Quote:
Originally Posted by murg
You know, I'm a little annoyed at this concept that an electronic file is intangible...
|
No need to be annoyed as the Oxford English Dictionary agrees with you (as do I)
in that things do not have to be physical, touchable, etc. in order to be tangible. For anything that can be grasped by the mind as being even though it does not physically exist (even an idea or proposal, for example, which exists in our brains' "RAM" in some non physical form) that thing can be figuratively described as "tangible".
We grasp in our mind that an ebook, audiobook or software application file exists and so those things may be figuratively described as being tangible (as is the EULA that may come with those things). If they could not be grasped by the mind as being they may be figuratively describable as being intangible.
Also, as copies of things that can be grasped by the mind exist (such as a shared idea or proposal which exists in several brains' "RAM" and may still be described as tangible) then the fact that ebooks can be copied does not detract from their being able to be described as tangible.
There are other words that can have meanings in a similar manner as tangible does, for example "material". Material may mean that something is a physical thing, but it may also mean that it is important e.g. an important fact, so does not necessarily mean that its subject has to exist in physical or touchable form. "Substance" is another.