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Linguistic Skeuomorphs
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abzorba
Dec 1, 2011, 1:13:44 AM12/1/11
to
A skeuomorph are design features of some earlier structure and
incorporated in a new version even though it no longer has a purpose.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph .
Examples there include ornamental brass-like rivets in jeans,
stitching marks in plastic, faux interlaced leather-like strips in
plastic sandals, uselessly small handles on tea cups, and many others.
I've just added one of the largest: the pylons of the Sydney Harbour
Bridge support nothing and are there to make it look more like a
traditional arch bridge.
A recent New Scientist article on its weekly Feedback column discussed
"linguistic skeuomorphs", which have to do with words which are still
used even though they no longer literally apply to a situation. The
most charming example was the "air scribble" gesture, which diners
make to signify to waiters that they want the bill. Of course these
days all the bills are printed out by computer. It mentions that in
the charades game, the conventional sign for a movie is to mime the
operation of a shoulder-borne hand-wound camera, a mechanism which has
been obsolete for about a hundred years. The CC option "carbon copy"
refers to a particularly tedious technology that most internet
aficionados would never have encountered.
A favourite of mine is "telegraph pole". Schoolteachers are still
regularly depicted in cartoons wearing mortar boards, even though high
school teachers have not worn those at work for at least a century.
They often sport a cane, even though these have been banned (in
Australia at least) for decades. Ginger Meggs' teacher is still called
Mr Canehard. Similarly, businessmen are always shown smoking very fat
cigars and wearing top hats. (Though in this case, this is not
entirely an anachronism.) Prisoners are always depicted in baggy
outfits with vertical stripes on them.
In a sense, much of our vocabulary rests in skeuomorphs, words in
which reside fossilised meanings. Listening recently to Peter Allen's
superb song of his grandfather, Tenterfield Saddler made me remember
that tenterhooks have to do with a long-outmoded millinery practice
where cloth was stretched on mechanical hooks before being finished.
(Thus: being on tenterhooks). Fields were set aside for this practice,
and thus "Tenterfield".
To pre-empt an obvious objection, it is not enough to say skeuomorph
is no more than a synonym for "anachronism". An actor wearing a watch
in a sandals and swords epic is an anachronism, but not a skeuomorph.
Can you think of any other examples of skeuomorphs?
Myles (waiting with baited breath) Paulsen
incorporated in a new version even though it no longer has a purpose.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph .
Examples there include ornamental brass-like rivets in jeans,
stitching marks in plastic, faux interlaced leather-like strips in
plastic sandals, uselessly small handles on tea cups, and many others.
I've just added one of the largest: the pylons of the Sydney Harbour
Bridge support nothing and are there to make it look more like a
traditional arch bridge.
A recent New Scientist article on its weekly Feedback column discussed
"linguistic skeuomorphs", which have to do with words which are still
used even though they no longer literally apply to a situation. The
most charming example was the "air scribble" gesture, which diners
make to signify to waiters that they want the bill. Of course these
days all the bills are printed out by computer. It mentions that in
the charades game, the conventional sign for a movie is to mime the
operation of a shoulder-borne hand-wound camera, a mechanism which has
been obsolete for about a hundred years. The CC option "carbon copy"
refers to a particularly tedious technology that most internet
aficionados would never have encountered.
A favourite of mine is "telegraph pole". Schoolteachers are still
regularly depicted in cartoons wearing mortar boards, even though high
school teachers have not worn those at work for at least a century.
They often sport a cane, even though these have been banned (in
Australia at least) for decades. Ginger Meggs' teacher is still called
Mr Canehard. Similarly, businessmen are always shown smoking very fat
cigars and wearing top hats. (Though in this case, this is not
entirely an anachronism.) Prisoners are always depicted in baggy
outfits with vertical stripes on them.
In a sense, much of our vocabulary rests in skeuomorphs, words in
which reside fossilised meanings. Listening recently to Peter Allen's
superb song of his grandfather, Tenterfield Saddler made me remember
that tenterhooks have to do with a long-outmoded millinery practice
where cloth was stretched on mechanical hooks before being finished.
