Backtrack Thinking and Reverse Calling

examiner.com’s accidental butt dial image

The last post I drafted was my 100^th consecutive weekly MySheCave.com posting.

Ironically, my annual beach vacation started a week ago today, and I promptly missed drafting a weekly post last Sunday.  Therefore, today’s post, my 101th, will be a “double post,” featuring two, unrelated topics that you will hopefully find somewhat interesting:

Topic 1:  Gertrude Stein

Why Gertrude?  Well, have you ever said or thought something and wondered if you were the true originator of those specific words or thoughts?  That’s what happened to me recently with Gertrude Stein.

Though we haven’t visited Paris together yet and even though my husband’s family originates from Galicia, Spain, he and I have often happily spoken these words to each other, “North Carolina is where we live, but Paris is our home.”

For a few years now, I’ve been thinking that the expression was “our little saying,” but, I recently began questioning that thinking after glimpsing a scene from The Devil Wears Prada movie that was re-airing on TV.

During the scene, I heard a voice say that Gertrude Stein once stated, “America is my country, and Paris is my hometown.”  Upon hearing the statement, I asked myself the question, “Didn’t I already think of that?” and then came to the conclusion that “our little saying” wasn’t solely ours.  Again, what about you?  Have you ever caught yourself questioning whether your statements and/or thoughts are original ideas?

Topic 2:  Reverse Butt Calls

In this age of mobile computing, you may have heard about or experienced butt calls, but are you aware of reverse butt calls?

A teenager recently educated me about both terms and the difference between the two – the former being an unintentional dialing instance and the latter being an intentional call action taken by a caller who wants to deliver a particular message to the dialed recipient but wants the dialed recipient to believe that the call and message were delivered unintentionally.

I remember making a few prank phone calls with friends using a good old rotary dial phone back during my teenage days, but the idea of reverse butt calling someone seems a bit more complicated and a bit less fun.  Would you agree?

If so, I would bet your chronological age is well beyond those fun, challenging and unforgettable year numbers between 13 and 19.