Pre-Archaic Industrial Jargon

[Dan Goodman]

On 05/22/2012 12:32 PM, James A. Landau <JJJRLandau at netscape.com> wrote:
>  A few more anachronisms in daily, though not necessarily industrial
> usage:

"Broom" for besom not made of broom plant.
"Marshmallow."

Borderline:  "glasses" for plastic spectacles.  "Glass" for plastic
drinking vessel.


> "Tilt" - originally a signal from a pinball machine, but
> electro-mechanical pinball machines are nowadays very rare
>
> several terms from photography: "film" for a movie is becoming
> obsolete, now that many movies are distributed in digital format.
> "Celluloid" meaning film, obsolete since celluloid (nitrocellulose
> plus camphor), also known as "nitrate film", was replaced by the much
> less flammable "safety film" in the 1930's.  "Cel", meaning one frame
> of a movie, is a shortening of "celluloid" used in animated films.
>
> One might argue that "camera" itself is obsolete, since it is short
> for "camera obscura" and they simply don't exist any more.
>
> Oliver Cromwell's "Fear God and keep your powder dry" became
> obsolescent circa 1870 when most armies had switched over to metallic
> cartridges and was totally obsolete in the 20th Century with the
> advent of nitrocellulose-based "smokeless powder".  Actually,
> Cromwell himself was guilty of anachronism.  The "powder" of
> "gunpowder" refers to the original composition, sometimes called
> "meal powder", which was a powder that was dangerous to handle.  By
> 1600 meal powder had been replaced by "corned powder", which is not
> only much safer but a granular substance.  Modern-day smokeless
> powder is also not a powder but more of a gelatinous substance.
>
> And of course a piece of Pre-Archaic Industrial Jargon that antedates
> the English language: "making bricks without straw".
>
> - James A. Landau
>
>
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--
Dan Goodman

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