Retronym: computer website

[Benjamin Barrett]

I don't think that's the case at all. Many PC users also make the distinction.

I have no idea what Don and I were discussing, but it seems we agree that PC can mean Wintel machines only or include Macs.

And getting back to the original question, I think "PC website" would be ambiguous.

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

Learn Ainu! https://sites.google.com/site/aynuitak1/videos

On Jul 23, 2013, at 11:08 PM, W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Retronym: computer website
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> From the Barrett-Goncharoff exchange, it seems that Wintel users have no
> qualms about using <PC> as a generic for a desktop or portable computer
> with traditional keyboard & monitor/screen. But Mac folks get upset at the
> extension of <PC> to their products. I predict that <PC> has a good chance
> of becoming a universal generic because:  (1) Wintel proprietors have never
> aggressively resisted the loss of a <<PC>> trademark through serious
> litigation (I guess they never took dictionary purveyors to court over the
> matter, common adjective & noun after all); (2) Wintel users represent a
> global critical mass; (3) Mac/Apple folks have no catchy alternative to
> generic <PC>, hence this thread; indeed, they mostly seem to stick their
> heads in the sand and decry the inevitability of language change. There's
> nobody to sue.
> Wikipedia s.v. <<IBM Personal Computer>> (original IBM PC model 5150, 1981)
> Begin quote:
> Alongside "microcomputer" and "home computer", the term "personal computer"
> was already in use before 1981. It was used as early as 1972 to
> characterize Xerox PARC's Alto. However, because of the success of the IBM
> Personal Computer, the term PC came to mean more specifically a
> microcomputer compatible with IBM's PC products.
> End quote
> Also Wikip s.v. <<Influence of the IBM PC on the personal computer market>>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org