Check the drive

         There is no question that we senior citizens have seen many, many dramatic changes in our lifetime.  From cars to planes to kitchen appliances to television to houses to air conditioning and on and on, almost everything has been touched by change in our lifetimes.  But one of the biggest changes is that of technology. Most young folks today know little or nothing about party lines or telegraphs or crystal radios or silent movies or even black and white television.  Technology has changed our lives dramatically.
         And with the changes in technology has come a new vocabulary.  Many words and phrases now have completely new meanings.  Recently I came upon a poem written by Lisa Deutsch which shares some of these changes.  I thought maybe you would enjoy it.  Of course, if you are under 30 you might not understand it.  But here goes.

A computer was something on TV, 

from a science fiction show of note. 

A window was something you hated to clean, and

ram was the cousin of a goat. 

Meg was the name of my girlfriend, 

and a gig was job for the night. 

Now they all mean different things, 

and that really mega bytes.

An application was for employment. 

A program was a TV show. 

A cursor used profanity. 

A keyboard was a piano. 

Memory was something that you lost with age. 

A CD was a bank account. 

Compress was something you did to the garbage, 

not something you did to a file, 

and if you unzipped anything in public 

you'd be in jail for a while. 

Log on was adding wood to the fire. 

Hard drive was a long trip on the road. 

A mouse pad was where a mouse lived, 

and backup happened to your commode. 

Cut you did with a pocket knife. 

Paste you did with glue. 

A web was a spider's home, and a

virus was the flu. 

I guess I'll stick to my pad and paper, 

and the memory in my head. 

I hear nobody's been killed in a computer crash, 

but when it happens, 

they will wish they were dead.