The French Journalist and Novelist Jean-Baptiste Alphonse is credited with the quote. “The more things change the more they remain the same.”  

TIMES ARE DEFINITELY CHANGING

The language of technology.

The language of technology.

I thought about this recently and found myself asking myself.   “really?” Would he have felt the same, if he had lived one hundred years later, and encountered the world of technology, computers, and digital communication?

This is an  expose’ of me and the new digital age. Hope it makes you smile.

I recently had my first experience of learning the simple rudiments of pointing a domain name to a company server. It got me to thinking.
Once upon a time, I thought that pointing automatically involved an index finger.  I guess the basic action is the same as in showing one the way to go to reach a particular destination, but index fingers are not exclusive in this action, in the world of technology, unless you are a one finger typer.

So I pondered some of the new lingo,  that once meant something completely different to me, and how my aged brain has to reset itself to think in this digital age. Having been very much bred in a completely different time and space, the tendency to reflect is somewhat automatic even though at a subconscious level.

The world is moving on. If you want to keeppace, Click here. and then HERE

WORDS BEAR NEW MEANING

A domain does not necessarily have a King. Actually if you look at it from a different perspective, anyone can become a “king” by purchasing a domain for a few measly bucks.

Back in the day, ”servers” were what we called the ladies dressed in all white from head to toe, who served lunch at school. Now servers can distribute so much more than food, and has no name or face to identify them.

 

A fan was not always a person.

A fan was not always a person.

Many of you know Tina Turner. Some of you may know that she recently got married, and may be aware that one of the highlights of her lavish wedding was these beautiful black and white fans. I have owned a few fans in my day, but the word is now more often used to represent a person or more accurately a personal profile who likes something about you, or simply wants to hear what you have to say.

Yes, “Fans” have nothing to do with being hot in a crowded church anymore,.

Sharing doesn’t necessarily mean dividing up your food or fruits, or nuts between you and your cousins, as I remember it. Now the whole world can have access to what you share equally, without reducing the content. As a matter of fact, in the new technological age, the more you share, the more power your original content gains.

Once upon a time, a cell was a semi-private dwelling at the expense of the government .  Now  anyone anywhere in the world can have a “cell” without even committing a crime.

As a child, the word ghost sent almost all little children into fits of fear. Somehow it was about dead people in transparent white that came out when we were asleep. Now anyone can be a ghost, albeit “ghost writer”, by having some practical writing skills, and using them to their advantage. I will never again think of ghost in a scary manner, but rather as an opportunity to work behind the scenes.

I used to think that, you only capture people who were on the run. Escaped prisoners, etc. Now you invite people to your online residence, they willfully accept, but you feel the need to try and capture them anyway. What a brilliant concept!! No one expects to be captured voluntarily. It is almost funny, when you think about it.

It reminds me of building “fly traps” as a kid. Not to capture flies, but birds.

Who told me that an application was associated with a future job? Maybe no one did, but from experience, that was all it meant.  Now applications are so prevalent, and so taken for granted, that no one bothers to call them by their long name. There is an app for everything under the sun.

If you ever thought that paper mail was annoying? Try dealing with the same electronic -mail showing up in 3 different places. Everyone seems to think that you need to see the same thing twice or thrice. They send a copy that is in their system to a regular e-mail just to make sure that you don’t miss it. (as if that is possible). There is a difference between not seeing, and not wanting to see. Some things in this new digital world can be so efficient that they are somewhat annoying.

SOME EXPERIENCES ARE LOST FOREVER

Electronic mail boxes are like colons. If you don’t keep them flowing out as fast as they go in, pretty soon constipation sets in, and the longer they stay, the harder it becomes to deal with. I have one mailbox that I totally gave up on. Even though most mail goes directly to trash, when you have 10.000 unread messages, it becomes pretty much a lost cause. Good thing you can create as many of them as you want.

When I was growing up, “mail-boxes” didn’t even exist. The postman (not “mail-man”) dropped the mail in the open window, which was always open because there was no reason to close it, and a fresh breeze was always welcome in almost-constant ninety degree weather.

Which reminds me, “windows” were those same things that you had to shine a few times a year, and had no relation to operating systems, because operations were done at the hospital.

What does the word “bite” mean to you? (Now we spell it “byte”) . In my pre-tech world, a bite usually involved some kind of insect. A “red ants” bite was not the same as a “black ant bite” and stinging ants were a complete horror, if only for a short while, till you could get a piece of onion to rub on it. And even though a centipede does not technically bite, every one lived in fear of encountering one of these creatures especially during the rainy season . God forbid, if these bites came in mega-bytes, and gigabytes.

Decades ago, if I heard back –up, the vision of a car reversing came to mind. Now servers back-up my data, and there is not even a beep-beep associated with it.

Youtube, my tube, our tube, inner tube

Youtube, my tube, our tube, inner tube

Here is a pleasant memory!!  “You tube” in this age, is a part of everyone’s vocabulary. For me, when I hear tube, I think of an inner tube. Remember when car tires came with an inner lining, which was filled with air ? We called them inner-tubes.

A patched up, formerly discarded inner tube, filled with air could be a joy in the clear Caribbean sea on a crowded beach on a given Sunday, or summer vacation, or whenever. Memories of these devices in the sea, and the fun we had should be on “Youtube”.

Talking about car tires!! “Alignment” was always preceded by the word wheel. The only alignment I knew of was a wheel alignment on your car. Now, I can align, left, align right, or just dead center with no hoisting or special heavy duty equipment.

Now, who here has not ever caught a virus, or a bug?  If you have, and I believe you know what I am saying, you could not help but know it. Your throat told you, your ears told you, and before long your whole body was involved. Now, people can spread viruses with a few clicks of a mouse, and they can be hard to detect and just as challenging to get rid of.

You know those “Arrow keys”  on your computer? The word arrow sometimes conjure up memories of those poor birds who died at the hands of endless “bow and arrows” we made as kids. It was  for no other reason than recreation, or competition, to see who could make the more efficient ones and whose could shoot the farthest. .

Talking about birds!!.  A tweet used to be what birds did. The tweets were the sweetest when there was the sweet scent of ripened, mangoes or papayas, and they were really happy delving into ripened fruit. Now humans tweet more than birds, funny thing is they don’t even have to open their mouth to do it, And unfortunately, not always when they are happy.

This is a brand new world, and we baby boomers, got to know the old world as intimately as many of us are embracing the new one.

What about you?  Does any of the technological vocabulary bring back memories for you? Share something with us in the comments below.

And to make sure that you don’t get left behind in the world of technology. Sign up for your own e-book business and earn as these trends continue. This is so cheap, it is as easy as clicking “SEND” on your keyboard. SIGN UP.

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