Think about it.
A few years back ‘a mouse’ was something that scurried around carrying plague. Not something that you would cradle in your hand helping you navigate a screen. A ‘screen’ was something that you adorned a window with.
And a window was something that had to be opened to let in some fresh air, and something that would never ‘hang’. And lets not talk of Gates.
‘Monitors’ were people in school, who looked over you. Not something that came in 14 or 17 inches ( or more. Or less ) that you peered into ! Back then, none of my class monitors were ever ‘flat’! Of course, ‘Printers’ were people who ran a business and a laptop was something to with your leg.
A ‘virus’ was something that infected people. Not machines. And when you meant ‘anti-virus’, you thought of a doctor! Not downloadable software! Those were the times when you could ‘enter’ without hitting any ‘key’. And keys themselves were made of metal.
Of course, ‘backspace’ was about space in the rear of the bus. Geeks were a spelling error, when you wanted to write ‘Greeks’ ! And ‘spellchecker’ at best brought back memories of the dictation test that you flopped in Ms.De Monte’s class.
Do you remember Yahoo? It was a jungle cry. And the closest people came to uttering ‘google’ was when they were either saying ‘gooey’ or ‘ogle’ !
Back then, plastic was looked down upon. Used only in the making of mugs, toys and such peripherals. And by no stretch of imagination, was it a stand-in for money. Money in itself was standing in. For gold that that governments kept! Gold Standard !
And we live in the best of times and in the worst of times. A time when money has moved from the gold standard to plastic. And ‘swiping’ is very much an acceptable mode of payment. ( or should I be saying ‘way of life’) !!
Life indeed has evolved. Don’t you think ?
One of the best posts….
great post !
thanks for sharing,and yest it is a way of life that we have adapted to without any hesitation 🙂
Take care .
Desert Rose
Nice correlation and imagination. Brought me smiles. In fact I used my dad’s dictionary and could not find the word internet.It was published in 1979. 🙂
Language has changes with context. Technically speaking syntacially same but semantically different.
Good thinking as usual and a superb post. Many times I have wondered on those words you have mentioned and have laughed at them. What about Apple, Orange, Text, Chat, Ring?
We are evolving a lot. True.
Our way of life is so different. I remember learning how to type on a TYPEWRITER. Can you imagine? I had to listen very carefully to the little “ding” sound to know I had to return to the next line.
Ahh, so much wonderful technology, but does it bother the beauty of the stars or the setting of the sun? We can enjoy life and it’s advances, but what’s important, truly important, I pray never changes.
Excellent post!
U mean you use ur debit/cr.card in cafeteria for food.
Bad idea isn’t it.
I am a cash person, a rare creature these days..I do not like my bank money being magically (and oh so easily) withdrawn. It is the spending without thinking that bothers me.
Yes, people think I’m “strange” because I use the credit/debit card rarely.
well that way of life has costed this economy plenty lot and people or moreso countries are going back to old standards of gold.
And the monitors of ur class were not Flat? my imagination is running wild?
im guessing u werent in a boys school…lol
oh changes 😛
Good post!! From a slip at the office you can evolve so many thoughts that’s marvelous..
The best use of the plastic is the card, i went to buy a small bucket over the weekend, and was amazed to know that plastic is the costliest item now a days!!
Money is a paper value created in mind.
Thats a lovely post..I love the way each word let to another!! Who would have imagined that the world would be in our palms when we were in our geography classes at school!!
Imagination running wild with today’s reality is all that I can say. Kudos! man, you write well. I need to dig into things unsaid in your post and then I burst out laughing at how your grey matter gets assembled. Its a treat.
Excellent post kavi. Did we ever imagine we would all ‘tweet’ like birds and ‘post’ but not letters?
We have come a long way.
We have really come full circle. The country which gave us plastic, both the material and money form, cell phones, abbreviated english communication, and ran letter writing out of fashion, now presents us with blogging, which is like public letter-writing. And like in every other case, we avidly take to it…..:-)
Yes, swiping meant stealing from others (as in ‘who swiped my purse?’) and now it means debiting from own account. Funny how meanings keep moving ahead with the times.
Great post.
Ujwal :
Thank you !
Luna : Welcome here from Twitter world ! And yes, it is a way of life that we have
adapted without questions !!
Kumaran : Thank you ! And i sincerely believe that language changes with contexts. And
our contexts have changed. And to keep pace with the changing contexts, our language has
to change..phew !!
Hmm. I didnt think of ‘net’ !
And thanks for the tweet on Kavis Musings !
Balaji : Thank you ! And yes..Apple, Orange, Blue, Text, Chat..are all examples. Splendid
examples. Examples that show that things have indeed moved and changed !
Thank you for sharing ! 🙂
Aleta : And yes. I learnt typing on a typewriter with a Ding soound ! And no, the stars
arent bothered one bit. For they have their own orbits and their own life to live. A life
that will far outlive us all !
🙂
Priya : It actually is an access card, that we use at office. And the money deducted for
food and such else, is auto deducted from the salary. So..!
Lou : Cash gives a certain degree of finality to the spend. Doesnt it ? You know whats gone
from the wallet ! With plastic, its only a notional loss. Untill the bill hits you next month
!!
And people can think anything. Its their business !
Rush : ROTFL on your imagination !!! I meant they were heavy folks !!
And the card based living has not only costed the economy. It has changed lifestyles and
put tremendous stress on daily living.
Vishesh : Welcome here. I couldnt have put a more cryptic but apt comment than that !!
🙂
Swatantra : 🙂 Well, the slip at the office let my mind slip quite a bit i guess !! Thank you
!
Hobo : Yes. Money is paper. Plastic is not even paper. Money sticks. Plastic kicks. What say
Sujata : Thank you ! Nor could we have ever imagined a statement like ‘Geography is
History’ !!
NS Iyer : Thank you sir ! Thank you indeed !
Aparna : Thank you ! That was cool. That we could tweet like birds and post into a
machine !! 🙂 Ofcourse ofcourse !
Ugich Konitari : LOL ! Thats true. Indeed. We have taken to it like ducks to water. Or must
i say, bloggers to writing ! Hope you are having a swell time there !
Sucharita : yes. And ‘swiping as a way of life’ is pretty much mainstream right. Ask our
politicians ! 🙂
Thank you !