(Thus: being on tenterhooks). Fields were set aside for this practice,
and thus "Tenterfield".
To pre-empt an obvious objection, it is not enough to say skeuomorph
is no more than a synonym for "anachronism". An actor wearing a watch
in a sandals and swords epic is an anachronism, but not a skeuomorph.
Can you think of any other examples of skeuomorphs?
Myles (waiting with baited breath) Paulsen
R H Draney
Dec 1, 2011, 3:48:44 AM12/1/11
to
abzorba filted:
wrist to mean "what time is it?" or "look at how late it's getting"...today's
yoof will in time point their front trouser pocket with the same meaning, a
gesture similar to the one a comedian suggested for "I have to go to the
toilet"....r
--
Me? Sarcastic?
Yeah, right.
>
>To pre-empt an obvious objection, it is not enough to say skeuomorph
>is no more than a synonym for "anachronism". An actor wearing a watch
>in a sandals and swords epic is an anachronism, but not a skeuomorph.
>Can you think of any other examples of skeuomorphs?
Referring to a watch in another way, we have the gesture of pointing to one's
>To pre-empt an obvious objection, it is not enough to say skeuomorph
>is no more than a synonym for "anachronism". An actor wearing a watch
>in a sandals and swords epic is an anachronism, but not a skeuomorph.
>Can you think of any other examples of skeuomorphs?
wrist to mean "what time is it?" or "look at how late it's getting"...today's
yoof will in time point their front trouser pocket with the same meaning, a
gesture similar to the one a comedian suggested for "I have to go to the
toilet"....r
--
Me? Sarcastic?
Yeah, right.
CT
Dec 1, 2011, 5:23:19 AM12/1/11
to
abzorba wrote:
> A skeuomorph are design features of some earlier structure and
> incorporated in a new version even though it no longer has a purpose.
> See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph .
Ooh, a new word! I'm going to try to make use of it at some point
> A skeuomorph are design features of some earlier structure and
> incorporated in a new version even though it no longer has a purpose.
> See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph .
today.
> Examples there include ornamental brass-like rivets in jeans,
> stitching marks in plastic, faux interlaced leather-like strips in
> plastic sandals, uselessly small handles on tea cups, and many others.
> I've just added one of the largest: the pylons of the Sydney Harbour
> Bridge support nothing and are there to make it look more like a
> traditional arch bridge.
http://www.windsor-berkshire.co.uk/windsor_guildhall.php
> A recent New Scientist article on its weekly Feedback column discussed
> "linguistic skeuomorphs", which have to do with words which are still
> used even though they no longer literally apply to a situation. The
> most charming example was the "air scribble" gesture, which diners
> make to signify to waiters that they want the bill. Of course these
> days all the bills are printed out by computer.
And I always assumed that the "scribble" gesture was for firstly for
the signing of a cheque and later for the signing of the credit card
receipt but I guess it predates common use of either.
[snip]
> Can you think of any other examples of skeuomorphs?
Dialling a phone
Candle-shaped light-bulbs.
--
Chris
Arcadian Rises
Dec 1, 2011, 6:35:04 AM12/1/11
to
On Dec 1, 1:13 am, abzorba <myles...@yahoo.com.au> wrote:
[...]
> To pre-empt an obvious objection, it is not enough to say skeuomorph
> is no more than a synonym for "anachronism". An actor wearing a watch
> in a sandals and swords epic is an anachronism, but not a skeuomorph.
> Can you think of any other examples of skeuomorphs?
Yes: the metallic buttons attached to the sleeves of military uniforms
designed by Napoleon who wanted to prevent the soldiers from wiping
their running noses with the sleeves. Since God invented paper tissues
and made them available to large masses, those buttons became obsolete
on any coats (including Chanel), not only on military garb.
[...]
> To pre-empt an obvious objection, it is not enough to say skeuomorph
> is no more than a synonym for "anachronism". An actor wearing a watch
> in a sandals and swords epic is an anachronism, but not a skeuomorph.
