backward about being forward

expression, behind the times

“You mentioned the first television. Do you remember what year it would have been that you would have gotten it?”
“Oh, we were kind of backward about being forward. Would have been in the sixties, eh.”

“I remember being down in the Village with Len, and he said to Sarah – she wasn’t backward about being forward, you know. I was in the store, and I remember Len saying, ‘I’ll give you a quarter if you kiss him’. Well, she took after me and … I got straightaway for the door, and I got out and got in the car, got the doors locked. I don’t know if he give her the quarter or not, I was awful backward about being forward anyway.”