# How long until we stop calling them "phones"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 21, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-stop-calling-them-phones/676903 "2013-12-21T16:05:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-stop-calling-them-phones/676903/61 "2013-12-27T18:45:51Z")
“Phone” is a very convenient, single syllable word for the device, no matter how complex it may get. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-stop-calling-them-phones/676903/62 "2013-12-28T05:27:30Z")
> [@GrizzRich](#): > > We still “dial” a number and it “rings”, even though few of us have rotary-dials and phones with bells inside. Not to mention that the icon to save a file on a computer is still almost always a floppy disc (although it’d be simple enough to change the icon to an SD card I guess). ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-stop-calling-them-phones/676903/63 "2013-12-28T12:52:37Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Not to mention that the icon to save a file on a computer is still almost always a floppy disc (although it’d be simple enough to change the icon to an SD card I guess). Not to mention that the disc used in those icons wasn’t even floppy (unless you count what happens when you break open the case). ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-stop-calling-them-phones/676903/64 "2013-12-29T11:36:32Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Not to mention that the disc used in those icons wasn’t even floppy (unless you count what happens when you break open the case). Well yeah, that’s the part that defines it as a floppy disc. Compare to a Hard Disc, which uses rigid platters. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-stop-calling-them-phones/676903/65 "2013-12-29T12:21:06Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I’ve used “snail mail” in a non-joking manner. Heard it used by others too. I use it, too, sometimes while strumming my _acoustic guitar_. (These are called “retronyms.” If many people nowadays still used phones that are just phones, we’d need a retronym for that, too. One wonders what it might have been. _Talk phone_, perhaps?) ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-stop-calling-them-phones/676903/66 "2013-12-29T16:17:12Z")
Looking to the past rather than the future: I recall a piece by a columnist in a British newspaper, of a conservative tendency, a couple of decades ago. Columnist concerned was upper-middle-class, of fairly mature years, and by his own admission an over-the-top snob. He wrote of his loathing of the abbreviation “phone”: for him, it was imperative to use the full word “telephone” – a usage which he enforced, as far as possible, on his dependent children. To me, this felt / feels, then and now, like crazy precisian behaviour; but I suppose we’re all entitled to our quirks, no matter how bonkers, and contrary to what’s practical, they may be. I have to wonder what this guy’s position would be, concerning the generally-accepted wording of “mobile phone” (British) or “cell phone” (American). Would he insist on the use of “ambulatory telephone”? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-stop-calling-them-phones/676903/67 "2013-12-29T21:37:17Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > In the UK smartphones are frequently referred to as “mobiles”. That itself is a contraction of “mobile phone” of course, but in the short form it does at least have the virtue of de-accentuating the phone part. > > Germans refer to them as “handies” which would work, but I can’t see that catching on in the English-speaking world. And over here in the States, many people refer to them as “cels”. But until there’s another word to describe a piece of technology for communicating directly with one person, that technology is gonna be called a type of telephone. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-stop-calling-them-phones/676903/68 "2013-12-29T23:51:15Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > In the UK smartphones are frequently referred to as “mobiles”. That itself is a contraction of “mobile phone” of course, but in the short form it does at least have the virtue of de-accentuating the phone part. They’re commonly called “mobiles” in Thailand too – or the Thai version that’s entered the lexicon, _mo-bye_ – but the press still mixes it up by variously calling them “mobiles,” “handsets” and “phones.” ---
**Author:** ![Tread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Tread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tread)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-stop-calling-them-phones/676903/69 "2013-12-30T15:42:55Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Eh, ice trays still produce more-or-less cube-shaped (well, I’ve got one that produces Han Solo-shaped ones, but I digress) hunks of ice, and there’s not really a better name available. Ice Hexahedrons? Ice Chunks? Ice Things? Yes, most trays do. I accept that more or less cube shaped hunks of ice as cubes. But, the Built in Ice makers do not produce that shape. Most produce either a cylinderical, or a crescent shapped piece. Yet it is still referred to as Cubed. Even on the Crushed / Cubed selector switch. And not really a better name?? Eh maybe not… but have we really gave it our full effort to come up with a better name ? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-stop-calling-them-phones/676903/70 "2013-12-30T21:59:44Z")
> [@Tread](#): > > Yes, most trays do. I accept that more or less cube shaped hunks of ice as cubes. But, the Built in Ice makers do not produce that shape. Most produce either a cylinderical, or a crescent shapped piece. Yet it is still referred to as Cubed. Even on the Crushed / Cubed selector switch. > > And not really a better name?? Eh maybe not… but have we really gave it our full effort to come up with a better name ? I think the better question is whether anyone really cares to. I vote for “chunks”. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-stop-calling-them-phones/676903/71 "2013-12-30T22:28:07Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > I think the better question is whether anyone really cares to. I vote for “chunks”. Does that mean we’re all going to have to start calling that rapper “Ice Chunk”? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-stop-calling-them-phones/676903/72 "2013-12-30T23:44:59Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > Does that mean we’re all going to have to start calling that rapper “Ice Chunk”? 🙂 Nah, he can still be Ice T. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-stop-calling-them-phones/676903.md?page=3)