# What's to become of outdated verbs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 12, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866 "2010-04-12T18:45:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Another\_Stranger\_Me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Another\_Stranger\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Another_Stranger_Me)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/1 "2010-04-12T18:45:23Z")
I was reading another thread about outdated song references, and it occurred to me that the dated items weren’t limited to persons, places, or events. I still say that I dial the number, roll down windows and tape TV shows… even though I haven’t seen a rotary phone, a manual car window, or even a VCR in years. Will these verbs continue to stick around, or am I getting so old that I haven’t realized that they already aren’t in use anymore? (I hope not!) And just for fun, what are some other examples, recent or otherwise? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/2 "2010-04-12T18:54:06Z")
Not a verb, but I still call recordings “albums”. Actually, I’m not sure what else one _would_ call them. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/3 "2010-04-12T18:59:26Z")
I think they’re still albums. They’re just not _record albums._ Although many people get around this by saying “the new release by…” and similar. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/4 "2010-04-12T19:00:42Z")
I no longer tape shows, I record them. But I still roll down windows and dial phones. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/5 "2010-04-12T19:09:08Z")
People still say _filming a movie_, even though there may or may not be film involved. ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/6 "2010-04-12T19:10:20Z")
It’s funny, I was only thinking about this a couple of days ago when I needed to speak to the driver of the car next to me in standing traffic. Without thinking, I made the “winding” gesture to show him I wanted him to open his window. He did so straight away. What other gesture could we use for that? Miming pressing a button would be very unhelpful, cryptic and open to misinterpretation. Everyone understands turning a handle. Since you ask about words, I also still use tape, dial and roll or wind down windows. So do my students, so there’s another generation using words which relate to things some of them may never have seen. Far out when you think of it like that. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/7 "2010-04-12T19:24:03Z")
> [@Another\_Stranger\_Me](#): > > I was reading another thread about outdated song references… You might want to distinguish between a verb which is no longer necessary because of changes in technology, and those which are logical extensions of the very metaphorical nature of language. You’re _scrolling_ down your computer screen right now, aren’t you? Was the verb _scroll_ as used for this purpose “outdated” from its inception? That’s different from saying, “I need to _mimeograph_ this document,” when actually you just want to _copy_ it. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/8 "2010-04-12T19:30:32Z")
I don’t use “dial” anymore to refer to calling a number; I just say “call” such-and-such a number. AFAIK, the tone you get when you pick up a phone is still officially called a [dial tone](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dial_tone), in spite of an almost complete absence of rotary-dial telephones these days. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/9 "2010-04-12T19:43:11Z")
(this is a sound ,not a verb, but it’s related: ) all cameras these days produce a totally fake sound of a mechanical shutter , so you can hear when the picture has been taken. Today, most people can still remember that sound from film cameras, so it has a logical function. But in another generation, people are going to wonder why their cameras make such a weird scratchy noise when it would be more logical to , say, make a simple beep. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/10 "2010-04-12T19:52:54Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > (this is a sound ,not a verb, but it’s related: ) > > all cameras these days produce a totally fake sound of a mechanical shutter , so you can hear when the picture has been taken. Today, most people can still remember that sound from film cameras, so it has a logical function. But in another generation, people are going to wonder why their cameras make such a weird scratchy noise when it would be more logical to , say, make a simple beep. SLR cameras - even digital ones - do make some real mechanical noises. But on point-and-shoot digital cameras, the pre-recorded sound I hear is not just the shutter, but also an automatic film-advance motor. Two obsolete sounds for the price of one! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/11 "2010-04-12T19:55:12Z")
Speaking of phones, how about the idea that a phone is ringing? This of course goes back to when there was an actual mechanical bell on the phone. It’s been a long time since I saw a phone like that. In spite of this, cell phones allow you to specify “ring” tones. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/12 "2010-04-13T00:04:44Z")
Can you imagine if some guy named Alexander Graham Hammer had invented the phone? [Wham! Wham! Wham!] Watson! Come quickly! I need you! ---
**Author:** ![Beerman1963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2acd7d/32.png) [@Beerman1963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beerman1963)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/13 "2010-04-13T00:59:19Z")
Wham! Wham! Wham! That is funny! ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/14 "2010-04-13T01:17:31Z")
I don’t think “dialing” a phone is going away. Rotary phones had already gone by the wayside well before I was born, but I’ve still “dialed” phones my whole life. It’ll just live on that much more disconnected from its etymology, like so many other words. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/15 "2010-04-13T01:33:22Z")
People on radio and TV are still telling me “Don’t touch that dial!” I don’t think I’ve had a television or a radio with a dial on it in 30 years… ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/16 "2010-04-13T01:48:04Z")
I always thought what had happened that the buttons on a non-cell phone were still considered a dial, and, thus, to use them is still considered dialing. And while you don’t dial phone numbers as much anymore, you still dial special codes and stuff for things don’t actually call anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/17 "2010-04-13T01:56:08Z")
That’s because you’ve adopted the new (well, not so new anymore…) use of the word. But, of course, originally, it was called dialing because there was, you know, a dial in the sense of a rotating object. (And this in turn goes back to the idea of a sundial, with “dial” being cognate to the word “day”) ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/18 "2010-04-13T01:58:51Z")
They’re not outmoded. Their meanings have changed. Simple as that. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/19 "2010-04-13T03:27:27Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Can you imagine if some guy named Alexander Graham Hammer had invented the phone? The first words would have been “Stop, collaborate and listen!” ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/20 "2010-04-13T03:29:45Z")
[QUOTE= Derleth] The first words would have been “Stop, collaborate and listen!” [/QUOTE] Almost, man, almost. But I saw where you were going with that, and it had promise. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866.md?page=2)