"We didn't have time to phone-call anybody." [NT]

Damien Hall damien.hall at NEWCASTLE.AC.UK
Sun Nov 11 14:27:41 UTC 2012


PLEASE NOTE MY NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS / PRIÈRE DE NOTER MA NOUVELLE ADRESSE ÉLECTRONIQUE

Joel asked:

'Is this a [what-do-you-call-it]?  Like "rotary phone" was needed when
keyed phones arrived.  What other "adjectives" besides "phone" are
now attached to "call"?  "cell-call"?  "page-call"?  "IMS-call"?  Etc.'

That's a retronym, isn't it?

A fairly common pre-modifier for 'call' is 'voice', to distinguish plain old telephone conversations from video ones.  There are no doubt others!

Damien

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