# Anachronisms in everyday speech **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 19, 2007, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315 "2007-10-19T18:00:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315/1 "2007-10-19T18:00:07Z")
I’ve noticed that technology has rendered a lot of words and phrases that we use all the time obsolete, but we still use them out of force of habit, or lack of a better replacement phrase. Some examples: “Dialing” or “hanging up” a telephone - Dialing was obsolete by the '80s, and most cordless phones don’t see their cradles unless they need to be recharged; to say nothing of cellphones. I have heard of one “keying a number,” though. “The boob tube” - With the explosion of plasma and lcd displays, there are probably millions of folks who do very little of their video watching on cathode ray tube based television, in fact, with so many movies and TV shows being shown on DVD and other recorded media, the word “television” itself is in real danger of becoming anachronistic. So what words and phrases are you using and hearing that are on the way to obsolescence? On a similar note: I was playing one of my old record albums one day when my son came in, listened a minute and then said, “What’s that?” After I finished laughing, I proceeded to explain to a child who had grown up listening to nothing but cassettes and CDs the phenomenon of record scratches. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315/2 "2007-10-19T18:05:21Z")
Whenever we record a program on TiVo, we still refer to it as “taping” the show, just out of habit. (“We” being me and my wife, not necessarily society at large). ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315/3 "2007-10-19T18:29:26Z")
Well… this is sort of a two parter… a phrase and a gesture “roll down a window”. These days, very few vehicles require “rolling”. Similarly, the same gesture still seems to be in common use. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315/4 "2007-10-19T18:39:11Z")
When you play Charades and you want to signify that you’re about to do a movie title, you _hand crank a camera_. And nobody seems to think that’s weird. Myself, I’m always directing patrons to look stuff up in the card catalogue. I don’t even notice it, but some of the kids look at me like I suddenly grew another head. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315/5 "2007-10-19T18:52:56Z")
I don’t get paid in salt, but I still refer to my _salary_. I also talk about whether someone’s worth their salt. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315/6 "2007-10-19T19:02:42Z")
[QUOTE=McNew] Whenever we record a program on TiVo, we still refer to it as “taping” the show, just out of habit. (“We” being me and my wife, not necessarily society at large). [/QUOTE] My wife and I do this too. “Recording” just doesn’t have the same ring to it. I frequently get things out of the ice box. At least I don’t drive a horseless carriage. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315/7 "2007-10-19T19:03:37Z")
The concept of a record album comes from a group of one-song-per-side 78rpm records in sleeves, bound together like a photo album. We still say it, even though LPs made it obsolete. The machine that packs down a new road is still called a steamroller. I daresay none of us here has ever seen a real steamroller. Seeing a series of pix on a computer is still called a slideshow. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315/8 "2007-10-19T19:30:31Z")
Another bit of telephone vocabulary left over from yesteryear is the _hook_ (as in “leaving the phone off the hook”). In many early telephones, the mouthpiece was housed on the front of the device itself, and the receiver, or earpiece, was attached to the rest of the unit by a cable. When not in use, the receiver was, quite literally, stored on a hook. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315/9 "2007-10-19T19:43:38Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott] I daresay none of us here has ever seen a real steamroller. [/QUOTE] I have. At a museum, admittedly, but in full steam. And they were in real use in Britain until the [1960s](http://www.bseps.org.uk/scf2k5/scf2k5__rollers.htm). ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315/10 "2007-10-19T19:46:40Z")
[QUOTE=Kizarvexius] Another bit of telephone vocabulary left over from yesteryear is the _hook_ (as in “leaving the phone off the hook”). [/QUOTE] Telephones seems to be full of anachronisms! ‘_Hold the line_’ - on a mobile phone? _Ring_tone? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315/11 "2007-10-19T19:50:25Z")
> [@](#): > > “The boob tube” - With the explosion of plasma and lcd displays, there are probably millions of folks who do very little of their video watching on cathode ray tube based television, in fact, with so many movies and TV shows being shown on DVD and other recorded media, the word “television” itself is in real danger of becoming anachronistic. On the other hand, with the gradual loosening of restrictions, even on major networks (Janet Jackson Wardrobe Malfunctions notwithstanding), “Boob Tube” seems even MORE appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315/12 "2007-10-19T19:56:59Z")
Service station: I still hear this one once in a while. Of course, they offer no service. Operator (phone): They ain’t operating anything now. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Socks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a8b319/32.png) [@Captain\_Socks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Socks)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315/13 "2007-10-19T20:20:47Z")
Don’t touch that dial? TVs have dials? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315/14 "2007-10-19T23:34:52Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] …even on major networks… [/QUOTE] Speaking of which, isn’t the term “network” sometimes used anachronistically to refer to single cable channels? that are never actually “on the air”? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315/15 "2007-10-19T23:45:15Z")
People are always talking about ‘filming’ something… with a video recorder. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315/16 "2007-10-19T23:59:15Z")
I still hear flushing the toilet referred to as “pulling the chain”, from back when the cistern was up near the ceiling. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315/17 "2007-10-20T00:27:43Z")
I still call Blockbuster the “Video store” although we haven’t watched a Home video this century. My Dad called the Refrigerator the “Ice Box” and I still do that from time to time - but I think alot of people still do ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315/18 "2007-10-20T00:51:39Z")
[QUOTE=jimmmy] I still call Blockbuster the “Video store” although we haven’t watched a Home video this century. [/QUOTE] You are one of those people who use the dichotomy “DVD or video,” aren’t you? DVDs (and Blu-Ray, etc) are still video. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315/19 "2007-10-20T00:57:43Z")
[QUOTE=AtomicDog] After I finished laughing, I proceeded to explain to a child who had grown up listening to nothing but cassettes and CDs the phenomenon of record scratches. [/QUOTE] Cassettes? ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315/20 "2007-10-20T02:09:37Z")
[QUOTE=Max the Immortal] Cassettes? [/QUOTE] He was born in 1988. Music was still making the cassette/CD transition in his growing up days. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronisms-in-everyday-speech/423315.md?page=2)