# Legacy language **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 13, 2007, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845 "2007-12-13T13:33:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845/1 "2007-12-13T13:33:01Z")
Best defined with examples: No one actually “dials a phone” any more (for the young’uns: phones used to have an actual rotary dial you needed to spin with your fingers, hence the term. We “log in” to our computer, and call it that referring to the practice of signing a log book. Is there a better term for this? Has a list of such words/phrases been compiled and can you point me to it? Most importantly: what are your favourite legacy phrases? ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845/2 "2007-12-13T13:36:24Z")
would anachronism fit? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845/3 "2007-12-13T13:51:57Z")
Phones don’t really ring any more: I remember when they actually had small bells that rang. And there was a thread recently about how cutting-and-pasting used to be done with real scissors and real glue. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845/4 "2007-12-13T14:21:38Z")
You “wrote” that OP using a computer. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845/5 "2007-12-13T14:36:28Z")
Lots of words are now free of their original meanings. “Orient” has dropped the meaning of “east” except when used as a noun; you can orient yourself toward the west if you so desire. “To type” is far removed from “typewriter” or “typesetter.” Same for a “typist.” A car is not usually pulled by horses any more. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845/6 "2007-12-13T15:26:32Z")
One of my favorites is the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the truck drivers’ union. I wonder when they last had a member who drove a team of horses? ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845/7 "2007-12-13T16:03:13Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] “To type” is far removed from “typewriter” or “typesetter.” Same for a “typist.” [/quote] But those all derive from the noun “type” meaning “printed characters”. So you are still _typing_ in the original sense of the word. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845/8 "2007-12-13T16:26:15Z")
[QUOTE=Bytegeist] But those all derive from the noun “type” meaning “printed characters”. So you are still _typing_ in the original sense of the word. [/QUOTE] You’re casting metal for a printing press? Keyboards weren’t involved in type until linotype machines or typewriters (whichever came first). ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845/9 "2007-12-13T18:03:45Z")
[QUOTE=One And Only Wanderers] would anachronism fit? [/QUOTE] Yeah, I guess that works, “anachronistic phrase” ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845/10 "2007-12-13T18:16:45Z")
“I’ll talk to you later on MSN/yahoo messenger/AOL etc.” I know you can use mics but alot of people don’t but would still say that. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845/11 "2007-12-13T18:21:59Z")
[QUOTE=Nature’s Call] We “log in” to our computer, and call it that referring to the practice of signing a log book. [/QUOTE] The original log book is where records of a ship’s progress were written down. The term is derived from the practice of floating an actual log (as in a piece of timber) to determine the speed of a ship. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845/12 "2007-12-13T18:46:57Z")
I was going to say “retronym”, but that actually means something like “acoustic guitar” or “analog clock” or “broadcast television”…something for which the latter half of the phrase actually used to be the whole phrase, but a new invention has caused the former half to be necessary. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845/13 "2007-12-13T20:03:28Z")
When your broadcasting, you’re not planting seeds any more. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845/14 "2007-12-13T20:48:55Z")
Oh there’s lots of these. Some you don’t even realize are anachronistic because they’re so far past our modern experiences. It’s easy to talk about “dialing” a phone or “tuning” to a TV channel, because it wasn’t so long ago (well within living memory) that phones commonly had rotary dials and TVs had frequency tuning knobs. More interesting (to me) are phrases I never really thought about and then one day realized what the source was. For example, having something “in spades” didn’t make any sense to me until I learned to play Bridge, where spades is “the boss suit” and if you have a lot of cards in one suit, you’d prefer it to be in spades over any other. A lot of phrases reflect how important seafaring and shipping (via ships) used to be. “Three sheets to the wind” and “give a wide berth” are obviously nautical in origin, but less so are “by and large”, “give leeway”, to “overhaul” something, or a “windfall” meaning something unexpected and good. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845/15 "2007-12-13T22:00:33Z")
I suspect that “in spades” refers rather to a game such as pinochle where you pay double when spades are trump. And I still have a couple of rotary phones which actually ring around the house. They are very useful to call the power company to find out when the power will be restored. One of them claims to be from area code 212. Then there is Pontifex Maximus (the pope) who probably has made many bridges recently. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845/16 "2007-12-13T22:09:01Z")
It’s now a quarter to ten is odd in this digital age of 9:45. ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845/17 "2007-12-13T23:08:19Z")
[QUOTE=Crotalus] One of my favorites is the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the truck drivers’ union. I wonder when they last had a member who drove a team of horses? [/QUOTE] Holy crap, all these years hearing about Teamsters and this never occurred to me. And one of the history teachers at my high school (where was that again?) did a memorable unit on labor history. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845/18 "2007-12-13T23:10:22Z")
Someone here just picked up a phone and asked “How do I get a dial tone?” ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845/19 "2007-12-13T23:16:13Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] It’s now a quarter to ten is odd in this digital age of 9:45. [/QUOTE] How? Fifteen minutes is still one quarter of an hour, so 9:45 is still a quarter to 10. (Which is how I’ve always understood the phrase, not as a reference to the actual physical face of the clock, save for the fact that a quarter of an hour will involve the minute hand sweeping a quarter of the way around the clock. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2007, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845/20 "2007-12-13T23:42:42Z")
Anheuser-Busch’s brewerys in the US are union shops, so there’s a good chance the guys on their symbolic Clydesdale-drawn beer wagons are Teamsters. I say wagons because there’s more than one travelling team of Clydesdales for special occasions. Steamroller is still what we call the thing pavers use, though they don’t run on steam. A number of words are based on places that have changed their names. A brand of gin calls itself “Bombay gin.” Pekingese dogs and Siamese cats roam the land. The Bombay (not Mumbai) Bicycle Club is a restaurant chain. An extremely complicated system is still Byzantine. Byzantium became Constantinople, which became Istanbul a long time ago. (Yeah, you \*They Might Be Giants \* fans can all dance around now.) 😛 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legacy-language/429845.md?page=2)