People are asking why there are so many rectangles, and the guy sitting next to me at the bar cannot understand how this is even a question.
The way he sees it, they’re simply a functional shape. You wouldn’t want your phone to be trapezoid-shaped, would you?
And honestly? He’s got a point.
I’m trying to picture answering a call on a trapezoid, and I already feel like I’ve purchased the wrong charger.
Let the rectangle do its job
A book. A door. A screen. At a certain point, I feel like the rectangle has earned the right to keep showing up without everybody getting suspicious.
It fits next to other rectangles. Four right angles. Opposite sides that match. It gives you corners to work with. You can put things in rows without turning the whole situation into a puzzle.
Could we make more things different shapes? Sure. But I don’t personally need my laptop to become a creative challenge. I have enough going on.
Rectangle should be the default shape. There. I said it.
With my apologies to triangles, which I pretended were my favorite shape for years in order to sell clothes.
That is a confession for another day. I do, indeed, digress.
I asked him what he wanted to say to the people questioning rectangles
Because he really could not understand the controversy. To him, we’ve found a shape that works, and now we’re standing around asking why we keep using it.
I was prepared to defend the humble rectangle for another few paragraphs, but then he gave me an ending I cannot improve on:
“Wait til they hear what shape they used to make the pyramids…”
