From Dear Reader, by Paul Fournel. A young intern explains to a wizened editorial hack how to use an e-reader.
“How do I go to the next page?”
“You turn pages by sliding the corner on the bottom.”
“Like a book?”
“Yep, that’s the prehistoric side of it. A sop for seniors. When people have forgotten about books they’ll wonder why it works that way. Vertical makes more sense. Scrolling down would be more logical.”
“Jack Kerouac will be pleased.”
She doesn’t get it.
The implication being, of course, that you, the dear reader of Dear Reader, will get it. Incidentally, Dear Reader is available on Kindle.
PS: And of course, I’m assuming that you, dear plougher through the Cultural Snow, will also get it.
PPS: On similar lines, I overheard this earlier today in a charity shop. A mature lady spotted a set of wireless headphones and asked the friendly, helpful 20-something on the till to explain.
“So I can put them on my head... and there are no wires?”
“Yes, you just put them on, and they connect to your phone.”
"My phone? Why would I connect them to my phone?”
1 comment:
Virgil or Ovid would be even more pleased than Kerouac, but the hack obviously wasn't that wizened.
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