Recently we discussed the lack of a word in English for the act of trying to do in your offline life something you can only do on a computer, like expecting spellcheck to kick in if you’re scribbling a grocery list, for example. The hosts share suggestions emailed by listeners. How about e-flex? Or might déja undo do? This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “E-Flex”
On a recent show, we discussed the need for a term for the act of trying to do something
Offline that you really can only do online.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
You know when you’re scribbling on a piece of paper and you expect spell check to kick
In and you’re looking for the red squiggly lines, right?
Right.
Or you’re reading a book and you’re looking for the back button or the find button and
Of course there’s no such thing in a book, right?
Right, yes, yes.
I think I talked about wanting a search function for my entire office.
And a lot of people wrote to us about that.
One listener named Martha Wilde.
You’ve got to love that name, Martha Wilde.
It’s kind of redundant.
Anyway, Martha Wilde suggested the term deja undo for when you want to undo something in real life.
I kind of like that.
Several of you had another term for the way we instinctively reach for the computer keyboard to solve offline problems.
And that word was e-flex, e-f-l-e-x.
I love that, Grant.
What do you think?
I think it’s a winner.
You know, maybe.
It’s pretty good.
We’ll see if it catches on.
Yeah, I mean, it sounds like reflex, but, you know, you instinctively reach for the computer, and I think it’s a winner.
Well, reach for your real-life computer keyboard and write to us about any aspect of language.
Send those emails to words@waywordradio.org.
