Terms Which Have Disappeared

[St. Louis]

... and "hanging up" a telephone. Technically, wouldn't you say that telephones haven't been "hung up" since wall units went out of fashion? I mean the old hank-crank ones, not the plastic ones found in kitchens until the late 90s.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Now that's not something I've thought of in fifty years! As a boy, my mother bought a number of Tom Swift, Jr. books for me. I tore through them and wanted more. I remember lining them up on one shelf of a bookcase my father built of pine and stained to a mahogany color.

 

[BlueTrain]

It's almost embarrassing to admit that I find those old boy's adventure books so fascinating and interesting. One reason might be that I never read any of them except the Hardy Boys when I was still living at home (I left home as soon as I finished high school). So the other books I've ran across are fresh and new. They say if you want to learn something new, read an old book. But I doubt whoever said that was thinking of books like that.

Another thing about those old juvenile adventure books was that these (usually) teenage boys were doing things that I wouldn't have done in a million years--at least as a teenager. I didn't have a car, speedboat, ice boat, motorcycle or all the free time they seemed to have, not to mention the money they or their parents had which enabled them to travel as much as they did. And they never had to work, either, or sweat out exams at school. So they were not only adventures, they were escapist, too.

They were also well-written with language well above the street level language of all the school age boys I ever knew, but with plenty of quaint and archaic words thrown in for period flavor. I imagine the same things still turn up in similar books today, the Hardy Boys still being in print, but one would probably never notice them now. That is, unless they're words one hasn't personally taken into use yet. I joke with a Korean co-worker that she knows more contemporary American slang than I do.

Besides, hanging up the telephone, they were always sending and receiving telegrams, making long-distance calls, riding trains and sometimes, going out to the air field to get on a plane. When they were outside of town, which was all of ten minutes from their nice brick home in the better part of town, they might stop now and then and check for unusual tire tracks in the dirt road. They might even ask a farmer if a certain touring car passed that way earlier, who of course would tell them that one certainly did and the driver must have been crazy.

The only thing in those old books I could ever identify with was trespassing.

 

[LizzieMaine]

... and "hanging up" a telephone. Technically, wouldn't you say that telephones haven't been "hung up" since wall units went out of fashion? I mean the old hank-crank ones, not the plastic ones found in kitchens until the late 90s.

I think "hanging up" comes from the idea of two-piece receiver/transmitter phones -- the receiver on both wall phones and desk sets literally hangs from the switch-hook when not in use. The rise of one-piece handset phones in the 1930s superseded the two-piece models -- although you could still find them into the 1960s in some locations -- but hanging-up remained the usual phrase. "Slamming down" the phone, however, is a prhase that belongs to the handset era, and of course you still literally "hung up" a handset-style wall phone.

 

[Fading Fast]

I think "hanging up" comes from the idea of two-piece receiver/transmitter phones -- the receiver on both wall phones and desk sets literally hangs from the switch-hook when not in use. The rise of one-piece handset phones in the 1930s superseded the two-piece models -- although you could still find them into the 1960s in some locations -- but hanging-up remained the usual phrase. "Slamming down" the phone, however, is a prhase that belongs to the handset era, and of course you still literally "hung up" a handset-style wall phone.

I'm just happy - with today's cordless phones and smartphones - if I can tell if the call has actually ended . There's nothing physical that happens sometimes - no "hanging up," "putting down" or even touching a button - sometimes the call just ends based on something the other person did.

 

[BlueTrain]

You could also "ring off" after making a "trunk call," with operator assistance, of course. With a cordless phone, could one even say that someone is on the line? Or if the line went dead.

 

[LizzieMaine]

What do people with cell-phones do when they terminate a call in a rage? Hanging up with force was a satisfying way of punctuating a distasteful call. Do people shove their cell phones into their pockets with great emphasis?

 

[GHT]

... and "hanging up" a telephone. Technically, wouldn't you say that telephones haven't been "hung up" since wall units went out of fashion? I mean the old hank-crank ones, not the plastic ones found in kitchens until the late 90s.

Similarly, when was the last time you 'dialled' a number?

