Why is any personal electronic communication contraption now called a 'device'? Is that another word that has lost its meaning? I always refer to the electric talking machine in my pocket as a telephone.
Mine is also a ‘phone - but not only that. It is a text message, a camera, a torch, a compass, a calculator, a map/navigational aid, a dictionary, a notebook, a means of accessing the internet, a banking tool etc. etc.
I tend to refer to it simply as my ‘phone, but I can’t fault others for whom that seems an inadequate description, or for whom the telephone function is not the main way they use the device.
Why is any personal electronic communication contraption now called a 'device'? Is that another word that has lost its meaning? I always refer to the electric talking machine in my pocket as a telephone.
Mine is also a ‘phone - but not only that. It is a text message, a camera, a torch, a compass, a calculator, a map/navigational aid, a dictionary, a notebook, a means of accessing the internet, a banking tool etc. etc.
I tend to refer to it simply as my ‘phone, but I can’t fault others for whom that seems an inadequate description, or for whom the telephone function is not the main way they use the device.
The term "device" probably includes some non-electronic gadgets. I once had a student, an engineering major, who carried and knew how to us an abacus, a wooden calculating device. In my college chemistry class, I found my slide rule very useful. Babbage's famous calculating machine was pre-electronic. The telegraph and the facsimile machine both preceded computers, as did Edison's stock ticker.
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I tend to refer to it simply as my ‘phone, but I can’t fault others for whom that seems an inadequate description, or for whom the telephone function is not the main way they use the device.
Nice!
I rather like the German term for it—ein Handy.