scanned the items

[arthu...@gmail.com]

Nowadays most cashiers 'scan' items. In the old days, they used to type in
the price of the item. What was the verb for that?

1) The cashier scanned the sugar.

What if he or she types in the price? What is the verb for that?

This is annoying. I am sure I know it, but it doesn't come to mind.... and that
means I don't know it! I can't find it either...

Gratefully,
Navi.

[Tony Cooper]

On a cash register, I'd say she entered the item prices. Keyed in the
prices, if you want.

--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

[Mark Brader]

"Navi":

>> Nowadays most cashiers 'scan' items. In the old days, they used to type in
>> the price of the item. What was the verb for that?

Tony Cooper:

> On a cash register, I'd say she entered the item prices. Keyed in the
> prices, if you want.

If you're talking about a cash register like these:

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTAyNFg3Njg=/z/s~MAAOSw6ShZXTt8/$_86.JPG
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/R405XAd7gvw/maxresdefault.jpg

where you enter a price of $2.22 by pressing the "2" key 3 times, then
I'd agree that "type in" is correct and so are Tony's two suggestions.

But in the *old* days, they didn't do that. If the price was $2.22,
they pressed three *different* keys or buttons: $2, 20в, and 2в:

http://c8.alamy.com/comp/D34YX5/vintage-cash-register-circa-1959-D34YX5.jpg
http://i.pinimg.com/originals/9d/f2/89/9df28937e2a2638111b9c767d4daa789.jpg

With this type of machine I'd tend to describe the action as "punching in"
the price, though I guess "enter" is possible.

On both of those machines, you would first punch in the price, then use
another control to actually enter the transaction; and if the machine
wasn't electric, you'd be operating it with some force to drive the
mechanism.

But there's another early style where you had to simultaneously press all
the relevant keys, and then the force of pressing them was what drove the
mechanism. These machines had keys like *this*:

http://image.shutterstock.com/z/stock-photo-old-cash-register-18277495.jpg

And I really don't know what verb I'd use for operating them. Certainly
neither "typing" nor "keying" nor "punching" seems right.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | Thus, "plain english" is the same as
m...@vex.net | "near-field spin". --Carl Ginnow

My text in this article is in the public domain.

[GordonD]

On 13/08/2017 08:33, Mark Brader wrote:
> "Navi":
>>> Nowadays most cashiers 'scan' items. In the old days, they used to type in
>>> the price of the item. What was the verb for that?
>
> Tony Cooper:
>> On a cash register, I'd say she entered the item prices. Keyed in the
>> prices, if you want.
>
> If you're talking about a cash register like these:
>
> http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTAyNFg3Njg=/z/s~MAAOSw6ShZXTt8/$_86.JPG
> http://i.ytimg.com/vi/R405XAd7gvw/maxresdefault.jpg
>
> where you enter a price of $2.22 by pressing the "2" key 3 times, then
> I'd agree that "type in" is correct and so are Tony's two suggestions.
>
> But in the *old* days, they didn't do that. If the price was $2.22,

> they pressed three *different* keys or buttons: $2, 20¢, and 2¢:

>
> http://c8.alamy.com/comp/D34YX5/vintage-cash-register-circa-1959-D34YX5.jpg
> http://i.pinimg.com/originals/9d/f2/89/9df28937e2a2638111b9c767d4daa789.jpg
>
> With this type of machine I'd tend to describe the action as "punching in"
> the price, though I guess "enter" is possible.
>
> On both of those machines, you would first punch in the price, then use
> another control to actually enter the transaction; and if the machine
> wasn't electric, you'd be operating it with some force to drive the
> mechanism.
>
> But there's another early style where you had to simultaneously press all
> the relevant keys, and then the force of pressing them was what drove the
> mechanism. These machines had keys like *this*:
>
> http://image.shutterstock.com/z/stock-photo-old-cash-register-18277495.jpg
>
> And I really don't know what verb I'd use for operating them. Certainly
> neither "typing" nor "keying" nor "punching" seems right.
>

In the UK I'm sure we used to say "rang it up".
--
Gordon Davie
Edinburgh, Scotland

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

On Sun, 13 Aug 2017 11:04:05 +0100, GordonD <g.d...@btinternet.com>
wrote:

>On 13/08/2017 08:33, Mark Brader wrote:
>> "Navi":
>>>> Nowadays most cashiers 'scan' items. In the old days, they used to type in
>>>> the price of the item. What was the verb for that?
>>
>> Tony Cooper:
>>> On a cash register, I'd say she entered the item prices. Keyed in the
>>> prices, if you want.
>>
>> If you're talking about a cash register like these:
>>
>> http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTAyNFg3Njg=/z/s~MAAOSw6ShZXTt8/$_86.JPG
>> http://i.ytimg.com/vi/R405XAd7gvw/maxresdefault.jpg
>>
>> where you enter a price of $2.22 by pressing the "2" key 3 times, then
>> I'd agree that "type in" is correct and so are Tony's two suggestions.
>>
>> But in the *old* days, they didn't do that. If the price was $2.22,

