I was talking on the phone with an older gentlemen. He needed to send me a document so I spelled out my email address:
Me: "E-M-A-I-L at gmail dot com."
Him: "E-M-A-I-L-X?"
Me: "No, E-M-A-I-L at gmail..."
Him interrupting me: "L at?"
Me: "Yes. At."
Him (No response)
Me: As in, the at symbol."
Him (No response)
Me: As in, the at symbol."
Him: (Pausing) "...the what symbol?"
Later, he said he would attach a document to an email. When I got the email it said: Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to attach the document. Can I fax it to you? But he had, actually, attached the file.
A few days ago my neighbor asked me what a browser was. I was taken completely aback.
"You mean you don't know? I thought everyone knew. It's imprinted knowledge human babies are born with, like holding their breath underwater."
I've been so amused by the whole ordeal. I find it so odd to realize that such terms haven't really been around that long.
I saw my first browser in 1992 when I worked at the University of Utah Bookstore. I installed Linux and created the computer department webpage for the bookstore. I knew it was new but I have realized that I did both within a year or so of the invention of both. I am such a geezer!!
ReplyDeleteI think that's a geekzer!
ReplyDeleteHa! I call technology illiterate people "muggles".
ReplyDelete