Ok?

Great.

Everyone else -- his name is Nathan Barry. I don’t throw this word around a lot, so believe me when I say it: he’s a GENIUS (and not some full-of-it “whiz kid” that wins one lousy spelling bee because he got all the easy words and you got “eleemosynary”).

I recognized him at a gas station in Greenville, South Carolina. Fortunately, I had a tape recorder on me.

Q: Excuse me. Hi, I don’t mean to be weird, but are you Nathan Barry?
A: [to cashier] Yeah, pump # four, thanks. [notices interviewer] Yes, I am. Can I help you?
Q: Wow. It really…
A: “It really is a delight to meet you”?
Q: …Yes.
A: That’s very nice of you to say. Q: Do you have a minute, sir? Would you mind answering some questions?
A: I’m heading to a conference in Baltimore, but I can spare a few minutes. Sure. Q: Thank you so much. Can I buy you some jerky or a mountain dew, or some coffee or something?
A: I’m all set.
Q: Great. First of all…where did you get the idea for T9Word?
A: “Where did you get the idea for T9Word”?
Q: That’s amazing!
A: [chuckles] Tell you the truth, Walmart. [we laugh]
Q: Really?
A: I was picking up a bunch of stuff for my cubicle. At the time I was working for NASA. I was trying to text a friend to tell him to go to the bank and get a lot of singles [he mutters]. We were going to a strip club…
Q: Uh huh.
A: …and I was very frustrated. Like most groundbreaking inventors probably have, I said “isn’t there a better way?”
Q: To text?
A: Uh huh.
Q: That’s really interesting. Now, as I’m sure you are aware, as the phone gains familiarity with the words and phrases the user commonly uses, it speeds up the process by offering the most frequently used words first and then lets the user access other choices with one or more presses of a predefined Next key. All you?
A: I don’t want to toot, toot, toot away on my own horn, but yes. I worked pretty hard on that. They thought I was crazy.
Q: Come again?
A: Other workers at Tegic Communications. That’s where I developed it. I worked there after NASA. Oh, and a brief stint at a Sunny Delight plant. Don’t ask. [we laugh]
Q: I hope you don’t mind if I ask you about the recent controversy in Sweden.
A: No, I don’t mind, but I wouldn’t consider it a controversy. I would say that’s blowing it out of proportion.
Q: My apologies.
A: Don’t sweat it. It really has nothing to do with us. It’s just bad press [he sighs]. So, Swedish compound words are very common and it has become a fad for kids (and some adults) to see what offensive words they might be able to spell out. Ironically, the words are so offensive that the daily newspapers refuse to report them.
Q: Man, that’s bonkers.
A: That’s exactly what I said.
Q: Where?
A: Around the office.
Q: So, …
A: How many girls do I get, on a regular basis, because of T9Word?
Q: ....Next
A: “Where do I put all the cats I own”?
Q: Next.
A: “What’s the future of T9Word”?
Q: Yeah!?
A: Look, you seem like a nice kid and this has been a fun interview, but I can’t go into much detail about that.
Q: I understand.
A: No, really, I’m sorry. I would love to share but it’s too big. I can tell you this, though.
Q: Uh huh.
A: You might wanna return that digital camera you may have just purchased.
Q: You mean like a camera phone?
A: Sorry [raises arms].
Q: It sounds like you mean a camera phone, I have that.
A: [makes zipper gesture with his hand and mouth]
Q: Ok, I guess we’ll all just have to wait and see. Thanks so much for your time and for your product, Mr. Barry. I’m a huge fan of your work.
A: You’re very welcome. You can call me Nathan.
Q: Well, thanks.

I shut the tape recorder off after this point. There were a couple more waves and goodbye like stuff after that. It wasn’t really awkward or anything though.

There you have it. Mr. Nathan Barry (or just “Nathan” to me!!!). Creator of T9Word and a user of gasoline. He also bought some trail mix, so that’s another thing.