Why is any personal electronic communication contraption now called a 'device'? Is that another word that has lost its meaning? I always refer to the electric talking machine in my pocket as a telephone.
Mine is also a ‘phone - but not only that. It is a text message, a camera, a torch, a compass, a calculator, a map/navigational aid, a dictionary, a notebook, a means of accessing the internet, a banking tool etc. etc.
I tend to refer to it simply as my ‘phone, but I can’t fault others for whom that seems an inadequate description, or for whom the telephone function is not the main way they use the device.
Why is any personal electronic communication contraption now called a 'device'? Is that another word that has lost its meaning? I always refer to the electric talking machine in my pocket as a telephone.
Mine is also a ‘phone - but not only that. It is a text message, a camera, a torch, a compass, a calculator, a map/navigational aid, a dictionary, a notebook, a means of accessing the internet, a banking tool etc. etc.
I tend to refer to it simply as my ‘phone, but I can’t fault others for whom that seems an inadequate description, or for whom the telephone function is not the main way they use the device.
The term "device" probably includes some non-electronic gadgets. I once had a student, an engineering major, who carried and knew how to us an abacus, a wooden calculating device. In my college chemistry class, I found my slide rule very useful. Babbage's famous calculating machine was pre-electronic. The telegraph and the facsimile machine both preceded computers, as did Edison's stock ticker.
The term "device" probably includes some non-electronic gadgets. I once had a student, an engineering major, who carried and knew how to us an abacus, a wooden calculating device. In my college chemistry class, I found my slide rule very useful. Babbage's famous calculating machine was pre-electronic. The telegraph and the facsimile machine both preceded computers, as did Edison's stock ticker.
I wonder if I can interest you in my mechanical Fourier analyser.
Why is any personal electronic communication contraption now called a 'device'? Is that another word that has lost its meaning? I always refer to the electric talking machine in my pocket as a telephone.
It's a convenient word that encompasses all the electronic distractors / communicators that people might have with them. I don't want to argue about whether your Apple watch is a telephone or not - I just want it silenced or absent as appropriate.
Tablet computers connected to the WiFi might look like phones and might be used a lot like phones, but are not actually phones.
Why is any personal electronic communication contraption now called a 'device'? Is that another word that has lost its meaning? I always refer to the electric talking machine in my pocket as a telephone.
It's a convenient word that encompasses all the electronic distractors / communicators that people might have with them. I don't want to argue about whether your Apple watch is a telephone or not - I just want it silenced or absent as appropriate.
Tablet computers connected to the WiFi might look like phones and might be used a lot like phones, but are not actually phones.
And also they're managed together corporately. If something runs Android or iOS it's pretty much the same under the hood from a management viewpoint in terms of policy, apps, permissions and so on.
The term "device" probably includes some non-electronic gadgets. I once had a student, an engineering major, who carried and knew how to us an abacus, a wooden calculating device. In my college chemistry class, I found my slide rule very useful. Babbage's famous calculating machine was pre-electronic. The telegraph and the facsimile machine both preceded computers, as did Edison's stock ticker.
I wonder if I can interest you in my mechanical Fourier analyser.
Goodness! Having to work out Fourier calculations (manually!) did my head in when I was studying mechanical engineering at Uni. I was thankfully able to give up the maths stream in my final year.
Back to 'device' - it looked like 'PDA' (personal digital assistant) might become the name for a thing like this, a bit over 20 years ago when I did some work for whatever ICL turned into ('Celestica'?) shortly before it disappeared altogether. I guess the PDA name died about the same time. A search rather ominously brings up the Pensions Ombudsman. I'm glad I only consulted for them...
'Award winning' seems to apply to almost anything these days, from Nobel prize winners to the maker of cup cakes at the market who was given the award by his mother to encourage him. Mostly though, the giver of the award is never mentioned. Does it matter? Probably not; it's just one of the many things that annoy me every day. I would have made an exception for the Carbuncle Awards for architecture, but I understand that just to further annoy me and others like me, it has been abolished. I could be an award winning curmudgeon.
I recall an ad for 'the most awarded mattress' - but no mention of the achievements for which it was bestowed. Admittedly more useful than the customary silver cup/crystal vase, but a bugger to lug off the platform I'd have thought.
'Award winning' seems to apply to almost anything these days, from Nobel prize winners to the maker of cup cakes at the market who was given the award by his mother to encourage him. Mostly though, the giver of the award is never mentioned. Does it matter? Probably not; it's just one of the many things that annoy me every day. I would have made an exception for the Carbuncle Awards for architecture, but I understand that just to further annoy me and others like me, it has been abolished. I could be an award winning curmudgeon.
Like the just-published novel which is apparently the 'Number One Best Seller'. Or is that the author? Number One on which list? In which country? Either way it's a meaningless (because unverifiable) puff which overuse has rendered ineffective.
