# What's to become of outdated verbs?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Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 12, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866 "2010-04-12T18:45:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/21 "2010-04-13T05:35:52Z")
Dialing a phone is not outdated! “Dial” is simply an acronym for “digitally initiate audio link.” I’m surprised you smart people didn’t know that. ---
**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**Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/22 "2010-04-13T05:51:57Z")
Years from now, I wouldn’t be surprised to see people sincerely believing such things… ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/23 "2010-04-13T09:06:33Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Dialing a phone is not outdated! > > “Dial” is simply an acronym for “digitally initiate audio link.” I’m surprised you smart people didn’t know that. Pretty cool backronym you made up. ---
**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**Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/24 "2010-04-13T12:34:49Z")
Actually I still have, and occasionally use, a dial phone with a real ringer. And I sold my 1990 Honda with a roll-down window only three years ago. I consider a CD, DVD, etc. as a “record”, since it is. I still have a VCR since I have some old prerecorded tapes. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/25 "2010-04-13T12:43:56Z")
I prefer a roll-down window at least on the drivers side, as it is less prone to breakage. I slightly prefer electric windows on the other sides as they can be opened by the driver easier. I only have electric windows on my car because it came with it. I see so many people in the past couple years at drive-thrus that have to open their doors just to give their order. I assume it’s because the only cars they could find had electric window rollers, and they broke, and they can’t afford to get them fixed. You didn’t use to see this even just a decade or so ago, because the default was then manual rollers, and those who can’t afford to get an electric window fixed would naturally buy a car with manual rollers because it was cheaper. ---
**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:** [April 13, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/26 "2010-04-13T13:43:13Z")
People still say “typing,” though few people use an actual typewriter anymore. A 10 year once watched me using my old IBM Selectric II in fascination and remarked “That is so cool! You can actually see what you’re typing!” And a 4 year asked me in all seriousness “Is that a typewriter?” ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/27 "2010-04-13T14:01:40Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > 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. Most cameras have a setting to control what sound if any the camera makes upon shutter activation. The usual default is the old shutter click, but it can easily be made a beep or silent. Most folks never change the default settings. Mine also has a dog barking and a bird chirping. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/28 "2010-04-13T16:34:03Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > Pretty cool backronym you made up. I wish I could claim I made it up, but I heard it on NPR many years ago. What I particularly like is the _double-entendre_: “digitally” referring both to numbers and fingers. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/29 "2010-04-13T20:26:57Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > I wish I could claim I made it up, but I heard it on NPR many years ago. What I particularly like is the _double-entendre_: “digitally” referring both to numbers and fingers. I didn’t even think about that, but it is pretty clever. ---
**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:** [April 13, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/30 "2010-04-13T20:37:59Z")
> [@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. It’s not fake on a digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera, though it’s not the sound of the shutter: it’s the sound of the mirror being moved out of the way, so that light from the lens goes to the sensor rather than to the viewfinder. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/31 "2010-04-13T21:02:10Z")
Around Nashville, we still refer to a _record deal_, even though they’ve not been on vinyl for years. The term isn’t really outmoded; it refers to a recording contract. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/32 "2010-04-13T21:33:19Z")
You’ve got it easy. At least you still don’t say you have to _chisel_ out a document! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/33 "2010-04-13T21:39:52Z")
We “drive” cars. ---
**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, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/34 "2010-04-13T22:35:30Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > People still say “typing,” though few people use an actual typewriter anymore. Typing has nothing to do with typewriters: You could type on a Linotype machine, for example, or on a Baudot machine (five-bit code, one for each finger), or on an adding machine. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/35 "2010-04-13T23:33:35Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > We “drive” cars. Will you elaborate please? ---
**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, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/36 "2010-04-13T23:34:02Z")
@Derleth: It doesn’t anymore, but the relevant sense of the word did derive from “type” as in a block carved into the shape of a letter, as in a printing press or a typewriter, but not a modern computer. @Nobody: “drive” etymologically means “push” (as in, exert force on from behind), and is presumably applied to cars by way of its being the verb used when one forced beasts of labor in front of one’s carriage to move forward. ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/37 "2010-04-13T23:42:43Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > People still say “typing,” though few people use an actual typewriter anymore. Actually, the world “typewriter” originally was the young lady who typed at the machine. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/38 "2010-04-14T00:06:28Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > It’s not fake on a digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera, though it’s not the sound of the shutter: it’s the sound of the mirror being moved out of the way, so that light from the lens goes to the sensor rather than to the viewfinder. DSLRs still have a focal-plane shutter that moves and makes noise too. If you lock up your mirror you can hear the shutter move. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/39 "2010-04-14T01:28:41Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Dialing a phone is not outdated! > > “Dial” is simply an acronym for “digitally initiate audio link.” I’m surprised you smart people didn’t know that. I predict that in a few decades time, when Cecil has grown old and forgetful, this will be cited in a **Straight Dope** column as evidence of this origin. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866/40 "2010-04-14T01:34:13Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#): > > Actually, the world “typewriter” originally was the young lady who typed at the machine. Cite? The story I heard was that Scholes made up the word because he thought “writing machine” was too dull.\* Of course, the word might have been used for both the machine and the typist. \*Although “word processor” is even worse, IMHO. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-become-of-outdated-verbs/535866.md?page=3)