Prospect,
interesting point, it brings up the added complication that we are searching for a generic term in a context which has already begun to create a vocabulary (whether or not it was completely deliberate and born out of serious reflection is irrelevant). as you say,
Quote:
|
The mobipocket store will sell electronic books not electronic texts.
|
i think here the polyglot nature of this forum actually will complicate things sometimes (although in the end it means we as a group are possibly best suited for such discussions !). what you say about the "Psychological / logic" container is very interesting because i think it reveals a nuance (in my own psychology) which possibly is not translating well : in french, the word "text" can be used in some contexts in much the way you are using "book" ; that is, it has a larger meaning than only "series of glyphs for written communication", but rather can extend to "a written work" like a complete novel, etc. The difference is between "
un texte" (a text : a written work) and "
du texte" ([some] text : uncountable noun, series of glyphs). so my logic is weakened in english and therefore perhaps not well adapted to this search for a generic (english) term. that's the beauty of "
liseuse" of course, which i will continue to use in french !
it is a very elegant solution, i think, although i did not think of it myself.
given this linguistic particularity, i will agree that what i had called an e-text is probably better called an e-book. (i think i saw it referred to as a "livrel", from "livre électronique" in a french blog, but that's neither here nor there).
unfortunately this brings us back to the original problem, since following this logic brings us back to "e-reader" for the device, not viable because it creates confusion with the format of the same name.
a
readpad is a reasonable suggestion but to me it evokes a pad of paper (like a notepad) for writing on myself, and while some devices have this feature most of them don't and regardless it's not their primary function.
i also like nekokami's idea of calling it a library (or an e-library), however in my mind, this is too large a term : if i say "my library" i am referring to my complete collection of books (whatever their format), and i will never have ALL my books on my device (not even all my e-books), only a selection. "my partial library" or even "my portable library" is instantly less elegant.
in an attempt to be constructive, following this logic, may i suggest a
read-box ? this makes it clear that the device is the container, and also explicitly evokes its function, and as far as i know there is no format of that name. it also has the implication that *many* textes (e-books...) can be inside it. it reminds me of people who say they use a "linux box" for example, or of a music-box. (or maybe we could say a text-box, or a book-box... i think i just like the sonority of the word "box").
maybe the best solution is for everyone to learn french and we can all call them "
liseuses"
.