plug-in

[Dan Goncharoff]

I would point out that the old "plus and socket" terminology seems
less intuitive when the plug is recessed in the device and the socket
is on the cord, as one finds with many laptop electrical cords.

I see "plug-in" as an attempt to find intuitive language, since the
motion of attaching the socket to the plug is like the motion of
"plugging in".

DanG

On Sat, Sep 4, 2010 at 10:05 PM, imwitty <imwitty at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       imwitty <imwitty at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: plug-in
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> NO: any *computerized*  hardware/device acquires the plug-and-play
> capability *due to the software*, not the other way around --
> http://searchwinit.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid1_gci212799,00.html
>
> AND
>
> http://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid183_gci212800,00.html
>
> Certainly, we can find in OED the very first usage of  "plug-in" dated 1922,
> and looks like it was related to some *wireless* stuff, but this is not
> enough without further research to make any conclusion about the field
> discussed in the article from which the quote has been taken.
>
> YES, in the wider sense, if we start from the scratch -- I mean, the word
> "plug" itself -- it's definitely hardware, regardless of the configuration
> and destination  -- neither cork, nor hydrant, or even plain electrical plug
> need any software.
>
> BTW, those links are from the best website on the computer terminology *
> http://whatis.techtarget.com/*. I highly recommend it.
>
> I use it for many years -- very helpful in many situations which arise when
> you use PC of any "flavor"... (;'-)))
>
> Lora
>
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> On Sat, Sep 4, 2010 at 1:47 PM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: plug-in
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  That's a fair assessment and thanks for looking it up. Clearly
>> "plug-in" is used for things other than just software (consider, for
>> example, the most recent trademark use of "plug-in"--well, technically,
>> "plugins"). And the software metaphor was likely derived from hardware.
>> Compare, for example, to "plug-and-play". As I wrote initially, I was
>> never sure about the origin of the goof-up and was not committed to the
>> "lost in translation" explanation--it's just that it would have been one
>> of the easiest to imagine.
>>
>>     VS-)
>>
>> On 9/4/2010 4:14 PM, imwitty wrote:
>> > Dear Victor,
>> >
>> > As far as I know, the term "plug-in" is normally used to define some
>> > additional piece of the *software* designed to provide extra function(s)
>> not
>> > existent in the original/main software product.
>> >
>> > After checking all links in the article you mentioned in your message, I
>> > found the original text of the Toshiba recall, which doesn't use the
>> > "plug-in" while correctly describing all details of the issue:
>> >
>> http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/support/jsp/bulletin.jsp?ct=3DSB&so=
>> > id=3D2761378&ref=3DEV
>>  >
>> > The term "plug-in" appears on the press-release of the U.S. Consumer
>> Product
>> > Safety Commission at
>> > http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10330.htmlin the
>> =93Hazard=94
>> > description line.
>> >
>> > So it is obviously not  a "lost in translation"/"Japanization" case but
>> > rather the result of "creativity" AND a lack of the computer terminology
>> knowledge in the office of some native English-speaking bureaucrat and/or
>> > his assistant who "cooked" that press release.
>> >
>> >   Lora
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