Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthem
I'm curious about the thought processes behind referring to things as "dead tree" versions: do you do this for everything that has wood in it, or is it specially reserved for heaping scorn upon printed books?
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I read it somewhere used instead of "paper", and picked it up because I thought it was funny. It doesn't have any negative connotations for me.
Come to think about it, I'm pretty sure the first time I came across it, the phrase was used by a webcomic artist to refer to the print edition of their comic, that is, something great and exciting.
I have some of the fascination with dead tree books... I snapped up an edition of an animal encyclopedia from the early 20th century (illustrated with etchings dating from the first half of the 19th century), and it is a wonderful thing to browse through and admire. I also have two copies of
Macbeth on my bookshelf: The one I had to buy for class, and the one my mother had to buy for class.
You can attach sentimentality better to paper than digital files, I guess.
But if you want to read, digital files seem more practical than a huge stack of paperbacks that are so cheaply made they fall apart soon. (Bit of a hyperbole, that, but I had recently a pb graphic novel spine just break right through on first read, despite normal/careful handling. Very aggravating.)