Those of you of my generation will well remember the catch-phrase 'Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls'.
In January, 1968, the year I would graduate from college, NBC debuted the comedy show "Laugh-in" and this would be an often repeated saying in groups along with the infamous 'Sock it to Me'. While this is not a post about the show, it is a post about how our lives have changed in the 40+ years since the first show.
No longer do we need to go to a library or buy our own e-n-c-y-c-l-o-p-e-d-i-a (as every Jiminy Cricket fan will remember) to look something up. We google it. (I first remember using 'Ask Jeeves.com')
Where was this search engine when I was working on my MBA and visiting every business library I could find? Now, everytime I wonder about something, I head for the computer, google what I want to know and presto: instant knowledge. I have yet to be disappointed that I could not find out what I wanted to know.
It would seem that the younger generation should be able to sock away a whole lot more trivia than I ever did, most of it only helpful now in doing crosswords. Do they even know what an encyclopedia is? I am sure they know what Wikipedia is. And I am sure glad it is available.
And how big a fan of 'Laugh-in' was I, you ask? For Halloween in 1969, I dressed up as Goldie Hawn with a wild purple dress and my (then) platinum blonde hair. Hopefully, all photo evidence has been destroyed.
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