Mark Evanier posted this video on his website, and normally I'd link to it over there. But there are some comments I want to make about it, so I think I should post the video here instead. The video has one of the great titles on YouTube. It's not that the title is so especially clever, but that it's deliciously subtle and spot-on perfect. All it says is "Quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." And as most people who were ever taught typing know, that's one of the most famous sentences in the history of typing. (Not that there are many famous sentences in typing, I suppose....) It's a sentence that uses every letter of the alphabet. And...by God if in this video the history of typing comes to life: a quick brown fox doesn't actually jump over a lazy dog!!! The reason that I wanted to write something about the video is because of the User Comments which follow its posting on YouTube.
Now, for the past couple years I've done my best to try to not read User Comments -- in several venues, but especially YouTube. Sometimes I do let my eyes wander, but I find that if I can stick to my guns there's a good chance my head won't explode. I only skimmed the comments here, but...well, it's proves the theory and, in fact, is a triple-header, at the very leader. First, it starts out that there are people trashing the video because they don't under the title and have no idea what it is or means. Now, in fairness, no, I don't expect everyone to know the famous sentence. But...it is a famous sentence. Extremely famous, so I also don't think it's unfair to think people reasonably might know it. The thing is, my comment here isn't that some people don't know it -- but how in Internet World they get so pissy about something they don't know. If you don't know something, fine, I get it. But ask. Or stay quiet. As Lincoln famously said, "Better to be thought a fool and remain silent than speak and remove all doubt." So, I love the people who don't know the famous sentence and then go out of their way to trash it and the video. Second, there are those who prove another famous quotation: "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." (Which is one of the most mis-interpreted quotes in history, made all the more ironic for what it's saying.) There are those who mistakenly believe it's saying that having some knowledge is bad. In fact, it's saying the very opposite -- that knowledge is a great thing, but only knowing a little can cause problems. (The full quote is, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing -- drink deep at the Pierian Spring.") The point here is the people who do recognize the quote and decide to sashay with their knowledge -- but screw up. Like the person who notes that "This is a sentence which uses almost all the letters of the alphabet." Er, sorry, "almost all"??? Seriously. What would be the fascinating point of that??!! And besides that, how difficult is it to look at the sentence and -- one by one -- see that it actually includes ALL the fricking letters of the alphabet?!!!! Which brings us to the Trifecta. And that's the person who comments that the sentence doesn't include the letter "C." This is where, if you're not careful and don't look away quick enough (and I specifically use the word "quick" here), the head risks exploding. Perhaps spending too much time writing on Twitter causes one to think that spelling words like "quik" makes it so. Sigh. YouTube videos -- good. User Comments on YouTube -- a dangerous thing.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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