Phones in Space?

[Rath Darkblade]

A lot of people today simply call their phone their "device"...

This remind me of Tom Lehrer's introduction to "Who's Next?", a song about nuclear proliferation: "One of the big news items of the past year (i.e. 1965 -Ed.) concerned the fact that China, which we call 'Red China', exploded a nuclear bomb, which we called a 'device'."

In other words, he's pointing out the dangers of the media's tendency to downplay the severity of new nations acquiring nuclear weapons.

Of course, mobile phones are nowhere near as dangerous as nukes. But when a mobile phone acquires a description as generic as 'device' ... I mean, 'device' can mean anything. My keyboard is a device. So's my mouse, blender, microwave, grill, and TV. *shrug*

... maybe the first time it is mentioned, you can refer to it as "handheld communication device" and then simple "device" after that

That sounds like it could work, as long as nothing else is referred to as a "device". If it is, maybe consider shortening "handheld communications device"? Maybe one of these:

1. Comms device / comms unit
2. Unit (hey, if 'device' works...)
3. HCD (acronym for "handheld communications device")
4. Battery-operated device (BOD for short)

Or, since you use your hands (or your fingers) to operate this device:

5. Hand-operated device / finger-operated device (HOD / FOD for short)

... which brings up a question: character A calls character B. B answers by pressing the "Answer" button with his finger. Does that mean B gave A the finger?

Anyway, I hope you find this useful. Or even just food for thought.

 

[Homer Potvin]

Anyway, I hope you find this useful.

Totally. Chinese nukes were the missing piece.

 

[JLT]

I think I'd call it a "Link" (note the capital). It links people with each other, with a network, with whatever.

This morning, I read about some people who got on an ocean liner and "set sail" for a distant port. Not a sail on board that ship as it sailed across the sea.

 

[Madman Starryteller]

I think I'd call it a "Link" (note the capital). It links people with each other, with a network, with whatever.

This is genius! May I use it as well?

 

[Banespawn]

I think I'd call it a "Link" (note the capital). It links people with each other, with a network, with whatever.

This morning, I read about some people who got on an ocean liner and "set sail" for a distant port. Not a sail on board that ship as it sailed across the sea.

So, when I lose my phone, would that be the missing Link?

 

[JLT]

This is genius! May I use it as well?

Of course. That's what this writer's forum is for.

So, when I lose my phone, would that be the missing Link?

Bah-dump.

I forgive that, because I've done worse. Once, a glued-on sole on one of my shoes came off at a campout, and I went around the site looking for it. And I found it, and reported to my campmates that I had found my sole mate.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Bah-dump.

Um, you forgot the "tss" from the hi-hat.

I forgive that, because I've done worse. Once, a glued-on sole on one of my shoes came off at a campout, and I went around the site looking for it. And I found it, and reported to my campmates that I had found my sole mate.

And they replied with "Oh, good! Now hold it steady over the campfire, so we can have some grilled sole!"

*runs off like greased (grilled?) lightning to avoid PUN-ishment*

 

[big soft moose]

I don’t see a particular problem with phone.. words persist past the demise of their original meaning. Vis for example dialling a number has been obsolete since the advent of push button phones in the. 80s but people still use it to describe tapping a number into a smart screen

Fancy names aren’t used in normal discourse - wrey did a fantastic post on the OG about this, I don’t come close to him as a linguist but in short he said that slang develops for convenience and no one will talk about “ lifting their hyper galactic conofabulator “. any more than we talk about using our hand held radio transceiver or say “ I’ll just make a call on my Samsung galaxy S6”

 

[Stuart Dren]

Maybe in the future, Nintendo became the general tech conglomerate after the brutal Corp Wars. Everything is Nintendo.

How do you microwave a burrito? Put it in the Nintendo. Make a call? Dial your Nintendo. How are you visiting your friend? You'll take a Nintendo.

 

[Homer Potvin]

Dial your Nintendo

Case in point as the "dial" hasn't been around in, what... 30 years?

 

[Stuart Dren]

Case in point as the "dial" hasn't been around in, what... 30 years?

Great point but I have to credit Moose with that observation lol.

I don’t see a particular problem with phone.. words persist past the demise of their original meaning. Vis for example dialling a number has been obsolete since the advent of push button phones in the. 80s but people still use it to describe tapping a number into a smart screen

That made me wonder about what other ones I don't notice.

On the other side, I find it interesting how we don't use the word 'program' any more, like programming a VCR. It's just configuring or setting up, maybe because programming sounds too difficult.

 

[Louanne Learning]

these days, even calling it "my cell" is more common than calling it "my phone"

 

[Stuart Dren]

these days, even calling it "my cell" is more common than calling it "my phone"

I call it my cell if I'm being asked for my phone number for contact, as in, distinction from a landline. If I lose my phone, I say to the Ms. "Have you seen my phone?"

 

[Rigor Mortis]

I call it my cell if I'm being asked for my phone number for contact, as in, distinction from a landline. If I lose my phone, I say to the Ms. "Have you seen my phone?"

Does she suggest it's either upstairs or downstairs?

 

[big soft moose]

these days, even calling it "my cell" is more common than calling it "my phone"

That’s probably a regional thing , no one on this side of the pond calls in my cell

 

[Stuart Dren]

these days, even calling it "my cell" is more common than calling it "my phone"

Another thought: what about phone as a verb?

 

[Louanne Learning]

Another thought: what about phone as a verb?

Good point. My usual thing to say, is "I'll call you."