THE SOUNDS THAT ARE NOW SILENCED.Byline: Stephanie Salter IT all began with three of us baby boomers See generation X. trying to describe the sound of a Zippo lighter to a 12-year-old. ``Oh, I miss that sound,'' said Stephen. ``It was kind of a three-part thing.'' ``Click, fwwhh, click,'' said Karen. She moved her hands as if she had indeed flipped open the lid of a hefty stainless steel stainless steel: see steel. stainless steel Any of a family of alloy steels usually containing 10–30% chromium. The presence of chromium, together with low carbon content, gives remarkable resistance to corrosion and heat. Zippo (circa 1955), raked her thumb down its little flint-scratching wheel and, after the flame had done its job, closed the lid with a snap. ``That sound is like an extinct species,'' I said. ``What other sounds have disappeared from daily life?'' Silence befell us for about 10 seconds. Then . . . ``The sound of a rotary dial phone,'' said Stephen. He did a remarkably accurate imitation of the soft, low drag of a rapidly disappearing device. Karen said, ``Remember how the really old ones with the metal dials clicked as they came back into place after each number?'' ``A rotary dial?'' I said. ``How about the sound of a phone ringing? Bells, not microchip tweeters.'' How about the sound of a manual typewriter? The sure, solid snap of the keys on paper and rubber carriage? The little ``ding'' of the bell that warned of the margin? How about a ticking clock? Better yet, a real grandfather clock whose pendulum tocked off each second of our days and gonged on the half-hour and hour? How about a toaster See intranet toaster and Video Toaster. (jargon) toaster - 1. The archetypal really stupid application for an embedded microprocessor controller; often used in comments that imply that a scheme is inappropriate technology (but see elevator controller). that clicked because you activated it by twisting a taut timer dial? The kind that shuddered the finished toast to the top like a volcanic eruption? ``Oh, how about gear shifts on the column?'' said Karen, her eyes growing dreamy. ``Remember how long it took for the car to get into each gear? That sound?'' How about the sound of tin bread boxes or lunch pails being opened, shut or dropped? How about the crinkling of Cellophane cellophane, thin, transparent sheet or tube of regenerated cellulose. Cellophane is used in packaging and as a membrane for dialysis. It is sometimes dyed and can be moisture-proofed by a thin coating of pyroxylin. or the more muted wax paper? How about light switches that clicked on loudly enough to be heard down the hall? Metal, not rubber, taps on shoes? A heavy, green bottle of Coca-Cola making its way through the twisting iron pipeline of a red, coffin-like, metal vending machine? The Coke cap, dropping from the bulky, built-in opener into an unseen storehouse of other caps? How about the rattling of metal, not plastic, garbage cans? ``How about film projectors?'' said Stephen. He made a rushing-whirring noise with his exhaled breath and vibrating vibrating, v using quivering hand motions made across the client's body for therapeutic purposes. tongue. ``And the flap-flap-flap when the film broke,'' I said. How about milk bottles clinking clink 1 intr. & tr.v. clinked, clink·ing, clinks To make or cause to make a light, sharp ringing sound: clinked their wineglasses together in a toast. n. against one other in a metal milkman's carrying crate? How about coal, roaring down a tin chute and into a basement bin? The sound of an alarm clock being wound? How about the perfect tick - or horrible skid-shriek - of a phonograph needle hitting a record? How about the thunk In a PC, to execute the instructions required to switch between segmented addressing of memory and flat addressing. A thunk typically occurs when a 16-bit application is running in a 32-bit address space, and its 16-bit segmented address must be converted into a full 32-bit flat address. of a hot lighter snapping up from a car dashboard? How about the polyglot pol·y·glot adj. Speaking, writing, written in, or composed of several languages. n. 1. A person having a speaking, reading, or writing knowledge of several languages. 2. of words and music as you twirled a pre-digitalized car radio dial? That reminded me of something different that had disappeared. ``Remember when you used to turn on the TV?'' I said. ``Nothing,'' said Stephen. ``Silence until the tubes heated up,'' said Karen. Christina, the 12-year-old, looked at all of us. ``No sound?'' she said. ``Not even when you used the remote?'' MEMO: Stephanie Salter writes a column for the San Francisco Examiner The San Francisco Examiner is a U.S. daily newspaper. It has been published continuously in San Francisco, California, since the late 19th Century. History 19th century The beginning of the Examiner is a topic of some controversy. . |
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