> Can you think of any other examples of skeuomorphs?
designed by Napoleon who wanted to prevent the soldiers from wiping
their running noses with the sleeves. Since God invented paper tissues
and made them available to large masses, those buttons became obsolete
on any coats (including Chanel), not only on military garb.
Percival P. Cassidy
Dec 1, 2011, 7:24:05 AM12/1/11
to
On 12/01/11 01:13 am, abzorba wrote:
> A skeuomorph are design features of some earlier structure and
> incorporated in a new version even though it no longer has a purpose.
> See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph .
<snip>
> A skeuomorph are design features of some earlier structure and
> incorporated in a new version even though it no longer has a purpose.
> See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph .
> A favourite of mine is "telegraph pole". Schoolteachers are still
> regularly depicted in cartoons wearing mortar boards, even though high
> school teachers have not worn those at work for at least a century.
although not in the classroom.
<snip>
> Myles (waiting with baited breath) Paulsen
Perce
(dual-citizen OzBrit -- aka "Ten-pound Pom" or "Whingeing Pommie
bastard" -- in exile in US Midwest)
James Silverton
Dec 1, 2011, 10:03:06 AM12/1/11
to
On 12/1/2011 5:23 AM, CT wrote:
> abzorba wrote:
>
>> A skeuomorph are design features of some earlier structure and
>> incorporated in a new version even though it no longer has a purpose.
>> See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph .
>
> Ooh, a new word! I'm going to try to make use of it at some point
> today.
According to the OED, skeuomorph dates from 1938. It was new to me too
> abzorba wrote:
>
>> A skeuomorph are design features of some earlier structure and
>> incorporated in a new version even though it no longer has a purpose.
>> See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph .
>
> Ooh, a new word! I'm going to try to make use of it at some point
> today.
and I could only guess at its pronunciation until I went to the
dictionary. It's a useful word, in my opinion, and not difficult to
pronounce.
--
James Silverton, Potomac
I'm *not* not.jim....@verizon.net
Glenn Knickerbocker
Dec 1, 2011, 12:53:52 PM12/1/11
to
On 12/01/2011 05:23 AM, CT wrote:
> And I always assumed that the "scribble" gesture was for firstly for
> the signing of a cheque and later for the signing of the credit card
> receipt but I guess it predates common use of either.
It was common enough to sign the restaurant check itself to have it
> And I always assumed that the "scribble" gesture was for firstly for
> the signing of a cheque and later for the signing of the credit card
> receipt but I guess it predates common use of either.
placed on a hotel bill, personal tab, or corporate account. I think
you're right that that's what the gesture is miming. Even when the bill
used to be commonly added up at the table, the total wouldn't be written
out in cursive. If that were the action described, I'd think the sign
would be three or four downward strokes, not a horizontal scribble.
ŹR
Glenn Knickerbocker
Dec 2, 2011, 3:02:39 AM12/2/11
to
On Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:13:44 -0800 (PST), abzorba wrote:
>A recent New Scientist article on its weekly Feedback column discussed
>"linguistic skeuomorphs", which have to do with words which are still
>used even though they no longer literally apply to a situation.
The word "skeuomorph" itself might be considered skeuomorphic, with Greek
>A recent New Scientist article on its weekly Feedback column discussed
>"linguistic skeuomorphs", which have to do with words which are still
>used even though they no longer literally apply to a situation.
roots used to mark as erudite a word created at a time when academic
discourse was no longer primarily undertaken in Classical languages.
http://users.bestweb.net/~notr/arkville.html "I felt like I was in a
¬R demented Wallace Stevens poem, with food poisoning." Spalding Gray
Evan Kirshenbaum
Dec 2, 2011, 1:23:31 PM12/2/11
to
abzorba <myle...@yahoo.com.au> writes:
> A skeuomorph are design features of some earlier structure and
> incorporated in a new version even though it no longer has a purpose.
> See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph .
>
> Examples there include ornamental brass-like rivets in jeans,
> stitching marks in plastic, faux interlaced leather-like strips in
> plastic sandals, uselessly small handles on tea cups, and many others.
