A quarter means 15 - clock it

I WAS WALKING to the car Saturday afternoon when a teenager walking a dog stopped me and politely asked for the time.

"It's quarter after 2," I said.

"What?" she said. "Quarter? Does that mean 20 or 25?"

Can you tell the time?

This halted me in my tracks. How could you not know what quarter after 2 means? Then it dawned on me - I said "quarter," which in the teen's world means "25." The teen isn't dumb. And it might be fair to suggest the teen doesn't look at a clock when telling the time, but looks at a digital display, probably on a computer screen.

Man. The times they are a-changing, right? Wrong. They already done did change and I been left behind, is more like it.

I remember drive-ins, rotary dial phones, actually answering the door when hearing a knock, and looking up a number in a phone book. I remember being amazed by this new-fangled thing called the internet. I remember getting the afternoon paper the day after a big game and reading about it, or looking up the score from the night before.

I remember going around to talk to people face to face, instead of sending an email or Facebook message. Wait. I actually did go around and talk to people in person last week, and it's going to pay off. So there - go retro, and get results.

The point is, the young person in question isn't dumb - we just live in a much different world. I just hope she's on time, wherever she is going.