Digital vocabulary

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

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?

The Online Slang Dictionary defines ton as many or much.

The Urban Dictionary has a few definitions including a unit of weight for fat people but the one that applies to your concerns is:

used excessively in the online poker community, meaning many, lots of, several, countless, etc etc (insert any synonym of your choice)

[QuantumIguana]

People already use the word ton for things that can't be weighed, they might say "ton of jokes" (dictionary.com uses that example). They might say ton of money, even it is a digital transfer of funds. You also could talk about a ton of mosquitoes; they can be weighed, but a swarm of mosquitoes isn't likely to weigh a ton.

[tubemonkey]

My goodness; there's a ton of posts about the use of the word "ton".

[Kumabjorn]

I tried to illustrate my thinking by using examples using the expression "tons of...", I'm more interested in what other kind of idioms that will become obsolete because of the shift to digital. In an analog world we use concrete things, in the digital it is more abstract, hence the need for new idioms. Don't get hung up on tons.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I tried to illustrate my thinking by using examples using the expression "tons of...", I'm more interested in what other kind of idioms that will become obsolete because of the shift to digital. In an analog world we use concrete things, in the digital it is more abstract, hence the need for new idioms. Don't get hung up on tons.

It hasn't become obsolete. The meaning just shifted a little. This has happened with every word that became slang. It has absolutely nothing to do with the digital world.

[xg4bx]

i get fancy with it, i use variations of "metric crap ton".

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I tried to illustrate my thinking by using examples using the expression "tons of...", I'm more interested in what other kind of idioms that will become obsolete because of the shift to digital. In an analog world we use concrete things, in the digital it is more abstract, hence the need for new idioms. Don't get hung up on tons.

There's literally no telling. Idioms become popular in random ways, usually a phrase or comment from a celebrity or other icon that the public spontaneously decides whether or not it likes enough to be repeated.

How did "yadda yadda" become popular again in the American lexicon? Being used on an episode of Seinfeld. "Beam me up" came from a short-lived sci-fi show that almost no one saw during its original run. "Tune in" came from years of entire nations using dial-controlled radios and TV sets. Generation X was coined from a popular book. Etc.

Today, if things had been different, we could just as easily have been saying "I have tanks worth of books" for years (maybe Mark Spitz would have started that), and wondering why people today don't use "tons."

But the one thing that is clear is that the idiom doesn't necessarily have to make real sense; it only has to be understood by those who hear you use it. So the shift to digital may give us new idioms--in fact, I'd argue that "digital" has in itself become a new idiom, as it and its doppleganger, "analog," have become synonymous for "new" and "old"--but we'll probably get new idioms from other sources as well.

[elemenoP]

But as people pointed out in the comments in the "old people icons" article, digital is inherently abstract (1s and 0s), so there are very few new idioms to replace the old ones. Hence the old ones stick around long after they have real meaning.

eP

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

But as people pointed out in the comments in the "old people icons" article, digital is inherently abstract (1s and 0s), so there are very few new idioms to replace the old ones. Hence the old ones stick around long after they have real meaning.

1s and 0s aren't abstract; they're very specific, an exact number for an exact value; as opposed to analog, which is designed to land you "somewhere around" your target with some margin of error assumed... analog is much more abstract, whereas digital is accuracy. Just sayin'.

And the thing about new idioms is... they eventually become old idioms.

[elemenoP]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

1s and 0s aren't abstract; they're very specific, an exact number for an exact value; as opposed to analog, which is designed to land you "somewhere around" your target with some margin of error assumed... analog is much more abstract, whereas digital is accuracy.

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

[ApK]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

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

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by 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.

We also say our phones ring, when they haven't done that in about as long. Most phones these days play music when they receive a call.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by ScalyFreak

We also say our phones ring, when they haven't done that in about as long. Most phones these days play music when they receive a call.

For that matter, we still call them "phones" when many people seem to spend so much time texting, they might not have a "phonic" association at all. In the JD Robb near-future "In Death" books, the communication devices everyone uses are called "links."

ApK

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by ApK

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

Best for nine yards is that it derives from the length of a 50 cal machine gun belt used in B-29 bombers - giving the whole nine yards was firing an entire belt at a fighter... courtesy QI

[ApK]

Originally Posted by elcreative

Best for nine yards is that it derives from the length of a 50 cal machine gun belt used in B-29 bombers - giving the whole nine yards was firing an entire belt at a fighter... courtesy QI

Debatable, though I like better than most other theories I've heard.