The City of Palo Alto has declared today to be Amelia
Bedelia Day—celebrate by being literal.
If you’ve not yet met Amelia Bedelia, you should. She’s
the subject of a number of books by Peggy Parrish, and today marks the 50th
Anniversary of publication of the original
volume. In it, when housekeeper Amelia Bedelia first arrives at the home of
Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, her new employers, Mrs. Rogers gives her a list of tasks
to perform while they’re out.
It turns out that Amelia Bedelia has what you might
call a machine-language simplicity about her. She takes every instruction
literally. Imagine, then, what the results might be if she’s told to “dust the
furniture” and “dress the chicken”.
Yes, indeedy—that’s exactly what happens.
But—it turns out that no one makes lemon meringue
pie like Amelia Bedelia. So—just as we have come to adapt to the quirks of our electronic
devices, Mr. and Mrs. Rogers find ways to accommodate Amelia Bedelia.
I think everyone who works in software ought to read
Amelia Bedelia. I introduced my historiography professor to her. Part of the
course included a module on statistics. He was what passed for a computer nerd
in the W&M history department in the early 90s and he’d never heard of
her. My own copy is well worn because I never tire of its amazing silliness.
Yes, all right—I am easily amused.
But so should you be. And; you should mark the day
appropriately. Take someone literally. Be silly. At the very least, have a slice of lemon
meringue pie.
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