notes.husk.org. scribblings by Paul Mison.

Paper Trail

When describing the WSJ journalist who seemingly generated a story from just a Yahoo message board, in comparison to a putative fluff writer who may have done the same thing in the past, but with people buttonholed on the street, I used the phrase “paper trail” to describe the fact she’d left evidence on a server. Of course, there’s no paper involved anywhere, just as dialing a telephone now uses a push button (although increasingly it’s really a name look up).

I know I’m not the first to notice this, but I do wonder if such metaphors will last. I suppose they will. After all, it was only yesterday I worked out - at the National Maritime Museum - why the cut of a jib should be likeable.