Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[hiromichi]

What are they?

-- "not your grandfather's (or grandmother's or father's) something (car, golf ball, outdoor grill)" -- OK, so we get the point. The product is fancier, updated, high-tech -- not something from the buggy-whippy or hippy-dippy eras. Hearing this grandfather clause in commercials is bad enough, but it has even invaded TV news reports about everything from high-tech weapons ("not your grandfather's Marines") to five-bladed razors (you guessed it: It's not grandpa's straight razor.). Shave it!
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Hiromichi

[Mister Micawber]

.
These coined adjectives are used here to refer to particular previous generations of consumers:

Buggy-whippy: the buggy whip was used before automobiles existed; the 1890s and before. (This period is probably exaggeratedly early in your passage; I think a coinage like 'GI-Billy' would have been more appropriate.)

Hippy-dippy: the hippy subculture flourished from the late 1960s into the mid-1980s.
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"I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences." � Gertrude Stein
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Canadian-American who teaches English for a living at Mr Micawber's

[hiromichi]

Mister Micawber: Thank you very much.
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Hiromichi