The P ublisher Po stulates
Communicating with
34 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
Publisher / Editor
Today’s Youth
By Aaron R. Fodiman
My first cell phone in the 1970s let me know that times were changing because to make a call,
I had to press a button that said, “SND.”
MARC MENCHER
A s a writer, words are my stock
and trade, which gets me into
trouble when communicating
with those under 30 years of age.
I am beginning to become aware that a
term such as “stock and trade,” relating to
business, has no meaning for that group.
They have never used a dial telephone,
a typewriter or a fountain pen. If I were
to say to one of them, “Don’t touch that
dial,” they would not know what I meant
anymore than if I asked them to bring me a
piece of carbon paper. They have probably
never heard of a jalopy and don’t know
what I mean when I say everything is
hunky-dory.
I understand that they don’t know about
wearing knickers, spats or white bucks,
and I forget that they have no sense of what
it means to sound like a broken record. If
I tell them everything is “swell,” it’s as
meaningless as referring to the old radio
and television program when I say, “I’m
living the life of Riley.”
Edwin Land thought he had changed
photography forever with his Polaroid
cameras that used film that didn’t use
a negative, not that anyone remembers
what a negative is anymore now that
everything is digital. Film negatives are
another forgotten term.
I have no idea what to call hairstyles, as I
no longer see a beehive or a D.A. (ducktail
like Elvis) like I did when I was their age. I
wonder if they have ever tried to remember
what a “whatchamacallit” is. There are so
many words and phrases I know that they
have probably never heard. I find myself
wondering if I am as clueless about some
of the words and phrases that they use to
communicate with each other. I have finally
figured out what “hooking up” means,
even though we had a wide variety of
different phrases for that such as “scoring”
or at least getting to “second base.”
Cassettes and floppy disks are some
of my high-tech terms that confuse the
younger set. I don’t think of myself as
outmoded, but obviously I am, as many
words that I have used to communicate
with others during my lifetime have
become antiquated or simply undergone a
verbal change, such as sneakers, dungarees
and pedal pushers (tennis shoes, jeans,
capri pants). My guess is that if I said,
“Four on the floor,” even young car buffs
might think of a fraternity party, rather
than a transmission term. Which reminds
me that most of today’s youth have never
drunk fruity “purple passion,” while I
don’t know what a “growler” is (craft beer
container).
I am the only person I know who has a
Rolodex on his desk for organizing phone
numbers. How about maps? Do they still
sell them? If they do, can I get them for
green stamps? I fear that I am becoming
obsolete. Now isn’t that a fine kettle of fish?
Maybe it is just as well that I don’t
understand this new generation and that
they don’t understand me. But I’ll have
the last laugh in 50 years when the next
generation has no idea what the internet
was and wonders what in the word was
a Facebook. 9