The Pojman Pocket Protector Collection
January 28, 2012 12:20 PM   Subscribe

 
I read the last one to the right of the last row as "FINGER'S Beer."
posted by Kitteh at 12:28 PM on January 28, 2012


The fact that there are even 1200 different pocket protectors to collect is astounding.
posted by Sys Rq at 12:58 PM on January 28, 2012


Now that being a nerd is cool, are these cool now? After all, calculator watches are cool in some circles now aren't they?
posted by Ad hominem at 1:05 PM on January 28, 2012


Real men use rugged pocket protectors</a.
posted by twoleftfeet at 1:07 PM on January 28, 2012


As a teenager, I wore both a pocket protector and a slide rule (on my belt). Proudly, not ironically.

I sometimes wonder what happened to that young man.

(Now that I think on it, the pocket protector was an early precursor to the PDA and the smartphone. Here is a single object that was the repository for my pens, scribbled notes, and various detritus. I could pull my pocket protector out, leave it on the dresser, pick it up the next morning, stuff it in my shirt and I was ready to go.

I sometimes suspect that today's hip phone-bearer will look back and say, "Guh! I used to lug that around?!")
posted by SPrintF at 1:19 PM on January 28, 2012 [3 favorites]


Did these ever make it over to the UK? Slide rules, natch, but I'm unaware of any tradition of pocket protectors over here. Like belt-mounted gizmos such as mobile phones (OK, cellphones), it seems very American. (Belt-mounted walkie-talkies, yes, a bit, but mostly with professional users thereof.)
posted by Devonian at 2:03 PM on January 28, 2012


It's strange. I used to walk around with shirt pockets full of different colored Flair pens, mechanical pencils and Rapidographs. I never used a pocket protector. I saw a lot of them but never considered them something I needed. I think there was something wrong with me.
posted by Splunge at 2:59 PM on January 28, 2012


Did these ever make it over to the UK?

I've never seen one in the UK. That said, I'd like the Robitussin one. Just to show how I like to get my pocket protecting drank on.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 3:19 PM on January 28, 2012


chic, le freak.
posted by the_very_hungry_caterpillar at 3:53 PM on January 28, 2012


HAWT!
posted by telstar at 5:07 PM on January 28, 2012


The slogans! "America's One and Only 1 Calorie Cigar." "Allis-Chalmers Nuclear Components Division: Prevent Deliberate Malpractice."
posted by drdanger at 5:15 PM on January 28, 2012


"Like belt-mounted gizmos such as mobile phones (OK, cellphones), it seems very American. "

Wait, where do you carry your mobile phones?
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:17 PM on January 28, 2012


I'm just a little to young to really know about this ("young" being a relative term), but back in the heyday of the pocket protector, shirts were relatively more expensive, stain removal technology was less advanced, and pens were less reliable, and so pocket protectors made a lot of sense. Today, they're an affectation. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
posted by Crabby Appleton at 6:29 PM on January 28, 2012


Today, they're an affectation. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I'm not entirely sure that's true. I've been meaning to order a few pocket protectors so I don't have to transfer my pens one-by-one from shirt to shirt everyday.

The fact that they're vintage and say stuff like "Santa Fe--Practicing Safety Every Day!" and "Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers," well, yeah. That's an affectation.
posted by The Potate at 8:12 PM on January 28, 2012


You can always make your affection permanent with a pocket protector tattoo. (warning: cannot be unseen).
posted by argonauta at 9:26 PM on January 28, 2012


Wait, where do you carry your mobile phones?
In my pocket. Inside jacket pocket if wearing a suit, left pants pocket in jeans or chinos. There are some belt holsters seen around Sydney town, but they tend to be middle age sysadmin types with bluetooth ear pieces always in place and a leatherman clipped on too.
posted by bystander at 9:56 PM on January 28, 2012


In my pocket. Inside jacket pocket if wearing a suit, left pants pocket in jeans or chinos. There are some belt holsters seen around Sydney town, but they tend to be middle age sysadmin types with bluetooth ear pieces always in place and a leatherman clipped on too.

This is an age thing, not a geography thing. If you had a mobile phone in 1992, I bet you'd get some sort of holster for it. They weren't exactly pocket-sized back then.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:46 AM on January 29, 2012


Well, my c.1995 first mobile (a nokia 2110, I think) was pretty big, and did come in a leather pouch with a belt clip. It was pretty bulky. Luckily, I wore suits most of the time in those days, so a jacket pocket was on hand and nobody much called mobiles on the weekend ;-)
posted by bystander at 4:54 PM on January 29, 2012


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