Talk to Each Other

No Wifi
Talk to each other!
Call your mom!
Pretend it’s 1993!
Live.

What a great sentiment. Much has changed in such a short time. I like that this coffee shop wanted to remind people that it wasn’t so long ago, this is how we lived.

I have one minor adjustment to the sign. I would add “Read a book” to the list.

And if the sign was true, picture walking by that coffee shop and looking in the window. In a small booth, a solitary figure has a book in one hand, coffee mug in the other. He’s immersed in the story, stylish glasses sliding slightly down his nose.

A group of four young women are at the table across from him. They are chatting, heads close together. A sound of laughter erupts from the circle and they reach for their cups, pausing from the easy camaraderie to take a sip. Once in awhile one of the girls glances over her shoulder at the man holding the book, checking him out. No one stops to look down at a phone or send a message.

At another table, two businessmen are having their morning coffee as they jot down notes for a meeting. They make eye contact, converse and nod, smiling as they are distracted by light sound of giggling as it travels across the room.

The place is alive with energy, not filled with silent pods of people—together or alone. No one is distracted by a text or call. They don’t have to stop midsentence in their story or ask someone to hang on for just one minute. The business meeting flows smoothly with no interruptions. The young man marks his place in his book as he slams it shut, ready to head for class. He gives a slow nod and an appreciative smile to the girls as he slides from the booth. The girls pretend not to notice, but the giggles begins anew.

You are still an observer, watching from the window. Suddenly you’re overwhelmed with a feeling. You just have to go in there, buy a cup of coffee and live like it’s 1993.

 

 

How Do You Spell Wi-Fi?

So many new vocabulary words in our language! The one I’ve seen spelled many different ways is Wi Fi. I’ve also seen Wifi, Wi-Fi, and wifi. Which is it? Spell check on Word tells me Wi-Fi (it’s on spell check already?)  Or maybe it doesn’t matter. My head is spinning!

As an author you always want to spell correctly. Readers notice misspellings and other grammatical errors which can interfere with their reading. Editors are always on the lookout, but some spellings can even slip by them.

With all these new words, it’s sometimes hard to find the correct way to spell them. One of them is apps. Should the word be capitalized? Google is always capital, right? So if I use it in a story, I have to say–He Googled it?

Tweeting and trending, hash tag and instagram are already part of our everyday vocabulary. They even made their way into the nightly news.

Who would have thought just a few years ago these words would be part of our daily lives. I try to keep up. I really do. I may even use some of them in my stories. But please, make up your mind on the spellings!

It seems to be the way of the future. New words, multiple spellings. Maybe spelling won’t matter anymore. I hope not. I’m still old school that way.