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Old 06-22-2012, 11:01 AM   #26
ApK
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Join Date: Feb 2010
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elemenoP View Post
Sure, ones and zeros are more accurate, but that's not what I meant. What idiom would you recommend in place of "bookmarking" a page in your ereader, since there's no actual bookmark? What idiom would you recommend in place of folders to organize your files, since there's no actual folder? Digital is digital, there's no "stuff" so we use the old stuff to represent the new stuff.

eP
Well, first, there is a book mark. It digitally marks your place in an ebook.
I see no reason why that must be associated with a strip of ribbon in a DTB.
So 'bookmark' will be correct and valid as long as we call those things we read 'books.'

Second, there are already less physically-derived alternates for both the terms you mention. Some browsers have "favorties" instead of"bookmarks" though this would make little sense in actually marking your place in a book. "Place holder" would work well, also, I think.
And "folders" are also called "directories." There would be no reason to change that term unless the underlying file system management itself changed.

I'll also point out that we happily use idioms today that derive from things that are long obsolete. The phone dial, as was mentioned. We also whip things into shape, though few of us have ever driven a horse or abused a slave, and we still go the whole nine-yards, even though no one can seem to agree on what that nine-yards originally referred to.

That being said, just a few days ago, before seeing this thread or that "old folks icons" link, I stared at my computer screen wondering why a 3.5" floppy persisted as a save icon.

ApK

Last edited by ApK; 06-22-2012 at 11:09 AM.
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