"E-reader devices", naming

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by moz

Yeah, when I say "oh, that's my iPod" people just stand there drooling blankly at me until I say "portable music player", at which point they understand. Same problem with every neologism or modernisation. IMO a single descriptive word beats having several phrases to refer to the same thing and the inevitable tendency to use a common brand instead (walkman or iPod anyone?)

My goal is just to keep using the words I prefer until I get sick of it or they become commonplace. Same as with queer and critical mass.

There are two kinds of names. One is the personal one you give the device and the other is the generic name. For the generic name I vote for mReader, after all this is Mobile Read and Mobile Reader fits it well although you could just use those two words just fine. For the personal name, it is personal.

Dale

[JSWolf]

"Vera you dingbat! — Mel Sharples

[JSWolf]

The one name that does not fit at all that too many people give theri device is eReader. Actually, the term reader is incorrect as well. What we have is an Electronic Document Display Unit. We the humans using these units are the readers.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

Oh, Saint Beebop, Patron of Madness and Bellybutton Lint, I'm still wanting titles. You can't just scuttle across the floors of silent seas and ignore the request.

I think only the Queen can confer titles, and she hasn't spoken to me since I crawled under her dress to hide from the constabulary (apparently I spoiled her supping on a Paris Brest).

Lest I not be obvious (and, 'tis true, I rarely am), I still cannot draw, like a drillworm from my tiny brain, the meaning, within the context of your request, of the word "titles". Elaborate, for this dullard's somnambulist mind, and you shall receive.

Your humble and loyal but rambunctious Fool,
Marc

[Taylor514ce]

Originally Posted by moz

Yeah, when I say "oh, that's my iPod" people just stand there drooling blankly at me until I say "portable music player",

iPod is a brand with a huge market awareness based on millions of advertising dollars. It is a specific instance of an mp3 player. Everyone knows what an mp3 player is, but if me and handful of mp3 player enthusiasts decided that the generic term for mp3 players will henceforth be known as "gimboo", it wouldn't make it so, and referring to my mp3 player publicly as a gimboo, while perhaps fun, wouldn't be helpful.

So when Apple comes out with their eBook display, names it the "lisuse", and spends millions informing the world of it, I'll use the term.

[Madam Broshkina]

The one name that does not fit at all that too many people give theri device is eReader. Actually, the term reader is incorrect as well. What we have is an Electronic Document Display Unit. We the humans using these units are the readers.

I remember reading the "Weekly Reader" in Grade School. We did not call it the "Amalgamation of fibers, typically vegetable fibers composed of cellulose, subsequently held together by hydrogen bonding document display unit."

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by Madam Broshkina

I remember reading the "Weekly Reader" in Grade School. We did not call it the "Amalgamation of fibers, typically vegetable fibers composed of cellulose, subsequently held together by hydrogen bonding document display unit."

Didn't you? We did. The good thing was that by the time the teacher had told us to "open our Amalgamation of fibers, typically vegetable fibers composed of cellulose, subsequently held together by hydrogen bonding document display unit to the fibrous layer indicated by a pitchy glyph corresponding to the accepted representation of the number twenty-and-seven and bonded to the sheet in the lower right and left corners in the regularly ordered manner", well, it was almost lunchtime. I liked lunchtime - I'd usually go sit in a quiet spot in the playground and read a book.

Cheers,
Marc

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The one name that does not fit at all that too many people give theri device is eReader. Actually, the term reader is incorrect as well. What we have is an Electronic Document Display Unit. We the humans using these units are the readers.

Hm... what about the word "computer"? Especially when used by an accountant to run spreadsheet software? Or the word "screwdriver"? I think the "-er" suffix is ambiguous in the case of the word "reader."

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The one name that does not fit at all that too many people give theri device is eReader. Actually, the term reader is incorrect as well. What we have is an Electronic Document Display Unit. We the humans using these units are the readers.

So, that's an Eddu ? right !

[Taylor514ce]

Record Player. MP3 Player. Computer Monitor / Screen / Display.

These devices play or display e-books. In a sense they first read them in order to format and display them. Therefore they are e-book displays, e-book players, or e-book readers. The general consensus among the manufacturers and media is that these are "readers". I think coming up with another phrase is unnecessary, insular, and indulgent.

Now, I'm getting ready for a business trip, so I have to charge my gimboo, find my lisuse case, and download some files to Vera.

[TallMomof2]

I refer to my Kindle as Conan. My son would've had that name by DH didn't concur.

[RobbieClarken]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i think i'll name my device spike.

that's right, my eb1150 is a bada$$.

EDIT : ok, maybe not spike, i just realized half the planet will think i named it for a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" character. some other 1940's gangster-type name. maybe Shifty. or one-eyed Mack. i'll get back to you.

That is quite humorous because my tablet PC is actually called Spike after the Buffy character. My PDA is named Xander, my iPod is Willow and my mobile phone is Buffy. Yeah, I know I'm a geek.

Hmm... I guess my Sony Reader will have to be Giles.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by epiphany

That is quite humorous because my tablet PC is actually called Spike after the Buffy character. My PDA is named Xander, my iPod is Willow and my mobile phone is Buffy. Yeah, I know I'm a geek.

Hmm... I guess my Sony Reader will have to be Giles.

On your world - the Sony Reader should be called "Moloch" ....

[moz]

I reckon you lot need to have more children. Or possibly pets.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by moz

I reckon you lot need to have more children. Or possibly pets.

OH - no - we've got more than enough of them, thankx...