Crosstalk

This just in from the Name Bureau:

A family of four is sharing a table at the Bruckner Bar & Grill — Mom, Dad, Son and Daughter. The boys are seated across from each other, the girls likewise. Their conversations, plural, are in the shape of a cross, Father talking across the table to Son about “cloud computing”, Mother talking to Daughter about we forget what. We remember cloud computing because it was clear neither fellow had any idea what cloud computing is.

It feels like there are thin, red — why red? — perpendicular lines floating about a foot above their table, stretching from boy to boy and girl to girl.

We’ve seen this kind of separation before. It can happen in any group setting, and doesn’t, as a general rule, have anything to do with gender. We at the Name Bureau therefore feel its name should be number- and gender- neutral.

We propose “crosstalk”.