Today I used the term "paperwork" for something that I'm 99% sure will be a PDF that I'll sign, scan, and email back. I'm sure soon (years?) I won't even need to sign and re-scan.
It made me think: Someday we'll have to explain to children that the term "paperwork" refers to paper forms that we used to use instead of e-Ink or video screens. Sort of like explaining that "tie the knot" refers to a tradition "from the old days".
Boy, did I feel freakin' old.
I wish I could find a video of this.
if only
maybe we're finally beginning to get past that point...
That said, I did write a "white paper" this week entirely online.
Though I printed a copy for one of the people who needs to review it, and another for myself.
Edited at 2010-04-23 03:38 am (UTC)
"dial a phone"
"upper case" (of a typewriter)
These will soon be added to that folklore file that circulates that explains the origins of the "rule of thumb" and "threshold" and "June wedding."
The rule of thumb was that you couldn't beat your wife with a cane thicker than your thumb.
And I'm not convinced we're going paperless. As I read in Information Age back in 1985, "the paperless office is about as likely to happen as the paperless bathroom." Paper consumption is higher than it's ever been.