> I've just added one of the largest: the pylons of the Sydney Harbour
> Bridge support nothing and are there to make it look more like a
> traditional arch bridge.
That would seem to be a purpose, psychological rather than
> A skeuomorph are design features of some earlier structure and
> incorporated in a new version even though it no longer has a purpose.
> See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph .
>
> Examples there include ornamental brass-like rivets in jeans,
> stitching marks in plastic, faux interlaced leather-like strips in
> plastic sandals, uselessly small handles on tea cups, and many others.
> I've just added one of the largest: the pylons of the Sydney Harbour
> Bridge support nothing and are there to make it look more like a
> traditional arch bridge.
structural.
> A recent New Scientist article on its weekly Feedback column discussed
> "linguistic skeuomorphs", which have to do with words which are still
> used even though they no longer literally apply to a situation. The
> most charming example was the "air scribble" gesture, which diners
> make to signify to waiters that they want the bill. Of course these
> days all the bills are printed out by computer.
(unless that was the original meaning).
A clearer one to my mind is the "call me" gesture of putting your fist
at the side of your head with the extended thumb by your ear and
extended pinkie by your mouth. (Perhaps not coincidentally, the ASL
word for "call-on-phone".) I can only think of one place where my son
might have used the sort of phone handset that mimics.
> It mentions that in the charades game, the conventional sign for a
> movie is to mime the operation of a shoulder-borne hand-wound
> camera, a mechanism which has been obsolete for about a hundred
> years. The CC option "carbon copy" refers to a particularly tedious
> technology that most internet aficionados would never have
> encountered.
"ring", even though if they sound anything like the bells older phones
used to have it's only because their owners are being intentionally
ironic. And this is further preserved in "ringtone". (Interestingly,
among my friends at least, cell phones only "ring" when there's an
incomming call. When you get a text message, the "bloop". I think
that this started out as consciously humorous, but it seems to be
settling down into the normal term.)
And we've several times discussed here whether "turn on/off" is a
holdover from days when equipment was started or stopped by turning a
knob to control the flow of a liquid or gas.
> A favourite of mine is "telegraph pole".
telephone poles carrying telephone cables (among other things) within
sight of my house, I'd say that neither the name nor the item
qualifies.
> Schoolteachers are still regularly depicted in cartoons wearing
> mortar boards, even though high school teachers have not worn those
> at work for at least a century. They often sport a cane, even
> though these have been banned (in Australia at least) for
> decades. Ginger Meggs' teacher is still called Mr
> Canehard. Similarly, businessmen are always shown smoking very fat
> cigars and wearing top hats. (Though in this case, this is not
> entirely an anachronism.) Prisoners are always depicted in baggy
> outfits with vertical stripes on them.
>
> In a sense, much of our vocabulary rests in skeuomorphs, words in
> which reside fossilised meanings. Listening recently to Peter
> Allen's superb song of his grandfather, Tenterfield Saddler made me
> remember that tenterhooks have to do with a long-outmoded millinery
> practice where cloth was stretched on mechanical hooks before being
> finished. (Thus: being on tenterhooks). Fields were set aside for
> this practice, and thus "Tenterfield".
>
> To pre-empt an obvious objection, it is not enough to say skeuomorph
> is no more than a synonym for "anachronism". An actor wearing a
> watch in a sandals and swords epic is an anachronism, but not a
> skeuomorph. Can you think of any other examples of skeuomorphs?
>
> Myles (waiting with baited breath) Paulsen
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
Still with HP Labs |...as a mobile phone is analogous
SF Bay Area (1982-) |to a Q-Tip -- yeah, it's something
Chicago (1964-1982) |you stick in your ear, but there
|all resemblance ends.
evan.kir...@gmail.com | Ross Howard
http://www.kirshenbaum.net/
tony cooper
Dec 3, 2011, 1:29:04 AM12/3/11
to
On Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:13:44 -0800 (PST), abzorba
<myle...@yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>A recent New Scientist article on its weekly Feedback column discussed
>"linguistic skeuomorphs", which have to do with words which are still
>used even though they no longer literally apply to a situation. The
>most charming example was the "air scribble" gesture, which diners
>make to signify to waiters that they want the bill. Of course these
>days all the bills are printed out by computer.
