One of my favorite old television shows was the classic Get Smart, starring Don Adams as bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart. It was stupid, funny, and a great sendup of the more serious shows like The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Mission: Impossible. Who can forget great lines like "Sorry about that, Chief," and "Missed it by that much"?
While the most memorable secret agent tool of the show was Maxwell Smart's famous shoe phone, my favorite was the Cone of Silence - the transparent plastic bubble that descended to enclose the conference table in The Chief's office to ensure private conversations. The show being what it was, the Cone of Silence never quite worked right...Smart and The Chief had to cope with thundering echoes when they used it (or when they used the Portable Cone of Silence, which looked like a huge plastic dumbbell - one end clamped over each man's head, and the conversation took place through the connecting tube, with similar results to the basic model).
The Cone of Silence lives.
Many people seem to think that cell phones have a built-in Cone of Silence. Which of us hasn't shared the trials and tribulations of the person shouting loudly into his (or her) phone at the next table in a restaurant, or behind us on the bus? A while back in this blog I told the story of a conversation I overheard in an airport gate area in which a fellow was loudly berating the staff in his proctologist's office because they couldn't give him an appointment when he wanted one. I hope he got it...he was certainly quite a pain in my ... well ... never mind.
Why do people believe the Cone of Silence descends when they use their cell phones? The other day I was in a Pentagon men's room, and had the pleasure of listening to a fellow sitting in the stall behind me, carrying on a loudly-intimate (?) conversation with a lady he was attempting to convince that he wasn't cheating on her. I wonder what the lady would have thought if she'd known where he was calling from. I also wonder what made the fellow think that closing the stall door would provide privacy for such a personal call.
There's been much written about poor cell phone etiquette, and there's not too much more I can say on the subject, other than to just gently remind everyone that the Cone of Silence doesn't work any better for you than it did for Maxwell Smart.
And I hope your proctologist can see you when you need her.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
3 comments:
I ranted about something similar over on my Myspace page a few days ago. How funny :)
I had forgotten all about Get Smart. My brother and I loved that series even though its much older than us.
As for that fellow in the men's room, you should have helped him out by flushing toilets and turning the taps on :). See how he explains all that.
Like I've said before, the word most often transmitted over a cell phone is "WHAT?"
Post a Comment