Before we start, first imagine this scene in your mind. It’s 1965, a Tuesday morning. The teacher walks down the aisle, and she is placing a face-down sheet of paper on everyone’s desk.
Yes, you are right. It is a pop quiz. What terrible news, right?
But before anyone flips the paper over and reads the first question, there was a tradition. We lifted the paper to our faces, eyes closed, and took a deep, long inhale.
Now you can remember the sweet, intoxicating, chemical scent of fresh spirit fluid that comes from the pop quiz papers.
It fills your nose and gives you a dizzying moment. This literally gave us a fresh start before answering the first question.
Actually, we had no idea what was in that fluid. I think it’s methanol and spirits. But we didn’t even care much.
We just knew the scent was fresh and the ink was still wet.
So, let’s talk about that awesome memory.
The Collective “Sniff” Ritual
We didn’t pan to inhale the paper. It was just pure instinct. Noone told us to do that. But we used to it.
It was basically a Pavlovian response. As soon as that purple text hit the desk, our hands moved automatically.
Then, if you stood at the front of the room, it looked like a synchronized swimming routine.
The funny part is that thirty heads bowing down, thirty sheets of paper coming up, and then that collective sound: Ahhhhhh. Lol. Funny right?
All the teachers knew they had nothing to do about it. becasue we used to it, as I said.
Some rookie teachers told us to settle down and look at the papers. But the veteran teachers just stood there with their arms crossed and waited till out great ritual to finish.
What a moment, right?
Veteran teachers knew they must give us 5 second break before starting the exam to get the sniffing out of our systems before they could actually teach the lesson. hahaha.
You’re gonna love this one, actually, it was the only time in history that children were excited to receive a worksheet.
I remember, I didn’t even care about multiplication tables on the page. I just wanted to feel the moment of sensory bliss before the chemical evaporated. What a lovely moment!
The Cold, Wet Feeling
The pop quiz paper was not just smelly, it was cold. I think that’s because the machine used a liquid spirit fluid. The copies came out damp and heavy.
I remember holding a fresh pop quiz paper was like holding a lettuce leaf right out of the ridge.
Once the fluid evaporated, which only took a few minutes, the paper felt like icy aganist your fingertips.
But most importantly, its dampness came with a price. You should not touch the ink area before it dries. Otherwise, you were cooked.
The purple ink have high tendency to smear instantly across the page. Just like a watercolor painting.
Hope you can remember the 4th and 5th questions were super blurry and had purple blobs because the teacher cranked them out too fast! How sad!
Hold on. Your hands? They were super purple and had the shade of “Barney Purple” for the rest of the day.
Why Was It Always Purple?
We have seen carbon masters come in different colors, right? Some are red, green. But have you ever thought why, 99% of the time, it was just vibrant purple?
Let me tell you the reason. Because it was super cheap, and purple was the color of our education. Lol.
But there was a disadvantage to the Purple. The ink had a lifespan.
Yes, as you can remember, the first 10 copies that came out ofthe machine were dark, wet, and beautiful. Students who got those papers were lucky.
But by the time the teacher cracked out the 50th or 60th copy? Yes, you needed a 3th extra eye to read them. They were super blurry.
We all remember the history test. Words were so faint, and many were partially invisible.
Simply, the letter “e” looked like an “o”, and the maps were basically clouds. Funny right!
Back in the day, teachers tried to squeeze every last drop of life out of those master sheets to save money. They saved so much money, and finally 50th copy was just a blank piece of paper with no ink. hahaha.
Students who sat in the front row got the crisp copy.
But students like me who sat in the back always had to guess the answers based on the blurry blob shapes. How sad. Sad life. Finally, no marks. Lol.
The Sound of the Crank
Before electric copies came to the world, making a test paper was like a workout.
The machine was in the teacher’s lounge or in a corner of the classroom. It was called the Spirit Dupilicator.
It was noisy. It had a rhythm. Whish… thump. Whish… thump. Just like that.
You could hear the drum spinning sound like a washing machine and the paper sliding sound through the rollers.
The funny part is, when the teacher was super angry or in a hurry, the tempo increased, and the handle would spin furiously. The papers flew into the tray super fast.
It was an honor to lend a hand with the working of this machine. The teacher picked you to turn the crank.
We watched the counter tick up, and we knew our hands were about to turn blue for a week. Best days ever.
Then, eventually, the photocopy machine came onto the stage. The paper started to come out dry, hot, crisp, and black. But unfortunately, it didn’t have our favourite smell.
It smelled of nothing. Once the Xerox machine came into play, the magic vanished.
Yes, schools became efficinet but the fun was gone.
Let us know how you felt when you lifted up that pop quiz paper and smelled it. Tell us your memories…. We love to hear.