The idea of feigning ignorance because of a supposed new machine, usually a cell phone, is a contemporary type of humorous dismissal. This tactic permits one to playfully evade undesirable communication or restart a dialog with a clear slate. As an illustration, a person would possibly obtain a textual content message from an unfamiliar quantity and reply with a variation of “New machine, who is that this?” even when the quantity is acknowledged. This enables them to subtly immediate the sender for identification or context.
This digital-age rejoinder finds its roots within the want for believable deniability and the fast turnover of expertise, significantly cellphones. Traditionally, shedding contact info because of a telephone change was a standard incidence. Leveraging this actuality for comedic impact or strategic ambiguity has grow to be a recognizable trope in fashionable tradition, reflecting the pervasiveness of cell communication in trendy society. It gives a lighthearted strategy to navigate social interactions and set up conversational boundaries.