Archive for Obsolescisms
Way back in 1997, I introduced the term “obsolescism” to refer to a term or phrase (like “dialing” a telephone) that has lost its literal meaning but hasn't yet become...
Jim Moskowitz points out that the phrase "pull out all the stops" originally referred to pulling the stop knobs of a musical organ. But stops are still in use on organs (though non-electronic organs are relatively rare), and the phrase may again be more a metaphor than an obsolescism. The search continues. (Last updated: 10 […]
I recently heard an anecdote that involved a teenager seeing a rotary telephone and not knowing what it was. Similarly, there's a funny scene in the movie In and Out in which a supermodel runs afoul of a rotary phone. In both cases, the idea was that although rotary telephones still exist, they've been largely […]