And you have to buy the extended warranty to get the free refill. That’s how they get you.
OK, I’m a luddite. I’vn’t any idea what “online hangout/work spaces” he’s referring to.
That’s not an online space that tries to recreate the feel of a cafe; that’s just a cafe.
I may be getting whooshed here but you posted this in an online hangout space.
Quiet, you! I’m tryin’ to work over here!
Fair enough. I missed that it was supposed to be an online “location” I thought it was a place to hangout/work online.
I think that was the punchline Munroe was going for. In the past when we talked about a cafe, we were talking about a physical location people would go to to hang out and talk. A cyber cafe was a physical location where people would go to have access to the internet.
Munroe was suggesting that we’re now using online locations (like this message board) as the equivalent of the cafes where we used to go to hang out. So he’s suggesting we call these cyber cafes. The confusion he referred to would be that this would result in us having two different things being called cyber cafes.
The evolution would be that people would probably start calling the online hangout sites cafes and the term cyber cafe would fade away. We’d then have to come up with a retronym for the cafes located in physical locations. Some term like physical cafe would join terms like acoustic guitar or black and white TV or silent movie.
Agree completely w @Little_Nemo’s astute analysis but I also share @Chronos’ confusion.
Are there in fact online hangouts that are consciously mimicking some aspects of physical cafes? Even as minor as using cafe-themed terms in their name? Perhaps, like our MMP, there’s some in-jokes where everybody talks about the coffee they’re supposedly drinking or what snacks they’re munching?
Not that I expect @Little_Nemo to have this answer, but I think it’s a legit question that our non-retired set may have more info about.
I suppose that I should point out that the online space we’re currently in does in fact have the word “Cafe” in its name. I still rather doubt that we’re what Munroe is referring to, though.
What about Quincy? I’d say that’s prettier than Delano.
If you want to get technical, “Ulysses” wins it in a walk.
Don’t feel too bad. I didn’t get it either, and my degree is in English Lit.
And Spence should at least be in the running.
But I think we can all agree that Hussein was the middle name that was most problematic for its owner.
It’s surprising how many American Presidents went by their middle names: Hiram Ulysses Grant, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, Stephen Grover Cleveland, David Dwight Eisenhower, John Calvin Coolidge.
I wonder if by “pretty” Munroe means it would make a plausible girl’s / woman’s name that’s obviously feminine? Note he didn’t say cool or euphonious or majestic or powerful or timeless; he said “pretty”.
I could totally see a classroom full of 5yo girls, 3 of whom are named Gamaliel or Robinette. Delano would be a bit of a stretch, but far from inconceivable.
I know it’s much the fashion in recent years to name girls with traditionally male names, Madison coming immediately to mind. I’m not talking about that effect.
Some words are pretty, even if they’re never used as names.
Robinette is the surname of a friend of mine. She’s not related to the President-elect in any way she knows, but she says the name’s of sufficient rarity in the U.S. that she probably is, at some remove.
I think he’s referring to things like Zoom, Google Meet and Discord.
I thought that got started with the movie Splash.