What is your preferred way of referring to non-ebooks? (when needing to distinguish)

[Ripplinger]

I generally use "book" for all paper books, whether hard cover or paperbacks. And I pretty much always use "ebook" for digital books, never just "book". And that's the same for me whether in conversation or online text.

If someone is being more obtuse, then I'll resort to using "paper books", and once in a blue moon I'll refer to "paper backs" but only when I'm referring specifically to the smaller books I used to carry around with me in the past.

[Katja_hbg]

I am using Holz-Buch which is wooden book.

[MikeB1972]

Right let's do a multiple choice for tablets, what does everyone call clay tablets, and how do you differentiate between stone and electronic tablets.

I'm expecting everyone but Harry to call them a tablet of some kind so we need :-
Tablet
Clay Tablet
Stone Tablet
iPad
Tuppu
Something to differentiate between "Kindle Fire" and "Samsung about to set on Fire"

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

I only added plain 'book' for those (ahem, stubborn ) people who want to insist on just saying book even when needing to distinguish from an ebook. For example, if such a person only reads ebooks then they might say, 'I don't read books anymore'. I hope that makes it clear how silly it would be to use simply 'book' to distinguish from 'ebook'.

For me, its rather the opposite. I say "I don't read paper books anymore."

When I say "book", it's always the concept of letters on a surface, which I can read and tells a story (which can be educational or for pleasure or even both), but I always have the electronic version on my mind. And often, if there's no electronic version, it doesn't exist for me

[DiapDealer]

Usually "book" for both. But if the conversation requires a distinction, it's "physical book" -- "pbook" if it needs to be typed repeatedly.

[spindlegirl]

Among people who are familiar with the acronym, online I say "DTB" (one time someone thought it meant "digital talking book" so I stopped using it for a while, but I did mean "dead tree book" with a smile).

Now that ebooks are more normal, I do find that more people parse it that way ("dead tree"), but I do try to know my audience so I don't have to explain.

Verbally when talking among friends, I usually will say either "printed book" or "physical book".

e.g. "The ebook was unavailable on overdrive, so I borrowed the physical book instead."

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by spindlegirl

Among people who are familiar with the acronym, online I say "DTB" (one time someone thought it meant "digital talking book" so I stopped using it for a while, but I did mean "dead tree book" with a smile).

Now that ebooks are more normal, I do find that more people parse it that way ("dead tree"), but I do try to know my audience so I don't have to explain.

Verbally when talking among friends, I usually will say either "printed book" or "physical book".

e.g. "The ebook was unavailable on overdrive, so I borrowed the physical book instead."

My daughter is always making up her own acronyms then wondering why people don't understand her. She hasn't learned target audience.

[haydnfan]

I refer to them as paperback or hardcover. I don't lump the two together unless I'm lumping all formats together.

When I say I'm reading a book, I mean the actual content. If I say I'm reading it on paperback, hardcover or my kindle or kobo I'm then referring to the medium.

I don't actually talk about the medium alot. In most conversations when you're talking about a book, you're talking about the actual content and not fetishizing format.

[ucfgrad93]

I use the term "physical book."

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

My daughter is always making up her own acronyms then wondering why people don't understand her. She hasn't learned target audience.

Heh, I said "DTB" the first time, meaning dead tree book, following someone else, so I thought I was doing it the right way. I assumed it was the lingo of the group. I was misinformed at the time.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by spindlegirl

Heh, I said "DTB" the first time, meaning dead tree book, following someone else, so I thought I was doing it the right way. I assumed it was the lingo of the group. I was misinformed at the time.

Well you know someone is always mentioning DRM at the forum. If I said DRM to a local person, they would tell me their office used to be out on the Interstate but is for sale now.
It was a drilling company started by a Don Meek.

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Well you know someone is always mentioning DRM at the forum. If I said DRM to a local person, they would tell me their office used to be out on the Interstate but is for sale now.
It was a drilling company started by a Don Meek.

Heh, yes, every place has their own lingo and culture.

If I visit forums I've not visited for a long time, I spend a great deal of time re-orienting myself to the acronyms.

I find much of the internet lingo is foreign to people in real life, and often means something else.

In the early 90's when I was getting familiar with the internet, I used to think "LOL" meant "Lots of Love" (because when I was growing up as a tween-teen, it did in notes we'd pass around to our friends). I found it odd that perfect strangers professed their love for me when I was making jokes. I had to ask what it meant because I just couldn't make the connection on my own.

[sufue]

Originally Posted by spindlegirl

Among people who are familiar with the acronym, online I say "DTB" (one time someone thought it meant "digital talking book" so I stopped using it for a while, but I did mean "dead tree book" with a smile).

Now that ebooks are more normal, I do find that more people parse it that way ("dead tree"), but I do try to know my audience so I don't have to explain.

Verbally when talking among friends, I usually will say either "printed book" or "physical book".

e.g. "The ebook was unavailable on overdrive, so I borrowed the physical book instead."

+1

DTB here, paper book elsewhere

[drjd]

I am comfortable with using 'Pbook' and 'eBook' terminology. Pbook covers all printed books and/or paper books.

[sakura-panda]

There isn't a None of The Above option. I use none of the words that are in the poll, except "Book", which is the term I use for both printed and digital formats and not to distinguish either type. Like a lot of people, I don't often need to distinguish between book formats in regular discussion, even here on MobileRead.

I read both "ebooks" and "not ebooks", although I more often call the not ebooks "traditional books".

For my reading list, I don't distinguish the ebooks (they are the majority), but I do specify the format when it is not an ebook as "Hardcover", "Paperback" or "Audiobook".