To be fair the English aren't much better, rather than doing the vacuming my Ma still says she's going to the "Hoovering" despite having a Dyson
Yeah p**s me off also. I'm for ever telling people that; Hoover is a brand name for a vacuum cleaner !!
Why do Americans call the NES a Nintendo ?
- Thread starter dougal
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Yeah p**s me off also. I'm for ever telling people that; Hoover is a brand name for a vacuum cleaner !!
My mother often says she is going to "vax" the floor, lost count of the amount of times i've told her she does do not own a Vax (it's an Electrolux model)To be fair the English aren't much better, rather than doing the vacuming my Ma still says she's going to the "Hoovering" despite having a Dyson
Yeah p**s me off also. I'm for ever telling people that; Hoover is a brand name for a vacuum cleaner !!
Someone mentioned "shumps".... I think the correct term is "shmups" short for SHoot eM UPS.... which makes perfect sense to me... Try using the phrase "shoot em ups" a half dozen times in a sentence and you will soon become a convert.
Here in Australia the Nintendo Entertainment System was always called the N E S - pronounced as three separate letters.... but when the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was released it got branded the "Snes" - pronounced as a single syllable word.... don't ask me why, I just live here.
Another weird one - in the early to mid 80s quite a few people started referring to video games (be they home or arcade) as "Spacies" short for Space Invaders.... as if this was the only game ever released. It was common to hear "Going to go to the arcade and play some spacies." Odd.
However, I have to give the crown to my American brothers and sisters..... for who the hell would come up with the idea of calling solder "sodder" - I have NEVER gotten used to hearing this in youtube videos, in fact, on several occasions it has bothered me enough to find an alternative video of someone who can pronounce a simple two syllable word.
Now I'm off to heat up my "sodomy gun" so I can do some "soddering"... please feel free to give your condolences to whomever is on the other end of that task....
Here in Australia the Nintendo Entertainment System was always called the N E S - pronounced as three separate letters.... but when the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was released it got branded the "Snes" - pronounced as a single syllable word.... don't ask me why, I just live here.
Another weird one - in the early to mid 80s quite a few people started referring to video games (be they home or arcade) as "Spacies" short for Space Invaders.... as if this was the only game ever released. It was common to hear "Going to go to the arcade and play some spacies." Odd.
However, I have to give the crown to my American brothers and sisters..... for who the hell would come up with the idea of calling solder "sodder" - I have NEVER gotten used to hearing this in youtube videos, in fact, on several occasions it has bothered me enough to find an alternative video of someone who can pronounce a simple two syllable word.
Now I'm off to heat up my "sodomy gun" so I can do some "soddering"... please feel free to give your condolences to whomever is on the other end of that task....
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cardboardboxer
New member
EDIT
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KBQ
New member
It's really easy to get. People have been calling it PSX since 1994, and they've kept doing it.
Getting all pedantic about words is boring. You understand what they mean? Then they said it right.
Getting all pedantic about words is boring. You understand what they mean? Then they said it right.
commodorejohn
Shameless recidivist
I presume they call it "PSX" because A. the PSX is functionally equivalent to the PS1 so there's not much point in splitting hairs, and B. "pee-ess-ex" rolls off the tongue quicker and easier than "pee-ess-one" or "Playstation."
Psx was a ps2 with ps3 interface, PVR capabilities and bad overheating issues.
Same here - you'd quite often hear "let's go to the UFO place", which is even lamer than "spacies" if you think about it. Later on arcade rooms were dubbed "the electronics" - in, I can only guess, contrast to non-electronic leisure places (e.g. pool tables). Rarely if ever were they called "arcade rooms".
I disagree - the difference between the common/intended and the exact interpretation of a badly worded phrase can be quite annoying to the discerning speaker. Grammar and syntax exist for a purpose we'd better adhere to. Granted, it's not always possible to avoid confusion, but it's not bad to minimise it by being exact.
It's actually quite unsettling that nowadays, in the age where LOL and OMG are not reserved for casual IRC-talk as in the '90's but have become part of everyday language, people seem to be gradually losing the ability to understand exact language and/or sustain focus on longer than 5-word phrases. I'll quote the great Aristophanes: "High thoughts need high language" (especially true in the programming languages ecosystem, too).
