0
votes

When Was the Last Time You "Dialed" a Phone Number?

posted August 29, 2006 - 1:20pm
When Was the Last Time You "Dialed" a Phone Number?

I mean, with a rotary dial phone? Not recently, I'd bet, but such terms are still with us. A couple of weeks ago I read a news story about how Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin has been compiling a "mindset list" each year to help remind professors that their students have grown up in a different world, with different assumptions, than the older staff members.

Some of the more interesting items I found in their list for this year's incoming class, the Class of 2010 (you can find the whole list, and one's for previous years, at http://www.beloit.edu/publicaffairs/mindset/ :

* There has never been a Soviet Union, and Germany has always been one country.
* Items from library card to retail goods have always had bar codes on them.
* Reality TV shows have always been on the air.
* Professional athletes have always competed in the Olympics.

Check out the full list list at the link above. What items would you add to it? What other references and phrases do young people find odd and antiquated these days?



Comments

Paranoia

Ken, DUDE.... I think you must have mistaken me for someone else. But if the JAB you are referring to was when I commented about you being a Gadfly and that you were 'RIGHT WHERE WE NEED YOU', you are sorely mistaken. That comment was meant as a statement of appreciation. If you looked up the term Gadfly, as you claim to have done, then you must have read that Gadfly is a term given to someone who flits about keeping the turmoil stirred up. I thought the term very fitting of you. Our gadfly position is one of our most prestigious. I apologize if you are bitter about it. Dragonfly Xomba Moderator

Dragonfly
Xomba Moderator

Yeah I'm probably just

Yeah I'm probably just bitter 'cause someone supposedly a moderator took a jab at me and tried to put me in my place, "right where I belong" or "right where he wants me" or whatever the exact quote was. Always nice to take a jab at dame though, especially when she's not here to CAP about it. "Thank you for driving carefully through the villiage." That's what the sign says.

The Dame

I remember her for her vigorously pro-Israel, anti-Muslim posts, often with generous helpings of all caps. She got into a number of dust-ups in her comments, and when a young Muslim xombie came on board it was inevitable they'd, umm, 'find each other.' They both got booted to the Outer Nether Xombian regions, never seen again, as far as I know. At least one other person was booted, and seemed to return to Xomba briefly as a woman. The 'comment-like turds' phrase made me laugh out loud, but I still don't see the connection with Da Fly, though flitting is certainly something dragonflies are known for.

Damebug is someone who was

Damebug is someone who was kicked off the site for reasons unbeknownst to me, as I was on a short hiatus. Others who were thrown off have subsequently been allowed back through various back doors. She'd more or less flit about leaving meaningless comment-like turds on people's posts and occasionally biting me for various reasons. I found the similarities striking, but I guess its just me. "Thank you for driving carefully through the villiage." That's what the sign says.

Paranoid is right

Who's Damebugg? Did I sound awful? I only meant to compliment someone on a nice article. Just me, Dragonfly

Dragonfly
Xomba Moderator

I'm going to check that

I'm going to check that site. You bring up a good point though, about how easy it is to assume that except for fads, one generation generally thinks the same things as the one before. I'm an older parent with younger kids (we "skipped" a generation"), and sometimes I'm shocked at how out of touch I am with the way they view the world.

Doesn't ring a bell with me

Dragonfly as Damebugg? Hmmm, I don't see it at all. For one thing, D-fly knows how to turn off the caps lock.

Anyone else thinks its awful

Anyone else thinks its awful funny that dragonfly sounds like Damebugg? And I do mean awful. Maybe I'm just paranoid right now. "Thank you for driving carefully through the villiage." That's what the sign says.

As Usual

Nice job Idlewild. I learned something new, the existence of these lists, and I was reminded of something old as well. Very interesting and entertaining. Dragonfly

Dragonfly
Xomba Moderator

What college students know today

Ken, thanks for the comment and the vote. Yeah, I think the list's creators would admit it's not a perfect tool, but just a reminder to faculty of what today's students may and may not be aware of. The list is probably compiled by people in the older generations (older than the students, anyway) so that probably skews it as well. I also changed the link in the xombyte so it goes straight to the 'mindset' list. Originally I had the college's Web address, which was good enough because the study was mentioned on the home page, but it took me some digging to find it this time.

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