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Disappearing words.

trekkiedane

trekkiedane

Admiral
Admiral
Language is a virus.

Sure! -but probably not in the way Borroughs meant; a lot of words we use today have mutated and don't mean what they originally meant, some of them actually mean something quite different (sometimes even the opposite! Can't think of any English words that have gone through that but I know Danish ones that have).

Let's see -if you care to join- what words the good people of Misc. can come up with that are disappearing, have disappeared or have changed meaning over the time our collective memory encompasses.

Here's a beginning:

  • Degaussing (a monitor).
  • Vertical/horizontal hold.
  • Hi-fi (when talking about sound reproduction).
  • Tick tock.
  • Service station (when talking about cars -not computers).
  • Cordless.
  • Handset.
 
dial (what you used to do to make a phone call)
gay (When did you last hear it used to mean merry or happily excited?)
 
Moot (in olden times a moot point would be one that could be argued, nowadays it tends to mean the opposite)
Decimate (technically that would mean 1/10 casualties, but frequently refers to a rather larger rate these days)
 
Depending on where you are (and who you're talking to) certain words that you think are outdated are still being used. I still hear "dial" on a pretty regular basis, and even "tape" (as in "to tape a show," even though it's really being DVRed).

I think a lot of disappearing words are associated with technologies that have become obsolete or are no longer in widespread usage:
cassette
records (music)
floppy disks
typewriter
white-out (correction fluid)
 
Wireless.

30 or 40 years ago, a wireless was a radio.

If you are under 20 today, you probably don't even know that.

Today, wireless remains as a word but its predominant meaning has changed: It refers now to the connection of computers and other devices to a computer network or server via radio waves, rather than via cables.

Things like "Taping" are related but not the same thing - they are neither a disappearing word, nor a word whose meaning has changed, rather, they are a word that describes the same general activity, but is becoming orphaned from the technological origin of its etymology. "Taping" means to record video footage, the etymology of which is of course, the recording of video onto magnetic tape media. Tape media was around for long enough that "taping" became a verb in the English language, relating to recording video content independent of the technology used to achieve this. Today, with tapes largely supplanted by hard drives and flash memory, "taping" remains as a verb for the act of recording video, even though an actual magnetic tape is not involved.
 
^Taping, to me, means sealing something shut with tape.

"Hanging up" is the only thing I can think of right now. With phones changing so drastically in the last 20 years, you no longer "hang up" the phone; you end the call. I guess "hanging up on someone" will eventually become "ignore" or "cut off," or some such.
 
my sister told me off for saying i 'rewound' a DVD to play a bit of a film again. she went on about it being stupid to say i 'rewound' it when there's no tape.

my response was 'well, what the fuck else am i suppose to say?'

she couldn't answer that.
 
captcalhoun said:
my sister told me off for saying i 'rewound' a DVD to play a bit of a film again. she went on about it being stupid to say i 'rewound' it when there's no tape.

my response was 'well, what the fuck else am i suppose to say?'

she couldn't answer that.
Click to expand...

Hit(/pressed/went/...) back to watch some part again...

auntiehill said:
I guess "hanging up on someone" will eventually become "ignore" or "cut off," or some such.
Click to expand...
I like "shut off" someone... It's like shutting of a machine and shouting "shut up" all in the same expression.
 
trekkiedane said:
Language is a virus.

Sure! -but probably not in the way Borroughs meant; a lot of words we use today have mutated and don't mean what they originally meant, some of them actually mean something quite different (sometimes even the opposite! Can't think of any English words that have gone through that but I know Danish ones that have).

Let's see -if you care to join- what words the good people of Misc. can come up with that are disappearing, have disappeared or have changed meaning over the time our collective memory encompasses.

Here's a beginning:

  • Degaussing (a monitor).
  • Vertical/horizontal hold.
  • Hi-fi (when talking about sound reproduction).
  • Tick tock.
  • Service station (when talking about cars -not computers).
  • Cordless.
  • Handset.
Click to expand...

I would perhaps disagree with Cordless, i.e if you were purchasing a phone for a landline, you might ask for a cordless phone.

Tickk-Tock, doesn;t that still mean the same to indicate time, or as an indication that you should make your mind up quickly?
 
I still use 'taping' as the word for recording a TV show. When he wakes up I'll see what term by son uses for it. However I download more often than tape these days.

Sevice station for cars is very much alive in Australia. I can't even think of another name to call it.

my sister told me off for saying i 'rewound' a DVD to play a bit of a film again. she went on about it being stupid to say i 'rewound' it when there's no tape.

my response was 'well, what the fuck else am i suppose to say?'

she couldn't answer that.
Click to expand...

I say 'take it back a bit"

My suggestion (I will try to think of some more later) - I don't think anyone, or at least very few people, have photos developed any more.
 
Australians do shorten service station to servo.

We don't call it gas in Australia, its petrol.
 
trekkiedane said:
Language is a virus.

Sure! -but probably not in the way Borroughs meant; a lot of words we use today have mutated and don't mean what they originally meant, some of them actually mean something quite different (sometimes even the opposite! Can't think of any English words that have gone through that but I know Danish ones that have).

Let's see -if you care to join- what words the good people of Misc. can come up with that are disappearing, have disappeared or have changed meaning over the time our collective memory encompasses.

Here's a beginning:

  • Degaussing (a monitor).
  • Vertical/horizontal hold.
  • Hi-fi (when talking about sound reproduction).
  • Tick tock.
  • Service station (when talking about cars -not computers).
  • Cordless.
  • Handset.
Click to expand...

I dunno, still plenty of times where "cordless" and "handset" are applicable.

As for someone above using "dial" when it comes to the use of phones, still a term I use even though I've not "dialed" a phone since I was in grade school it's still a term I, and hear others, use when it comes to calling someone.

Hell, I know people who still call remote controls for TVs "clickers" and I suspect when we're all using electric cars (stop laughing!) we'll still call pressing the accelerated as "gassing it."
 
trekkiedane said:
Here's a beginning:

  • Degaussing (a monitor).
  • Vertical/horizontal hold.
  • Hi-fi (when talking about sound reproduction).
  • Tick tock.
  • Service station (when talking about cars -not computers).
  • Cordless.
  • Handset.
Click to expand...

People are still using Windows 98 and and I am using a Dial-up modem. Not everyone has bought an LCD monitor, so having to Degauss a monitor is still common.

I think you would have to talk to people in the music industry about Hi-Fi. It may not be a commonly used term, but it may be generally used in that profession.

The phrase "Tick Tock" should not be old. People use it to refer to the passing of time as in "Come on, 'tick tock', time is wasting...."

I had to think of Service Station. And the first word out of my mouth was gas station. There are a few Full Service gas stations around. (I just put the word gas in there I don't know if other people leave out that word). As I have read about people in Australia, it really depend where you are from on how alive a word or phrase is.

I think someone already mentioned Landlines. As long as they exist and as long as the cordless phone exists, that word will exist.

Again with handset and America. It may be popular in other countries.
 
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