Someone I know had a book which reached no 1 in the Amazon listing for a category so small I hadn't realised it existed. It was no 1 in the category of books set in Aberdeenshire on a specific date, concerning an unlikely romance between two people from wildly differing backgrounds.
Now that we're all so interested in elections (aren't we?) I shriek at the TV when I hear candidates referred to as "running" for election (as in the US) rather than our British usage of "standing".
"My truth". I'd never come across this one until a certain Mrs Sussex started using it in her whining. What it really means is "my version of events".
Not as I generally hear it used. I hear it used to mean something more like “my experience” or “how I have been affected.” It’s less about one’s version of events and more about one’s emotional response to events.
"Forever" in phrases like "forever home."
It suggests the speaker doesn't know the meaning of "permanent."
"Forever" has an emotional weight that "permanent" lacks. Can you imagine Demi Roussos singing "Permanently, permanently, permanently, permanently you'll be the one"?
"Forever" in phrases like "forever home."
It suggests the speaker doesn't know the meaning of "permanent."
"Forever" has an emotional weight that "permanent" lacks. Can you imagine Demi Roussos singing "Permanently, permanently, permanently, permanently you'll be the one"?
I try very hard to not imagine him singing anything.
Or “For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory permanently.”
For ever in that context means without end. Forever home means as long as I live, and that isn't for ever.
In my mind forever home etc is what you say to a four year old who doesn't understand permanent. It's infantile.
Or “For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory permanently.”
For ever in that context means without end.
Which is to say, “permanently.”
Forever home means as long as I live, and that isn't for ever.
In my mind forever home etc is what you say to a four year old who doesn't understand permanent. It's infantile.
“Permanent home” would also mean “as long as I,” or more likely “as long as the pet,” lives. The only difference, as @KarlLB notes, is that “permanent” lacks any emotional weight, while “forever” carries emotional weight.
I find it interesting that English speakers frequently claim that one strength of English is that we have a variety of words and ways to express ideas with shades of meaning, but then complain when we actually take advantage of that strength.
"forever home" and "fur babies," have a certain emotional quality to them, and I think the emotion is what people are really objecting too not the words used.
"forever home" and "fur babies," have a certain emotional quality to them, and I think the emotion is what people are really objecting too not the words used.
A permanent home is contrasted with a temporary home: it's somewhere you expect to be living until you make the decision to move. A forever home I presume is something slightly different: somewhere you're living from which you don't expect ever to move.
A permanent home is contrasted with a temporary home: it's somewhere you expect to be living until you make the decision to move. A forever home I presume is something slightly different: somewhere you're living from which you don't expect ever to move.
Except that in “forever home,” “home” is, I think, used in the sense of family and place of belonging, rather than the sense of house. So a forever home is the people you’ll always belong with.
It’s a usage I’ve only really encountered in relation to animal rescue centres, and re-homing pets. The expectation being that they’ll be with you until they die.
It’s a usage I’ve only really encountered in relation to animal rescue centres, and re-homing pets. The expectation being that they’ll be with you until they die.
So it isn't for ever is it. Its only until they die, and that isn't the same thing.
To my mind permanent means not temporary. We have lived in our house for almost 40 years. I would think of that as our permanent home but in full knowledge that I might end up in a care home, so it certainly isn't for ever.
It’s a usage I’ve only really encountered in relation to animal rescue centres, and re-homing pets. The expectation being that they’ll be with you until they die.
So it isn't for ever is it. Its only until they die, and that isn't the same thing.
To my mind permanent means not temporary. We have lived in our house for almost 40 years. I would think of that as our permanent home but in full knowledge that I might end up in a care home, so it certainly isn't for ever.
I think you could just as easily argue "well it isn't really permanent is it?"
"forever home" and "fur babies," have a certain emotional quality to them, and I think the emotion is what people are really objecting too not the words used.
Bizarre that someone would object to a positive feeling about providing an animal with a stable loving environment with the intent of that not changing, but then people are strange.
These are rescue cats & dogs we’re talking about, not infants from the Orphan Asylum. If folk consider the expressions “fur babies” and “ forever homes” twee & immature then so be it.
Will plead guilty to the latter ( close to 11 years in with my beloved feline fleabags) but also recall my (then) 5 year old (49 next week) describing the half grown ( unspayed and pregnant as we soon realised) female cat who wandered into the kitchen as his “furry adopted sister”. And so she remained until her demise at approximately 15 & a half).
In a similar vein, I atruggle with adults describing serious violations, like rape or genocide, as "gross' - to me it sounds like a teenager describing dirty washing up, so insufficiently serious for the topic. But I recongise this is just a personal preference really.
It’s a usage I’ve only really encountered in relation to animal rescue centres, and re-homing pets. The expectation being that they’ll be with you until they die.
So it isn't for ever is it. Its only until they die, and that isn't the same thing.
To my mind permanent means not temporary. We have lived in our house for almost 40 years. I would think of that as our permanent home but in full knowledge that I might end up in a care home, so it certainly isn't for ever.
