"E-reader devices", naming

[Cthulhu]

UPEDR....


Hmm. Incredibly accurate, but lacking a bit in concision. However, I would ask permission to use that phrase in the future (citing the source, of course, of course).

;-

[grimo1re]

"That newfangled electronic thing for reading books"

[Jadon]

If UPEDR is an option, you might as well go with Star Trek's PADD, personal acess display device. One syllable.

[Cthulhu]

Jadon:

That would be a cromulent acronym provided these devices had native support for colour, video, audio, and internet.

Sadly, as so few--if any--of the current crop of digital text machines do so, I doubt that we can apply the term.

Plus, while I like a neat acronym, I feel uneasy appropriating one from that mythos.

[moz]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i like the french term "liseuse" very much as a generic word, which can be translated as "reader" quite simply. however i suppose you are probably looking for an english term...

I like liseuse, and lets face it, English is full of words that have been acquired from elsewhere. That's what makes it so great, that it has words like dinosaur, mana, kilometre and Eskimo in it (Greek, Polynesian, French and Eskimo respectively). It's not as though one more French word in the language will hurt the situation, our spelling is already atrocious. I'm sure we could Anglicise the spelling enough that the French would disown the term Perhaps lissoose so that merkins can pronounce it properly :P

[zelda_pinwheel]

If UPEDR is an option, you might as well go with Star Trek's PADD, personal acess display device. One syllable.

...and we come neatly full circle back to Prospect's orginal (almost) suggestion !

Originally Posted by moz

I like liseuse, and lets face it, English is full of words that have been acquired from elsewhere. That's what makes it so great, that it has words like dinosaur, mana, kilometre and Eskimo in it (Greek, Polynesian, French and Eskimo respectively). It's not as though one more French word in the language will hurt the situation, our spelling is already atrocious. I'm sure we could Anglicise the spelling enough that the French would disown the term Perhaps lissoose so that merkins can pronounce it properly :P

that's true ! english is the richest language because it has "borrowed" from every other language. i fully support the idea of lending yet another french word.

i should specify that if you want to anglicize it, a closer transcription would be "lizooze" (it's not quite the real french pronunciation, the vowel sound in "euse" is pronounced more like the "e" in "her", but it's closer).

maybe between the two of us, we could start using it here, start a trend and launch our very own neologism ! it could be our 15 minutes of glory...

[Christian Pujol]

I call it "telefonino", Cell-phone in Italian.
And in fact in general i do not believe in the future of a a "text only" reader.
I can't imagine future reader who cannot access the web, and if i can access web, i want to do it with an unique device with which i can read text, listen music, watch video, call friend...
And if the French "liseuse" have a nice sound, it smell a little: "I CANT call it READER it's an English term and I speak FRENCH" symptom of an old French illness which have give us "mèl" for not using "mail"

[Cthulhu]

Oui Oui.

Find it interesting that the French as a nation are so stringent with their language trade, going so far as to erect monumental tariffs and creating a governmental organisation whose sole purpose is to transmogrify non-Francais words, and retro-actively 'retire' those that all ready made it into the country.

As a people, I find them quite tasty though.
;-

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

Oui Oui.

Find it interesting that the French as a nation are so stringent with their language trade, going so far as to erect monumental tariffs and creating a governmental organisation whose sole purpose is to transmogrify non-Francais words, and retro-actively 'retire' those that all ready made it into the country.

As a people, I find them quite tasty though.
;-

Cthulu, remind me never to accept, if you invite me for dinner...

Christian : in fact, the original idea of this thread was searching for an alternate word for "reader" because of the confusion with the format with that name (although personally i do think that for simplicity and convenience eventually "reader" or "e-reader" will become the genericised term, like now we say "kleenex" for a paper handkercheif).

i do like the term liseuse but not specifically because it is french ; i say "mail" not "mél" (in french also) and i think that just as english is richer for borrowing from other languages, so is french ; sometimes, it is much more cumbersome to create a franco-français paraphrase when there exists a shorter, precise word in english, so why not use it.

personally, i do not want my liseuse and my telefonino to be the same device : i want my telefonino to be much much smaller than my liseuse (or maybe i should say, i want my liseuse to be much bigger than my telefonino), and i want my liseuse with a nice e-ink screen (or better, with future technology...), to give me a pleasant reading experience. in the métro, i read on my telephone sometimes, but i will never *prefer* that : tiny screen, ugly text, no illustrations...

i do beleive in the future of a "text-only" device or at least a "text-principally" device (even if it incorporates other features in the future) because multi-media (video etc.) and reading need much different technology, unless there is a way to make a screen which can switch between e-ink and regular cellphone / computer screen. i hate reading on my computer, the light hurts my eyes.

maybe for some people there is no need for a specific device for reading, but i think it is completely worthwhile and i suspect there might be a few more as well...

[nekokami]

Actually, I rather like "liseuse" as well, but I doubt it will catch on. Unless someone starts a very popular website or format or something using the term.

[moz]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i should specify that if you want to anglicize it, a closer transcription would be "lizooze" (it's not quite the real french pronunciation, the vowel sound in "euse" is pronounced more like the "e" in "her", but it's closer).

The problem is that people will think you're talking about the output of the queen of Australia (and Wales and Zimbabwe), Liz-ooze. That's why I prefer lissoose or maybe lizoose, it's not as accurate but I think more people will accept it. We might even get to four people! Lots of English-speaking people struggle with spelling Francais, even without accented letters (they also struggle to spell English).

I shall start a website with the name and see what happens

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by moz

The problem is that people will think you're talking about the output of the queen of Australia (and Wales and Zimbabwe), Liz-ooze. That's why I prefer lissoose or maybe lizoose, it's not as accurate but I think more people will accept it. We might even get to four people! Lots of English-speaking people struggle with spelling Francais, even without accented letters (they also struggle to spell English).

I will defer to your judgement on the spelling matter, especially since i am a pretty good speller in french and english (maybe it's a benefit from reading so much ).

Originally Posted by moz

I shall start a website with the name and see what happens

I will visit this website and spread the word (literally)

[vivaldirules]

I think we should call them Zeldas and be done with it! It's certainly an easier name to say than liseuse - for me, anyway.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

I think we should call them Zeldas and be done with it! It's certainly an easier name to say than liseuse - for me, anyway.

i hardly know what to reply to that.

[Patricia]

I quite liked Nate's 'Vera'.

'Qui verra Vera l'aimera.'