>> they pressed three *different* keys or buttons: $2, 20в, and 2в:

>>
>> http://c8.alamy.com/comp/D34YX5/vintage-cash-register-circa-1959-D34YX5.jpg
>> http://i.pinimg.com/originals/9d/f2/89/9df28937e2a2638111b9c767d4daa789.jpg
>>
>> With this type of machine I'd tend to describe the action as "punching in"
>> the price, though I guess "enter" is possible.
>>
>> On both of those machines, you would first punch in the price, then use
>> another control to actually enter the transaction; and if the machine
>> wasn't electric, you'd be operating it with some force to drive the
>> mechanism.
>>
>> But there's another early style where you had to simultaneously press all
>> the relevant keys, and then the force of pressing them was what drove the
>> mechanism. These machines had keys like *this*:
>>
>> http://image.shutterstock.com/z/stock-photo-old-cash-register-18277495.jpg
>>
>> And I really don't know what verb I'd use for operating them. Certainly
>> neither "typing" nor "keying" nor "punching" seems right.
>>
>
>In the UK I'm sure we used to say "rang it up".

It is likely that some similar phrase was used in the US where the cash
register was invented.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash_register#History

Early mechanical registers were entirely mechanical, without
receipts. The employee was required to ring up every transaction on
the register, and when the total key was pushed, the drawer opened
and a bell would ring, alerting the manager to a sale taking place.

The previous paragraph:

An early mechanical cash register was invented by James Ritty and
John Birch following the American Civil War. James was the owner of
a saloon in Dayton, Ohio, USA, and wanted to stop employees from
pilfering his profits.[1] The Ritty Model I was invented in 1879
after seeing a tool that counted the revolutions of the propeller on
a steamship.[2] With the help of James' brother John Ritty, they
patented it in 1883.[3][4] It was called Ritty's Incorruptible
Cashier and it was invented for the purpose to stop cashiers of
pilfering and eliminating employee theft or embezzlement.

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

[Peter T. Daniels]

"Enter." Definitely not "punch in" or "key in" (real people didn't know about
"punch cards"), "type in" is highly unlikely since there wasn't a typewriter-
like keyboard, but an adding machine-like keyboard, and "rang up" refers to the
whole operation, not specifically to entering the prices.

[Whiskers]

Definitely.

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

[Richard Heathfield]

We did indeed. In fact, some of us still do.

--
Richard Heathfield
Email: rjh at cpax dot org dot uk
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29 July 1999
Sig line 4 vacant - apply within

[Tony Cooper]

On Mon, 14 Aug 2017 10:33:05 +0100, Richard Heathfield
<r...@cpax.org.uk> wrote:

>On 13/08/17 11:04, GordonD wrote:
>> On 13/08/2017 08:33, Mark Brader wrote:
>>> "Navi":
>>>>> Nowadays most cashiers 'scan' items. In the old days, they used to
>>>>> type in
>>>>> the price of the item. What was the verb for that?
>>>
>>> Tony Cooper:
>>>> On a cash register, I'd say she entered the item prices. Keyed in the
>>>> prices, if you want.
>>>
>>> If you're talking about a cash register like these:
>>>
>>> http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTAyNFg3Njg=/z/s~MAAOSw6ShZXTt8/$_86.JPG
>>> http://i.ytimg.com/vi/R405XAd7gvw/maxresdefault.jpg
>>>
>>> where you enter a price of $2.22 by pressing the "2" key 3 times, then
>>> I'd agree that "type in" is correct and so are Tony's two suggestions.
>>>
>>> But in the *old* days, they didn't do that. If the price was $2.22,

>>> they pressed three *different* keys or buttons: $2, 20в, and 2в:

>>>
>>>
>>> http://c8.alamy.com/comp/D34YX5/vintage-cash-register-circa-1959-D34YX5.jpg
>>>
>>>
>>> http://i.pinimg.com/originals/9d/f2/89/9df28937e2a2638111b9c767d4daa789.jpg
>>>
>>>
>>> With this type of machine I'd tend to describe the action as "punching
>>> in"
>>> the price, though I guess "enter" is possible.
>>>
>>> On both of those machines, you would first punch in the price, then use
>>> another control to actually enter the transaction; and if the machine
>>> wasn't electric, you'd be operating it with some force to drive the
>>> mechanism.
>>>
>>> But there's another early style where you had to simultaneously press all
>>> the relevant keys, and then the force of pressing them was what drove the
>>> mechanism. These machines had keys like *this*:
>>>
>>>
>>> http://image.shutterstock.com/z/stock-photo-old-cash-register-18277495.jpg
>>>
>>>
>>> And I really don't know what verb I'd use for operating them. Certainly
>>> neither "typing" nor "keying" nor "punching" seems right.
>>>
>>
>> In the UK I'm sure we used to say "rang it up".
>
>We did indeed. In fact, some of us still do.

To me, "rang it up" can refer to single purchase or a cartfull of
purchases. The question, though, is about a word to describe each
individual entry to the cash register that is not a word to describe
the entire process.