Mom, stop tweeting at the table! And another funny cartoon from The New Yorker

The New Yorker, September 5, 2011          

A recent conversation between Philippe (my 21 year old son) and me:

Ph: What are you doing?

MK: Nothing. (While discretely trying to finish typing a tweet on my iPhone.)


Ph: Are you tweeting at the table?


MK: No, I just wanted to tell everyone about this great lunch that we're having together.


Ph: I can't believe this, you would have never let me tweet at the table. You would have said that I was being rude and told me to put my phone away.


MK: I know, but I just want to finish this tweet...


Ph: Mom, stop tweeting at the table!


I admit it - I'm a tweeter! But it's my children's fault. After all, they're the ones who suggested it in the first place. They just didn't know that I would have so much fun tweeting about everything from the trendy black toilet paper at Grazie (I mean seriously, have you ever seen black toilet paper before?) to the help wanted ad for a new masseuse when my regular one mentioned that I had gained a bit of weight (What does she expect? I live in Paris and am surrounded by delicious food!). OK, maybe I shouldn't have tweeted about that because then I noticed that people were taking sneak peeks at my stomach to see if she was right.

But I'm sure that it won't take long for my children to start seeing the benefits of tweeting since it's such a good mental workout. Think that I'm exaggerating? Then try taking a big important thought and condensing it down to a small important thought of 140 characters or less. Here's an example of when I couldn't do it and had to use two tweets:

Tweet 1: Crossing Swiss border to go shopping in France. Wanted to throw away glass bottles there but was told that "garbage tourism" is not allowed.

Tweet 2: Am I repatriating the garbage if I live in France and have French license plates or am I bringing in illegal garbage. Tricky question!

And what does Stephane think? He thinks that I'm talking gibberish when I tell him about twitter, tweeting and retweeting.

The iPhone picture that provoked the above conversation with Philippe.
Wouldn't you have wanted to tweet about having lunch at this place?

Comments

  1. Ah, we have rain for the next five days--would that we had your sunny days.

    Yeah, I'm not a tweeter. I would probably be excessive about it if I were to begin, so better to just not start. Now if only moving your thumbs could burn calories--then the WORLD would be into it.

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  2. Joseph, Sorry to hear that it's raining in Chicago. It was beautiful in Paris this morning. Fortunately, the weather is also great in Geneva, which is where I am this weekend. Isn't there a saying about Fall in Chicago - it only lasts 15 minutes, if you blink you'll miss it?

    I don't know - I couldn't understand the attraction of tweeting either until I got started....Maybe it's best that you don't start!

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  3. I like Twitter but I love the New Yorker! Do you get it over here or do you just find this stuff on-line?

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  4. I have a subscription to The New Yorker. It's one of the main ways that I stay in touch with what's going on in the States. That and Twitter! ;-)

    Twitter started growing on me after I realized that you can win free stuff, like books, etc when websites tweet about their contests. Thanks to Go2Paris, I won a copy of Stephen Clarke's, "Paris Revealed: The Secret Life of a CIty". It's also one of the best ways to find out about what's happening in Paris - exhibitions, etc.

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  5. I take no responsibility for your tweeting actions whatsoever. :P

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  6. Sara, That's probably what Victor Frankenstein said after he created his monster. I expect that I'll be suffering from Twitter withdrawal symptoms while visiting you and Philippe in Boston because I'm sure that you won't let me tweet at the table either!

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