Tech...do we need to spell it out?

How's this for your new ABCs?

By Greg Adams, Auckland | Friday, 25 September 2009
Like me, you probably won’t remember learning your ABCs. I was taking my first few alphabetical steps back when some guy by the name of Neil Armstrong was taking a first few steps of his own – only a few more people were watching him!

I do remember the books – I still have some. They were tucked away in the attic but came out into the light of day when my son started to learn his letters. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed revisiting these old tomes as well as, naturally, buying a few new ones for him to enjoy. Having gone through this process, however, one thing puzzles me.

In the years since man’s first lunar landings and my first words, things have changed. And quite considerably … except for, it would seem, these learn-to-read ‘ABC’ books.

Despite all the advances we’ve made, B still stands for Boat, C still stands for Clown and D still stands for Dog. In fact, most letters have the same explanations now as they did 40-odd years ago.

Now, I know boats, clowns and dogs are still around but haven’t we’ve moved on just a little bit?

Surely there’s room for some updates, something a bit more technological in flavour? After all we keep being told how tech-savvy the youth of today are supposed to be. I scoured Auckland’s bookshops, Amazon.com, and others but to no avail.

Well, there’s only one thing for it. If no one else has given it a go, maybe I should … so, here are my ABCs that a toddler of the 21st century can learn and love:

A is for Apple (okay, so not much change there … but a different kind of Apple)

B is for Blog

C is for Computer

D is for Dell

E is for Email

F is for Flash

G is for Google

H is for Hacker

I is for iPhone

J is for JPEG

K is for Keyboard

L is for Laptop

M is for Modem

N is for Network

O is for Oracle

P is for Pixel

Q is for QWERTY

R is for Recycle

S is for Screenshot

T is for Toolbar

U is for Upload

V is for Virus

W is for Website

X is for XML

Y is for Yahoo!

Z is for Zip

What do you think?