Pre-Archaic Industrial Jargon

[Larry Sheldon]

On 3/10/2012 9:13 AM, Ronald Butters wrote:

> My phone rings all the time. It has a ring-tone.


I'll bet it does not, in the pre-archaic sense of "clapper on gong"

It may well make a ringing sound, but I'll bet it bears the same
relation to clapper-on-gong sounds that the noise in my left ear does.

The "wire line" (coax and fiber optic cables) phones make an electric
purring sound, my cell phone only "rings" on numbers I don't know, and I
think my wife's cell-phone does not even try.

An interesting-to-me modern kink-set is the distinction that seems to be
made between a "wireless" (from the British for 'radio'?) mobile (used
to mean vehicle-mounted) telephone and a "cordless" wire-line (see
objections above) or "land-line" (old jargon for "not radio") telephone.

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