Recently, not long after burning myself grabbing a still-hot pot and then applying burn ointment onto my fingers, I had occasion to use my wife's laptop. When she saw I had a paper towel nearby and asked me why, I responded - "Because after I finish typing, I'm going to wipe down your mouse." As soon as that sentence left my mouth, I felt myself step into a virtual time machine.
Because, although most everyone in 2021 would understand my response, how far back in time would we have to travel for someone to instead say "huh?" "Wipe down your mouse?" How many other statements that we routinely utter these days would befuddle a listener just a few decades back? How about ..
"Has anyone seen my cell? Or ..
"What was the name of that app you told me about yesterday?" Or ..
"Google it, will you please? Why are you wasting time trying to remember?" Or..
"Text the directions to me. My GPS is offline."
Chime in here with a phrase or two that you guess might make a listener circa 1990 scratch their head.
My laptop is down. I'll boot it up for the Zoom.
ReplyDeleteI love this! Thanks for being the first to contribute.
DeleteNot my forte to have good actual questions, but here are some thoughts:
ReplyDelete1. Did Wikipedia exist back then?
2. Ask Siri....
3. Alexa do this or that....
I only use #1 but know many who use #2 & 3......Including physical therapy for #3. LOL!
Ines; Although my first three examples in the post are in the form of questions, I wasn't necessarily looking for others to use that format. And you came up with three other post-1990 technology phenomena that clearly hit the mark. So, imagine someone in 1990 saying something "Alexa, please look up the capital of South Sudan in Wikipedia because Siri didn't give me an adequate answer." Ha! Not only would the 1990 listener scratch their head for the three technology references, they also wouldn't be able to find the country called South Sudan in an Atlas.
DeleteGood morning, Pat. While I'm trying to think of some to add to those already suggested/mentioned, I have to make note of what else this brings to mind. As I've mentioned previously, I get to watch my grandsons on occasion. Not as often as this 'Pop Pop' would like, but ...
ReplyDeleteWhat I find that amazes me is how effortlessly these 5 year old twins work today's 'toys'. They think nothing of asking Mom or Dad, or me, if they can use their tablets. Then they go to the various learning/teaching apps to do whatever schoolwork was assigned to them ... in Kindergarten!! When I was in kindergarten the biggest issue we faced was how large a wall to build in the block corner. Now, kids will fall behind if they're learning the newest technological advancements. And it's amazing what my 8 year old grandson is learning .. in 3rd grade !!! I'm getting more and more used to doing things, and I can be a bit of a nerd/geek about it - getting excited whenever there's a software update for my iMac or iPhone.
Your blog also works in reverse. How many sayings from us, our parents, or even our grandparents would our children find confusing? I was reading a comic in the newspaper - that I now read on my tablet rather than holding an actual news paper (I miss that sometimes) - where a father was saying that he didn't want to 'sound like a broken record'. The look of bewilderment on the young kids faces was very funny.
Be well,
Bob
Bob; Thanks for the comment. Intriguing what you said in your final paragraph because I did write a post about exactly that subject several years back. Having now published almost 2,100 posts, it's not always easy to locate a specific one unless there is a unique keyword that I can recall using in a post that might aid in the search. But, I plan to scour my memory and if I'm able to remember and then locate that post, I'll send you the link.
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