 

[GHT]

What do people with cell-phones do when they terminate a call in a rage? Hanging up with force was a satisfying way of punctuating a distasteful call. Do people shove their cell phones into their pockets with great emphasis?

There's a lady that I know, and she is a real lady, never uses profane language, who keeps a message in her phone memory that is used in place of the slammed hand piece. It reads. Foxtrot, Uniform, Charlie, Kilo, Oscar, Foxtrot, Foxtrot!
It made me smile when she showed it to me, but when I suggested: See you next Tuesday, she bristled: "I'm a lady, I couldn't possibly use that."

 

[Trenchfriend]

I don't like your death-penalty in the USA. You can abandon this, in general, but death-penalty for mobilephoning in supermarkets is still ok!

 

[BlueTrain]

Yikes!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Or at the very least twenty years in a reeducation camp learning to communicate face to face.

 

[GHT]

We have the death penalty for using the phone whilst driving. It's usually self inflicted.

 

[vitanola]

Similarly, when was the last time you 'dialled' a number?

At On May 31, 2017, at 9:26 AM, Eastern Daylight Savings Time.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Same date, 3:25pm EDT. And then spent the next ten minutes on hold. Bah.

 

[GHT]

It's good to know that I'm not alone in still having a finger dial phone appliance. It was a silly question to pose in such a forum.

 

[Zombie_61]

... and "hanging up" a telephone. Technically, wouldn't you say that telephones haven't been "hung up" since wall units went out of fashion? I mean the old hank-crank ones, not the plastic ones found in kitchens until the late 90s.

This may have been mentioned in this thread before, but similar to this would be the use of "roll up" and/or "roll down" in reference to car windows. These days I suppose it would be simpler and more accurate to say "open/close the window".

One modern term I have trouble with is "keyboarding". I and almost everyone I know still use "typing", and I'm waiting for the day some young twenty-something tries to correct me. But then, I still occasionally refer to a forklift as a "towmotor", so I'll put this in the "Old habits die hard" category.

What do people with cell-phones do when they terminate a call in a rage?

Press on the little glass screen with vigor? It can't possibly be as satisfying, but then there are people walking this Earth who have never had an opportunity to slam a telephone receiver onto it's cradle so they don't know what they're missing.

I don't like your death-penalty in the USA. You can abandon this, in general, but death-penalty for mobilephoning in supermarkets is still ok!

I would add people who use their cell phones in a movie theater. Death penalties may have historically been a deterrent, but in most cases these days I'm certain they only prevent the individual from committing more crimes.

 

[Stearmen]

Does any one say Whooooooooooa Nelly, when coming into a stop a little to fast and wondering if you are going to come to a stop before you are in the middle of the intersection?

 

[BlueTrain]

I'm sure everyone who still says "gee" and "haw" still use that expression.

Originally, the typing class in school was "typewriting." Manual typewriters, too. But when was the last time you saw a typewriter?

I have mixed thoughts about cell phones--or more correctly, smart phones--in cars. I see a fair number of accidents in my commute, nearly all minor. But I'm certain that none are caused by cell phone use. As far as the distraction in having a conversation on a cell phone while you're driving, it's no different than a conversation with a passenger, maybe even less so. Actually holding the phone might be a distraction, though. But the ones staring at their little screen when the traffic is stopped are often still staring at it when it starts moving again. No, I believe all those accidents I see are because of aggressive driving, mainly tailgating, and nearly always in the left-hand lane of a "dual carriageway" parkway. I live in an area with a lot of Type A personalities and everyone is in a hurry. Commuting is a competitive activity, sometimes adjudicated. Obeying the speed limit is not tolerated, but that goes along with the general moral decline these days when anyone obeying the law is considered to be a fool. The funny thing is that now everyone drives in the left-hand lane and only uses the right-hand lane for passing.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Every day I wake up I'm thankful I live fifty miles from the nearest Interstate. But I'm not thankful for all the out-of-state hotshots who think you drive on a two-lane 45mph road the same way you drive on six lanes of limited access. If you're an idiot in a car with a cell phone you'll still be an idiot in a car without a cell phone.