"Stay tuned" - the all-digital generation doesn't get this phrase (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Seventy years ago, "staying tuned" was an active process.  By the
sixties, it was passive.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
Behalf Of
> Cohen, Gerald Leonard
> Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2012 11:19 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: "Stay tuned" - the all-digital generation doesn't get
this phrase
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
----------------------
> -
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at MST.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Stay tuned" - the all-digital generation doesn't
get this
>               phrase
>
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------
> -
>
> That was my impression too.  I thought it was short for "Stay tuned to
> this station," i.e., "stay with this station."
>
> Gerald Cohen
>
>  ________________________________
>
>  Dan Goncharoff wrote, Mon 4/2/2012
>
> Although I am over 50 years old and listen to the radio all the time,
I had
> never thought of the phrase in this context before. (I guess I had
assumed
> it meant a positive version of "don't touch that dial".)
>
> DanG
>
>
> On Sat, Mar 31, 2012 at 2:07 PM, Guy Letourneau <guy1656 at opusnet.com>
wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Guy Letourneau <guy1656 at OPUSNET.COM>
> > Subject:      "Stay tuned" - the all-digital generation doesn't get
this
> > phrase
> >
> >
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> ---
> >
> > I wrote a status report e-mail to my colleagues this week, and ended
it
> > with "Stay tuned," with my name following the comma much as one
would
> > end a formal letter with "Sincerely," and a person of about 22 years
old
> > privately wrote back to ask me what I meant by being "tuned."
> >
> > We are about two generations past the era of vacuum tube receivers
in
> > radio and television, and as radios go digital, the understanding of
> > analog amplitude modulation (AM) is passing away now, as is the
concept
> > of tuning a receiver to a carrier frequency which may drift over
time
> > due to atmospheric conditions between the broadcaster and the
receiver.
> >
> > Also, changes in temperature of the components of the receiving set,
> > especially tubes and capacitors would cause frequency drifts, all of
> > which had to be adjusted periodically while receiving the signal;
this
> > was not 'set and forget' channel selection. There were always knobs
to
> > twiddle...
> >
> > - Guy L.
> >
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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