Just my 2 cents.
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I know why people are also saying PC Games, but it's also some kind of mental abbreviation - it's common everywhere (I think in almost every language) and were common back when multiple systems were available back in the early 90's. My point is that people tended and tend to say that this game is for PC and it's like saying this game is for the computer. A Macintosh, Apple, Amiga, ST, C64 are Personal Computers also. I know that it's stand for IBM PC but on the C64 there's also marked Personal Computer. It's maybe more legitimate today but there's also Apple Computers tough that are also PCs not Mainframes ipso facto.
PS. By the way saying "I'm playing Nintendo" is logically insane
How to play Nintendo, it's rather "I'm playing on the Nintendo, on a Computer, on a Xbox or PS4".
PS. By the way saying "I'm playing Nintendo" is logically insane
How to play Nintendo, it's rather "I'm playing on the Nintendo, on a Computer, on a Xbox or PS4".
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You must have hated Shakespeare in regards to the innuendos and the double entendre
I've never understood that argument as it would suggest language constant and non-changing whereas the exact opposite is true. The Oxford dictionary is constantly being updated with new words that enter the English language, and Shakespeare invented around 1700 words commonly used in modern English. Cockney Londoners have had their rhyming slang which makes no sense to outsiders, and them up North miss out words in sentences for the fun of it.
Anyway, I'm off T' pub!
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@sir_breaker
Of course language evolution is natural, but there's an invariant structural core regardless of specific implementation, namely the structures that support logical formations, association etc. You do expect to find these structures in mostly any language, save perhaps some primitive dialects in Amazon tribes or similar. You can dress the exterior any way you like with little to no harm, worst case in some language the same concept will have to be passed with a more complicated description instead of a direct-hit term found in another language. No big deal.
But when the perception of that core varies, proper communication is deeply hurt. That's the issue I'm talking about. The words themselves are disposable consumables and quite often naturally die of wear and tear much like we do (repeat a noun or a verb 1000 times and it will lose all meaning), but the core does not, it's more or less a representation of how our brain is meant to function.
Of course language evolution is natural, but there's an invariant structural core regardless of specific implementation, namely the structures that support logical formations, association etc. You do expect to find these structures in mostly any language, save perhaps some primitive dialects in Amazon tribes or similar. You can dress the exterior any way you like with little to no harm, worst case in some language the same concept will have to be passed with a more complicated description instead of a direct-hit term found in another language. No big deal.
But when the perception of that core varies, proper communication is deeply hurt. That's the issue I'm talking about. The words themselves are disposable consumables and quite often naturally die of wear and tear much like we do (repeat a noun or a verb 1000 times and it will lose all meaning), but the core does not, it's more or less a representation of how our brain is meant to function.
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commodorejohn
Shameless recidivist
I always say that English (and, probably, any other language) is like jazz: you have to understand the rules before you understand how to break them. Otherwise you're just flailing around.
commodorejohn
Shameless recidivist
Given that Nintendo's own advertising materials refer to it as the "Nintendo Entertainment System," I think we're good.Its name is the Entertainment System. Don't abbreviate it "NES" if you're so opposed to identifying by brand, you don't call the Playstation an SPS.
Someone mentioned "shumps".... I think the correct term is "shmups" short for SHoot eM UPS.... which makes perfect sense to me... Try using the phrase "shoot em ups" a half dozen times in a sentence and you will soon become a convert.
Sorry but Shmup sounds like a polite insult to me. "Quiet you shmup!"
commodorejohn
Shameless recidivist
Yeah, it definitely has a Yiddish ring to it.
Stoobs
Member
PSX was the original name for the system when it was in development - Playstation X - to fit in with all the Generation X stuff at the time, but once it was launched it just became Playstation
commodorejohn
Shameless recidivist
Come to think of it, there's probably another factor, which was that we were already used to referring to game consoles by manufacturer as a shorthand from the Atari 2600 Video Computer System - even their own ads just asked, "Have You Played Atari Today?"
