(no subject)
I got an email from my dad the other day, because he and a bunch of his nerdy linguistic friends were trying to come up with a word for the concept "You know when you’re in a public place, and your cell phone is in your pocket, and you hear a cell phone ring, and you’re not sure if it’s your cell phone or not, but you feel like you have to check, even though you’re pretty sure it isn’t? And it’s hard to get to your cell phone, and you think it’s probably going to reach four rings before you get to it anyway and go to voice mail, and since you initially paused you’re in even worse shape, so you get a late start, and then have to scramble? And then it isn’t your cell phone after all?"
they came up with: T-immobilization, phonetic paralysis, hypertechnoadolescence, paranoid schizophonia, and a few others
I think we need a word for the idea that clicking on someone else's lj (or, more often, myspace) friend will inevitably lead to a serendipitous romp through the lives of several dozen other unknown people, which could theoretically go on indefinitely, but doesn't, because then you realize that you have homework to do.
Any ideas?
they came up with: T-immobilization, phonetic paralysis, hypertechnoadolescence, paranoid schizophonia, and a few others
I think we need a word for the idea that clicking on someone else's lj (or, more often, myspace) friend will inevitably lead to a serendipitous romp through the lives of several dozen other unknown people, which could theoretically go on indefinitely, but doesn't, because then you realize that you have homework to do.
Any ideas?