max@trinity.uucp (Max Hauser) (02/03/88)
In article <786@PT.CS.CMU.EDU> phd@SPEECH1.CS.CMU.EDU (Paul Dietz) asks: >P.S. Just how old does one have to be to be "an old fart"? >How will I know when it happens to me? I can't answer definitively, but the following are symptomatic: 1. Passing out dip recipes at tailgate parties for college football 2. Buying neckties or license-plate holders that announce where you went to school (Recently while driving in Moraga, California, I found myself behind a stodgy, cream-colored Mercedes-Benz whose license-plate rim grandly proclaimed "UCLA Alumni." Paul Fussell would have a field day with that.) 3. Grousing about how such-and-such was (better, more impressive, more competent, etc.) back when YOU were in school 4. Hearing teenagers say "wow!" when you reminisce about something in the seemingly recent past, and realizing that it's their reaction of wonder to events of prehistoric remoteness 5. Remembering when transistors were novel 6. Remembering the names of the Cleaver family M. Hauser (Go Bears!)
gary@percival.UUCP (Gary Wells) (02/23/88)
Well, if you happeen to work for the telephone company(ies), the Pioneers will buy you lunch after 17 years of employment, thus qualifiying you as an "old fart Then they put you to work. (Wimper-snappers can't keep up with the pace!). I know...it just happened to me! -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Still working on _natural_ intelligence. gary@percival
larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) (02/24/88)
In article <1111@percival.UUCP>, gary@percival.UUCP (Gary Wells) writes: > Well, if you happeen to work for the telephone company(ies), the Pioneers will > buy you lunch after 17 years of employment, thus qualifiying you as an > "old fart I always kid my friends who work for AT&T and the BOC's that when the job starts to get to you, just remember if you stick with it, someday you can be a Telephone Pioneer - an honor, indeed. :-) One of my BOC friends gave me the telephone number for the local Pioneer "newswire" (a recorded announcement, changed weekly); he said to call the number for a few weeks and make an impartial observation. I did. The vast majority of the "newswire" message every week consisted of names of Pioneers who had just passed on to the Great Central Office in the Sky. I realize that shouldn't be funny, but I can't help but to chuckle at the consistency of the Pioneer "news". <> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, New York <> UUCP: {allegra|ames|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry <> VOICE: 716/688-1231 {hplabs|ihnp4|mtune|utzoo|uunet}!/ <> FAX: 716/741-9635 {G1,G2,G3 modes} "Have you hugged your cat today?"