Quote:
Originally Posted by rcentros
It's not that people don't think eBooks are real, the reason they use "real books" is that they are differentiating between books ("real," or something tangible they can hold in their hands) and eBooks, a book that (to them) is not "real," and not something they can hold in their hands. It's specifically because they understand that there is a difference between the two that qualify "book" with "real." "Paper book" is a term people don't normally use because "paper book" brings to mind "paperback books," and they want to include both hardback books and paperback books when they differentiate between "real" books and eBooks.
I immediately understand that when people refer to "real books," they mean books that are not eBooks (or audio books).
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I guess you and I have interacted with a pretty different crowd. Most people who use the phrase "real book" here (after ebooks have been mentioned) specifically mean "something that is a book, as opposed to something that is not a book". I'm willing to believe that's different in your corner of the world, as ebooks generally seem to be vastly more popular in the US than in Europe. In my country there is a real snobbish attitude toward ebooks, that possibly no longer exists in the US.