, Indiana Jones, full size Ferrari Formula 1 car, and on and on and on.
But have you seen or heard about…
Lego business cards? very cute.
Lego difference calculator? … a difference engine is able to solve mathematical problems (2nd/3rd-order polynomials) and calculate the answers to 3 or 4 digits.
BTW: these machines all are functional! This is nuts! The coolest thing I ever made were ramps to shove plastic model cars over to crash into the invading army of toy soldiers. Having pieces fly all over the place was part of the fun. How much fun would it be to turn on a Lego Air Conditioner, sit down at the Lego Difference Calculator to work out a pattern for the Lego Knitting Machine?
The world has gone Lego Nutso.
Here’s another nutso idea: selling toy forts made out of cardboard boxes for $50.
I’m just mad because I didn’t think of it. Or Legos.
Lego my Ergo.
Hee. Love that.
I had logs, tinker toys, and blocks too, but I also had an Erector set which was the coolest of all – metal girders, pullies and gears – now that was high tech. Today’s Brio wooden girders just aren’t the same.
Catch Her In the Wry…also wrote this…Who’s Shermy and why does he show up once a week at our house?
An Erector set, hee. The jokes just write themselves.
You should see So Cal — in addition to Lego Land in Carlsbad (San Diego County), Downtown Disney, the shopping district near D-Land, has an entire Lego store. It’s nuts.
Gretchen…also wrote this…The Hounds Of Guilt.
@Cather Her In The Wry: Erector Set! Of course I had an erector set. How could I forget? But all those little nuts and bolts! I agree, coolest of all.
@Gretchen: Yeah, it’s world-wide! DWorld has a Lego area – or did the last time we were there. Seems that having all these complicated Lego structures would freak a kid out if he just had a few hundred pieces.
GoingLikeSixty…also wrote this…A Boomer’s Life Before Legos