Friday, November 23, 2012

Apptitude



 APPTITUDE

It seems there was a language gap
So somebody invented 'APP'
Which was just a condensation
Of that old word "application".
Our 'devices' have got so clever
The App's list may go on forever.
*
Shortening words is nothing new
It's something human beings do.
When I was young, if I said "bus"
Some adults made an awful fuss.
"The word is omnibus!" they'd say
In a very old fashioned way.
Likewise "phone" was a word derided;
"It's 'telephone' " once more they chided.
'Television', it used to be;
Now we all use the term TV.
*
Languages live and grow and change;
Sometimes the result is rather strange.
Language is certainly torn asunder
By the folk who live Downunder.
Here 'garbage collector' seemed too long
So the word 'Garbo' came along.
*
But that's how language lives and grows
And it keeps us on our toes.
I'll start saying 'App' quite soon.......
Maybe even this afternoon.
*
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My ideal at the time.


THOSE DAYS ARE GONE


When I was young, say, in my teens,
Young girls were still just in-betweens;
Children one minute, wives the next;
'Marry early' was the text.
Ideally, just a year or two
Separated childhood from 'I do'.
And making love for fun was not
Part of the British social plot.
I never needed anyone
To say 'Stop that! Stop having fun!'
Because it all seemed very normal
To be a little stiff and formal,
And parents kept an eagle-eye.
(Later on I discovered why!)
That was just how the mating game
Was played back then. All rather tame!
Of course, 'that tarty Peg', with Fred,
Carried on behind the shed,
But they were just an awful warning....
'Would he still love her in the morning'?

How times have changed; those days are gone.

The world has a way of travelling on.

The pendulum has swung, I fear

Too far away from yesteryear.
'Anything goes' is the clarion call......
And that means anything at all!
A happy medium's what is needed.....
(I bet my words will not be heeded!)
*


1 comment:

Kay L. Davies said...

I love the picture of the girls, Brenda. I always wanted to look like that, but never did.
As for changing times, I was born into one era and grew up into another. It was a little strange, raised in the 50s, growing up in the 60s.
As for APPs, I haven't grown into them yet!
Greetings from our river cruise ship on the Danube in Austria. Our trip is winding down now. We fly home from Budapest on Monday.
Sigh.
K