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from Language Log http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=29730
From a reader:
I just noticed this headline in our local news (which I read on line…):
"Seahawks QB Russell Wilson pens letter on behalf of Sonics arena project."
Does anyone pen a letter these days, or dial a phone number? I am sure this raises issues that have come up in your blog. Maybe though there is still room to explore how obsolete expressions continue to be used.
The pattern is certainly a common one. An expression for a concrete object is used to refer to a activity in which that object is central (metonymy); the usage may be extended to similar activities where the original object is not involved (metaphor); and the extended usage continues long after the use of the original object passes out of everyday life.
Thus pen for "write", dial for "enter a sequence of phone numbers", bridle for "restrain", spur for "encourage", sail for "begin a journey by water", shift gears for "change one's way of proceeding", telegraph for "give a premature indication", etc.
The same thing can happen for nominal extensions: reins for "controls", brass for "officers".
Well, some people still do write letters by hand, especially at this time of year, though they may be a dying breed. I still call the array of numbers on a phone a 'dial' whether it is virtual or not. I still call the distinctive noise you hear when you first pick up the phone a 'dial tone.' Even more obsolete is the word 'dial' used for the channel selector of a TV. I don't call the buttons on the remote a dial. However gears still shift in cars. More than a few ordinary folks still want to do it manually, though except in race cars there is very little advantage anymore. Every driver still shifts into reverse, so it's not actually close to obsolete. Back in the 1980s when I wrote my sci-fi novel I had all kinds of problems with the word "sail." I refused to use it for traveling through deep space, but never came up with a good substitute either.
From a reader:
I just noticed this headline in our local news (which I read on line…):
"Seahawks QB Russell Wilson pens letter on behalf of Sonics arena project."
Does anyone pen a letter these days, or dial a phone number? I am sure this raises issues that have come up in your blog. Maybe though there is still room to explore how obsolete expressions continue to be used.
The pattern is certainly a common one. An expression for a concrete object is used to refer to a activity in which that object is central (metonymy); the usage may be extended to similar activities where the original object is not involved (metaphor); and the extended usage continues long after the use of the original object passes out of everyday life.
Thus pen for "write", dial for "enter a sequence of phone numbers", bridle for "restrain", spur for "encourage", sail for "begin a journey by water", shift gears for "change one's way of proceeding", telegraph for "give a premature indication", etc.
The same thing can happen for nominal extensions: reins for "controls", brass for "officers".
Well, some people still do write letters by hand, especially at this time of year, though they may be a dying breed. I still call the array of numbers on a phone a 'dial' whether it is virtual or not. I still call the distinctive noise you hear when you first pick up the phone a 'dial tone.' Even more obsolete is the word 'dial' used for the channel selector of a TV. I don't call the buttons on the remote a dial. However gears still shift in cars. More than a few ordinary folks still want to do it manually, though except in race cars there is very little advantage anymore. Every driver still shifts into reverse, so it's not actually close to obsolete. Back in the 1980s when I wrote my sci-fi novel I had all kinds of problems with the word "sail." I refused to use it for traveling through deep space, but never came up with a good substitute either.
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The same effect exists in IT - how many programs and operating systems still use a floppy disc as the "save" icon, when they've hardly been used for years?
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Never thought about it until you brought up the subject, but the origin of that most likely goes back to when (now very antique) radio tuning indicators were all-but universally round, because it was the easiest way to connect them to the tuning capacitor inside, the plates of which rotate as it's tuned to a given frequency. Also, many or these early radios had a generally vertical profile rather than the horizontal ones they evolved into later on, and a horizontal dial would look a bit odd on them.
Currently, of course, most radios don't even have a dial at all, just a display that shows the frequency directly in numeric form. Practical, but still a tad boring for some oldsters such as myself.
All of which made me think of this company, apparently still in business. It's been several years since I bought a repro dial from them to repair a customer's receiver where the lettering had become damaged.
http://www.radiodaze.com/dials/
Ah, internet. Where would obscurity be without you?
;-)
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Just checking the dictionary, 'dial' technically refers to the graduated display, so even watches these days frequently don't actually have a dial any more.
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Yup. And in one of those "there's only 20 people in the world" aspects, my father worked most of his life for the Hamilton Watch company here in Lancaster, PA, and some years before the company was acquired by the Swiss they introduced what back then was a revolutionary product.
http://www.oldpulsars.com/
My mother, sister and I bought one for my dad, which I eventually inherited and still have, although I don't wear it (or any watch, for that manner). It is truly a very pretty thing in its gold case and dark red windowed LED display. It was pricey, which is why dad, who was a mite frugal when it came to his own desires, didn't get one for himself, although he very much wanted one.