Let's make a new name for cellphones!!

Syzygys said:
Anyhow, smarty it is. :)
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"Dummy" would be better.

"You just can't live with out it,... I see you've got your Dummy with you!" (A comforter, I guess a phone is a comforter for some... well it is if they get through to you and start chin wagging your ear off with the latest quintessentially important crisis that has emerged in their life. Some people realise however "That is what Hold is for")
 
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Syzygys said:
I bet you they are used more for texting. Phonecompanies definiately make more money on the text department...
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That's because they vastly overcharge for texts, relative to the cost of sending a text. Transmitting a single second of voice traffic requires sending more bits across the network than 10 texts, and must be done continuously, in real time. Yet sending a single text can cost more than 1 minute's worth of voice call time. Texts are essentially all profit, while margins on voice calls are razor thin.

If use is measured in terms of hours spent by users (the relevant measure here), instead of profits made by carriers, then voice calls outstrip text by orders of magnitude.

Syzygys said:
It was a counterargument to your statement
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No, it wasn't, since the iPod Touch is neither a cellphone, nor a smartphone, nor any kind of phone: it doesn't use the phone network at all. It's a portable WiFi device, just like your laptop or netbook. And it doesn't do texting or voice calls, and so is not a replacement for a phone: people who own them (largely received as gifts BTW) tend to carry them AND a cellphone. For a few weeks, anyway, until they get tired of lugging around 2 devices and start leaving the iTouch at home.
 
Fraggle Rocker said:
Feet, acres, pounds, quarts and degrees Fahrenheit are called British units.
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I live in Britain but I have never heard "British units" before. Your examples are "Imperial Units" or historically "English Units". Maybe non-British English speaking countries (such as US) are calling them as "British units"; I don't know.

I also don't know how "name for cellphones" thread has evolved into such a specific international masturbation.
 
quadraphonics said:
Could be colonial hangover, or just the fact that speakers of English from the British Isles sound like jackasses.
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* * * * NOTE FROM THE MODERATOR * * * *

Please be more civil on this board.
Syzygys said:
Actually 2 completely unrelated products can have the same name, see Apple (also a Brit record company). . . .
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Although you can't predict whether the product lines will begin to overlap. (As the story was told to me) a legal dispute in fact arose when Apple Computers applied for the trademark, and it was settled when they promised Apple Records that they would not intrude into the music business. They have violated that promise with the iPod and iTunes, but apparently they got away with it. However, you will never find a Beatles song on iTunes.
Not to mention it is not a brandname but a collective name for a special device. Short of like hoover eventually became...
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We're slightly more protective of brand names in America. My wife had a British roommate for many years and she still talks about "hoovering" the floor, but everybody else in the U.S. calls it "vacuuming." However with Thermos and Kleenex it's a losing battle.

When I was in Yugoslavia 35 years ago, everyone called their refrigerator a Frigidaire.
baftan said:
I live in Britain but I have never heard "British units" before. Your examples are "Imperial Units" or historically "English Units". Maybe non-British English speaking countries (such as US) are calling them as "British units"; I don't know.
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You're right, sorry. But we've been browbeaten by the Welsh, Scots and Northern Irishmen to stop calling them "English," so we overreacted by being reluctant to use the adjective for anything except the language and muffins. Now if only they would return the favor and stop referring to all Americans as "Yankees."

We only use "Imperial" in specific cases when the English unit is not quite the same size as the American version, such as gallons and bushels. We standardized our measures in the 18th century, before the British did, so ours came out differently even though they're both derived from the same source.
I also don't know how "name for cellphones" thread has evolved into such a specific international masturbation.
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We don't get a lot of actions on the Linguistics board so I'm pretty easygoing about that. However, to repeat myself:

* * * * NO INSULTS, PLEASE * * * *
 
The funny part is that I don't actually have a smarty, just a plain cellphone. So it looks like I won't be using the term anytime soon.

And that was the whole point of this thread, to make a distinction between simple cellphones and advanced personal communicating devices. (oh no, I just made APCD)
 
Syzygys said:
This is where you can show off your imaginative side and come up with a name that if promoted, might even make it to the dictionary!!

So what is the problem? Well, today's cellphones are not just cellphones anymore, but mp3 players, cameras and videorecorders and even internet access devices. yes, they also measure time and take notes and such.

I think we should call them something else than the cellphones of 10 years ago. Right now I don't have any good idea, thus this thread. If something pops into your mind, just post away!

So what should we call these all powerful and can not be missed electronic devices? Iphone and Blackberry are brandnames, gadget is too wide ranged...
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BS im not giving out any ideas that I could patent myself or gain ipr on >_> I have good ideas they are worth money lol.

peace.
 
EmptyForceOfChi said:
BS im not giving out any ideas that I could patent myself or gain ipr on >_> I have good ideas they are worth money lol.

peace.
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If you post them at least you have proof as to when YOU came up with the idea and can use it if you need to to get your idea money because you developed it first , here.
 
News:

"Information is leaking out about an Android phone from Motorola which is rumored to be the first such phone for Verizon. Not much is known about this phone, which is dubbed Sholes. If Verizon does release this phone, it will likely be the first Android phone to work on the EVDO Rev. A 3G network."

Now doesn't smarty sound better?? :)
 
cosmictraveler said:
If you post them at least you have proof as to when YOU came up with the idea and can use it if you need to to get your idea money because you developed it first, here.
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* * * * NOTE FROM THE MODERATOR * * * *

PLEASE CONTACT AN ATTORNEY BEFORE TAKING LEGAL ADVICE FROM SCIFORUMS MEMBERS.

I'm not an attorney, but I have some experience with copyrighting songs. By posting an idea on an internet board, you may be implicitly releasing it into the public domain.
 
Syzygys said:
News:

"Information is leaking out about an Android phone from Motorola which is rumored to be the first such phone for Verizon. Not much is known about this phone, which is dubbed Sholes. If Verizon does release this phone, it will likely be the first Android phone to work on the EVDO Rev. A 3G network."

Now doesn't smarty sound better?? :)
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Better than what? "Phone?"
 
Syzygys said:
No, Android or Sholes, as mentioned in the news.
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Those are both proper nouns, and so it is not appropriate to replace them with a catch-all term. To do so would brutalize the meaning of the quoted text:

"Information is leaking out about a smarty phone from Motorola which is rumored to be the first such phone for Verizon. Not much is known about this phone, which is dubbed smarty. If Verizon does release this phone, it will likely be the first smarty phone to work on the EVDO Rev. A 3G network."

This makes the first sentence false: Verizon and Motorola already have smartphones on the market. Likewise, the second sentence becomes false, since "smarty" is not the name of the new product. Finally, the third sentence also becomes false, since there are other smartphones on EVDO Rev. A.
 
Proper nouns can become comon nouns, see hoover...
 
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Syzygys is right, there are huge numbers of bran names which have become comon nouns.

Victor (for lawn mover)
Hills Hoist (for washing line, specifically the stand alone sort)
Bandaid (for a small type of aheasive wound dressing)
panadol (for paracitamol)
Nufirin (for ibprofin)
EpiPen (for a self injecting Adrenilin)
Bowser (for the petrol pumps)
PC (for computers)
 
which was the name IBM gave to there first computer compeating against the commodoor 64 (from memory)
 
Ok, I stand corrected.
Although I think its an interesting case of the brand (PC not IBM) that gave the product its name no longer existing.
 
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