Lessons from a younger generation

We own a very old (1930's) typewriter that I bought several years ago at a yard sale. We were recently doing some house cleaning and it was "rediscovered" by my sixteen year old daughter. I typed a sentence on it for her: Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. If you don't know why I chose that sentence, may I recommend that you find and read a copy of Ella Minnow Pea, a very amusing novel about the alphabet.

In any event, as we played with the typewriter, there were a number of functions of the machine that I took for granted, but had to show her. These included:

• how to use a Carriage Return to start a new line and move back to the left side of the page
• how to center words on a line
• how to make an exclamation point out of an apostrophe and a period

This episode brought home for me once again how different the world is in which this next generation is growing up. I'm not that old, but the difference of a few years can be pretty dramatic.

What's in a name?

It's no secret that the majority of Americans are incensed at the idea of a $700 billion Wall Street bailout. But consider this: would it be as unpalatable if it had been called a rescue plan? Maybe, as the article suggests, a better spin would have produced a public more willing to accept the necessity of some sort of congressional action. Still, what does that say about American voters - that they are too easily fooled, or too unwilling to understand what issues are really at stake? In any event, it does underscore the need for using positive terms to characterize a message.