Digital vocabulary

[Kumabjorn]

Every language has idioms that are used for emphasis. "Woaw you've got tons of books", or "I found a ton of photos in the attic". In reality there may have been a 100 or 200 kg of books, not a 1,000. For photos, maybe 10 kg or so.

These expressions are obviously completely out of place in relation to those same items in their digital manifestation. You wouldn't say "I have a ton of photos in MyPicture folder". You might on the other hand say "I have 5 GB worth of photos in MyPicture folder", but that is likely to be more of a correct statement and it doesn't really describe that there are lots and lots of photos. You can have a few 100 very high resolution photos in RAW format , or you can have tens of thousand in JPEG.

If I were to say that I have a ton of photos in my computer, most of you would realize that I'm using that expression as an idiom to exaggerate the fact that i have lots and lots of photos. Generations growing up now probably won't, having only seen photos on iPads and Smartphones, that reference simply doesn't make sense when they have never seen boxes of old photos.

How do you think these idioms will evolve, and what are some other kind of idioms that will need to adapt to our digital reality?

[plib]

Gazillion seems to work for both digital and non-digital.

Or maybe for digital we should just move straight to Copyright Math.

[Ekaros]

I would think that tons would mean thousands. So you have thousands photos or what ever on computer...

If you bought a ton of modern hard drives, you would be able to store about 3 trillion ebooks (assuming an average file size of 1 MB per book). Large library systems seem to have tens of millions of books, so a ton of digital books is mindboggling.

[elemenoP]

I think you will enjoy this. "Old people icons" heh heh.

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheFlo...seAnymore.aspx

eP

[Rob Lister]

My son referred to his friend as a "Walking 404" I'll let the readers interpret that as they see fit. I thought is was clever ... and only a bit mean.

"I've got a bit-torrent of books," might someday be heard.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

If I were to say that I have a ton of photos in my computer, most of you would realize that I'm using that expression as an idiom to exaggerate the fact that i have lots and lots of photos. Generations growing up now probably won't, having only seen photos on iPads and Smartphones, that reference simply doesn't make sense when they have never seen boxes of old photos.

Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

I think you will enjoy this. "Old people icons" heh heh.

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheFlo...seAnymore.aspx

eP

Yes, just like we "old" people refer to smart-ass kids as JGs

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

I think you will enjoy this. "Old people icons" heh heh.

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheFlo...seAnymore.aspx

eP

That's great!!! I remember thinking that the "save" icon made no sense when I started using word processors under windows (MS Word 2.0), as most of the time I saved to hard disk.

[nogle]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away

Too late. It got taken away a few years ago. Processors have shut down too.

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away

When I think back on all the crap I learned in High School
It's a wonder I can think at all.

....

Give us all those nice bright colors
You give us the greens of summer


Dang, I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday but i can remember parts of the lyric i hummed some 30 (40?) years ago.

Nasty monkey for reminding me!

[dwig]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Every language has idioms that are used for emphasis. "Woaw you've got tons of books", or "I found a ton of photos in the attic". In reality there may have been a 100 or 200 kg of books, not a 1,000. For photos, maybe 10 kg or so. ...

You seem to be confusing the original, root, meaning of "ton", which this idiom uses, with the much newer second meaning.

A "ton" is, or was, a common cask of wine and was used in reference to shipping as a measure of quantity or volume, not weight. It was much later that the term was borrowed to refer to weight (eg. ton=2000# or metric ton=1000kg). When you say you have "tons of stuff" you are figuratively about the quantity and not weight, unless weight has been specifically referred to in a prior statement. Hence, the idiom needs no adaptation to apply to a digital collection.

[BeccaPrice]

we still talk about "dialing" the phone, although phones haven't had dials for years. I suspect that "ton" meaning a lot of stuff (as applied to digital) will have the same longevity.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Dang, I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday but i can remember parts of the lyric i hummed some 30 (40?) years ago.

May 1973 - a #2 smash hit for Paul Simon; and the only one of his solo outings I like.

Alas; Kodachrome, the film, is no more (1935~2009). Film photography? What's that?

[RainingLemur]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

I think you will enjoy this. "Old people icons" heh heh.

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheFlo...seAnymore.aspx

eP

Haha. Some of those are cool. Very cool indeed.