I think you could just as easily argue "well it isn't really permanent is it?"
Hands up, I do think forever home sounds twee and infantile and I accept that I am hunting for more rational reasons for my dislike. It just seems to belong more on the lips of an infant Shirley Temple than those of an adult.
No longer is it said that something is done regularly or daily etc.
Now things are done 'on a regular basis' or 'on a daily basis' etc.
I wonder about the basis for this.
What I hate is the term "bad actor" for what we used to call an "evildoer." Every time I hear "bad actors," I think they're referring to something in the movie industry.
No longer is it said that something is done regularly or daily etc.
Now things are done 'on a regular basis' or 'on a daily basis' etc.
I wonder about the basis for this.
What I hate is the term "bad actor" for what we used to call an "evildoer." Every time I hear "bad actors," I think they're referring to something in the movie industry.
The term “actor” is used widely in business analysis to refer to an active entity of any kind: human, an organisation or even a virtual or intellectual one.
It does sound odd, but it’s the only way to get a handle on it.
I've only heard the term used in public media in the past ten years--generally for hackers, terrorists, etc. It wouldn't bother me much in a specialized vocabulary, but it's mainstream now, and it drives me nuts.
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I tend to refer to it simply as my ‘phone, but I can’t fault others for whom that seems an inadequate description, or for whom the telephone function is not the main way they use the device.
Nice!
I rather like the German term for it—ein Handy.
I wonder if I can interest you in my mechanical Fourier analyser.
It's a convenient word that encompasses all the electronic distractors / communicators that people might have with them. I don't want to argue about whether your Apple watch is a telephone or not - I just want it silenced or absent as appropriate.
Tablet computers connected to the WiFi might look like phones and might be used a lot like phones, but are not actually phones.
And also they're managed together corporately. If something runs Android or iOS it's pretty much the same under the hood from a management viewpoint in terms of policy, apps, permissions and so on.
Goodness! Having to work out Fourier calculations (manually!) did my head in when I was studying mechanical engineering at Uni. I was thankfully able to give up the maths stream in my final year.
Back to 'device' - it looked like 'PDA' (personal digital assistant) might become the name for a thing like this, a bit over 20 years ago when I did some work for whatever ICL turned into ('Celestica'?) shortly before it disappeared altogether. I guess the PDA name died about the same time. A search rather ominously brings up the Pensions Ombudsman. I'm glad I only consulted for them...
Like the just-published novel which is apparently the 'Number One Best Seller'. Or is that the author? Number One on which list? In which country? Either way it's a meaningless (because unverifiable) puff which overuse has rendered ineffective.
It suggests the speaker doesn't know the meaning of "permanent."
"Forever" has an emotional weight that "permanent" lacks. Can you imagine Demi Roussos singing "Permanently, permanently, permanently, permanently you'll be the one"?
I try very hard to not imagine him singing anything.
For ever in that context means without end. Forever home means as long as I live, and that isn't for ever.
In my mind forever home etc is what you say to a four year old who doesn't understand permanent. It's infantile.
“Permanent home” would also mean “as long as I,” or more likely “as long as the pet,” lives. The only difference, as @KarlLB notes, is that “permanent” lacks any emotional weight, while “forever” carries emotional weight.
I find it interesting that English speakers frequently claim that one strength of English is that we have a variety of words and ways to express ideas with shades of meaning, but then complain when we actually take advantage of that strength.
This.
So it isn't for ever is it. Its only until they die, and that isn't the same thing.
To my mind permanent means not temporary. We have lived in our house for almost 40 years. I would think of that as our permanent home but in full knowledge that I might end up in a care home, so it certainly isn't for ever.
I think you could just as easily argue "well it isn't really permanent is it?"
Bizarre that someone would object to a positive feeling about providing an animal with a stable loving environment with the intent of that not changing, but then people are strange.
Will plead guilty to the latter ( close to 11 years in with my beloved feline fleabags) but also recall my (then) 5 year old (49 next week) describing the half grown ( unspayed and pregnant as we soon realised) female cat who wandered into the kitchen as his “furry adopted sister”. And so she remained until her demise at approximately 15 & a half).
That may well be true. Or possibly not.
It may be a class marker in the UK; I don’t think it is in the US.
I completely get people thinking it sounds twee or cloying. That’s the reason I wouldn’t use “forever home.”
But if that’s the objection, be honest that that’s the objection. It’s not a linguistic misuse of “forever”; it’s consistent with long-standing usage.
Now things are done 'on a regular basis' or 'on a daily basis' etc.
I wonder about the basis for this.
Now things are done 'on a regular basis' or 'on a daily basis' etc.
I wonder about the basis for this.
The term “actor” is used widely in business analysis to refer to an active entity of any kind: human, an organisation or even a virtual or intellectual one.
It does sound odd, but it’s the only way to get a handle on it.