How El Paso & The Rest Of Texas – OK, Everybody – Used To Google

"Googling" stuff or shouting out questions to Siri or Alexa wasn't always the "go to" when it came to learning stuff.

Sometimes you really had to "go to" a place to seek knowledge. Like a library.

The EP library is the oldest in Texas and the downtown branch is loaded with both info and ghosts as you can see in the video above.

Even then, you couldn't just go in and ask your question.

You had to learn a thing called the Dewey Decimal System to locate the book with your answer, then go get it and then, assuming someone else didn't have it, check it out.

If you didn't have a library card, you had to either get one or read the book right there at the library. It was free unless you didn't bring it back on time, then you got fined.

Slightly easier and a bit more similar to google was the information line.

You dialed 411 and asked the operator for whatever info you needed.

On the downside, depending on your question, they could be kinda hit and miss.

In the pager days, and online to this day, people still use 411 to indicate they want info on something. The phone service though recently went away completely.

My own personal Siri back in the day was my cousin. He had a full encyclopedia set so, I'd just call him and, as with Siri or Alexa, ask; "hey bro, which state is the biggest"?

That, then, was the simplest way to get homework done.

Kids today have it sooooooo easy.