{"id":237,"date":"2009-05-14T20:36:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-14T20:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davetraynor.com\/wp2\/2009\/05\/14\/abbot-and-costello-buy-computer\/"},"modified":"2016-10-29T05:49:20","modified_gmt":"2016-10-29T05:49:20","slug":"abbot-and-costello-buy-computer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davetraynor.com\/wp2\/2009\/05\/14\/abbot-and-costello-buy-computer\/","title":{"rendered":"Abbot and Costello buy a computer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chris Breen of MacWorld wrote a delightful article about the strange things that happen when you try to do computer support over the telephone. Here’s the link to his original article, called Remotely Fixing the family printer.<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the commenters posted a modern update of the old Abbot and Costello routine, “Who’s on First?”<\/a> that I’m going to reprint here. It’s a bit longish for a blog post, but it’s very funny and worth reading. And it’s a very clever adaptation…<\/p>\n

UPDATE – I had a note from Tom King, who was the original author of this adaptation, asking me to include a link to his original posting<\/a>, which I’m happy to provide. Note that I am now posting this with his permission.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO CALLS TO BUY A COMPUTER FROM ABBOTT…<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: Thanks. I’m setting up an office in my den and I’m thinking about buying a computer.<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Mac?<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: No, the name’s Lou.<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Your computer?<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: I don’t own a computer. I want to buy one.<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Mac?<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: I told you, my name’s Lou.<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: What about Windows?<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: Why? Will it get stuffy in here?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Do you want a computer with Windows?<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: I don’t know. What will I see when I look at the windows?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Wallpaper.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: Never mind the windows. I need a computer and software.<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Software for Windows?<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: No. On the computer! I need something I can use to writeproposals, track expenses and run my business. What do you have?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Office.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: Yeah, for my office. Can you recommend anything?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: I just did.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: You just did what?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Recommend something.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: You recommended something?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Yes.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: For my office?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Yes.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: OK, what did you recommend for my office?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Office.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: Yes, for my office!<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: I recommend Office with Windows.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: I already have an office with windows! OK, let’s just sayI’m sitting at my computer and I want to type a proposal. What do I need?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Word.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: What word?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Word in Office.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: The only word in office is office.<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: Which word in office for windows?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: The Word you get when you click the blue “W”.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: I’m going to click your blue “w” if you don’t start withsome straight answers. OK, forget that. Can I watch movies on the Internet?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Yes, you want Real One.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: Maybe a real one, maybe a cartoon. What I watch is none ofyour business. Just tell me what I need!<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Real One.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: If it’s a long movie, I also want to watch reels 2, 3 and 4.Can I watch them?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Of course.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: Great! With what?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Real One.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: OK, I’m at my computer and I want to watch a movie. What do I do?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: You click the blue “1”.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: I click the blue one what?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: The blue “1”.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: Is that different from the blue w?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: The blue “1” is Real One and the blue “W” is Word.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: What word?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: But there are three words in “office for windows”!<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: No, just one. But it’s the most popular Word in the world.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: It is?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Yes, but to be fair, there aren’t many other Words left.It pretty much wiped out all the other Words out there.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: And that word is real one?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Real One has nothing to do with Word. Real One isn’t even part of Office.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: STOP! Don’t start that again. What about financial bookkeeping? You have anything I can track my money with?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Money.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: That’s right. What do you have?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Money.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: I need money to track my money?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: It comes bundled with your computer.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: What’s bundled with my computer?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Money.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: Money comes with my computer?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Yes. No extra charge.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: I get a bundle of money with my computer? How much?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: One copy.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: Isn’t it illegal to copy money?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Microsoft gave us a license to copy Money.<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: They can give you a license to copy money?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Why not? THEY OWN IT!<\/p>\n

(A few days later…)<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?<\/p>\n

COSTELLO: How do I turn my computer off?<\/p>\n

ABBOTT: Click on “START”.<\/p>\n

(c) 2004 by Tom King – used by permission<\/a> <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And if that whetted your appetite for the real thing, here’s a great clip<\/a> of Abbot and Costello performing the skit from the 1945 movie, The Naughty Nineties<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chris Breen of MacWorld wrote a delightful article about the strange things that happen when you try to do computer support over the telephone. Here’s the link to his original article, called Remotely Fixing the family printer. One of the commenters posted a modern update of the old Abbot and Costello routine, “Who’s on First?” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p88Hib-3P","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davetraynor.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davetraynor.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davetraynor.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davetraynor.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davetraynor.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/davetraynor.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1017,"href":"https:\/\/davetraynor.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions\/1017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davetraynor.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davetraynor.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davetraynor.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}