Tron

[Bruce Dykes]

----- Original Message -----
From: "D. Ezra Johnson" <ezra_50 at HOTMAIL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2001 10:48
Subject: Tron


> How did this morpheme "Tron" acquire the approximate meaning of
> "gender-neutral, not to say robotic, agent"?
>
> If it originates in "automaton" we need to explain the "r".
>
> Another quick Web search revealed forms like "Name-o-Tron",
"Abuse-a-Tron",
> "Tune-o-Tron", and "Phrase-o-Tron" -- showing the productiveness of this
> suffix in a slightly different sense, that of an automatic device
performing
> a certain specific function.
>
> Although robots are stereotypically male (e.g. the trademark low
monotone),
> I think the shift from "robotic" to "gender-neutral" makes some sense.
With
> "waitron", there is additional support from the form "waitress" which
> already has the 'r'.

There's also Metatron, the angel tasked with being the Voice of God, and if
the movie Dogma is to be believed, he looks an awful lot like Alan Rickman.

Unfortunately, I have none of my angelology references to hand, so I can't
bring any more depth than this to the table at this time.

bkd