Hardly "all". In the US, just about every restaurant with a counter
>A recent New Scientist article on its weekly Feedback column discussed
>"linguistic skeuomorphs", which have to do with words which are still
>used even though they no longer literally apply to a situation. The
>most charming example was the "air scribble" gesture, which diners
>make to signify to waiters that they want the bill. Of course these
>days all the bills are printed out by computer.
still uses hand-written "guest checks". Every waitress will have a
pad of these on her person:
http://www.guestchecks.us/v-web/productpage/images/186230.jpg
Not that restaurants without counters won't, but if there's counter
service the odds are more strongly in favor of hand-written checks.
We have a lot of restaurants here that serve breakfast and lunch, but
not dinner. In this type of restaurant, the waitress will leave a
filled-out "guest check" on your table (or section of counter), and
you take that the cashier to pay the bill.
>Prisoners are always depicted in baggy
>outfits with vertical stripes on them.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_NURTFz-26UI/Sro1mE4UF4I/AAAAAAAAA-8/AsgR-9O2YmE/s400/prisonerjohn.png
but possibly those stripes would be vertical where water goes down the
drain a different direction.
>In a sense, much of our vocabulary rests in skeuomorphs, words in
>which reside fossilised meanings. Listening recently to Peter Allen's
>superb song of his grandfather, Tenterfield Saddler made me remember
>that tenterhooks have to do with a long-outmoded millinery practice
>where cloth was stretched on mechanical hooks before being finished.
>(Thus: being on tenterhooks). Fields were set aside for this practice,
>and thus "Tenterfield".
grandmother washed the curtains, she'd put them out to dry on a frame
with sharp pointed nail ends around it. The curtain would be
stretched and affixed to the nail ends to stop it from shrinking as it
dried and to have it dry flat. I don't recall ever hearing
"tenterhooks" used to describe the frame, but that's exactly what it
was.
Here's a stretcher, but not assembled as a frame:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wonderlane/5587197750/
--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
Jared
Dec 3, 2011, 11:36:36 AM12/3/11
to
On 12/3/2011 1:29 AM, tony cooper wrote:
> On Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:13:44 -0800 (PST), abzorba
> <myle...@yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>
>> A recent New Scientist article on its weekly Feedback column discussed
>> "linguistic skeuomorphs", which have to do with words which are still
>> used even though they no longer literally apply to a situation. The
>> most charming example was the "air scribble" gesture, which diners
>> make to signify to waiters that they want the bill. Of course these
>> days all the bills are printed out by computer.
>
> Hardly "all". In the US, just about every restaurant with a counter
> still uses hand-written "guest checks". Every waitress will have a
> pad of these on her person:
> http://www.guestchecks.us/v-web/productpage/images/186230.jpg
>
> Not that restaurants without counters won't, but if there's counter
> service the odds are more strongly in favor of hand-written checks.
I don't know about that. I frequently go to a diner with a counter that
> On Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:13:44 -0800 (PST), abzorba
> <myle...@yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>
>> A recent New Scientist article on its weekly Feedback column discussed
>> "linguistic skeuomorphs", which have to do with words which are still
>> used even though they no longer literally apply to a situation. The
>> most charming example was the "air scribble" gesture, which diners
>> make to signify to waiters that they want the bill. Of course these
>> days all the bills are printed out by computer.
>
> Hardly "all". In the US, just about every restaurant with a counter
> still uses hand-written "guest checks". Every waitress will have a
> pad of these on her person:
> http://www.guestchecks.us/v-web/productpage/images/186230.jpg
>
> Not that restaurants without counters won't, but if there's counter
> service the odds are more strongly in favor of hand-written checks.
prints checks on a computer.
--
Jared
Snidely
Dec 3, 2011, 9:25:25 PM12/3/11
to
tony cooper <tony.co...@gmail.com> scribbled something like ...
>> The
>> most charming example was the "air scribble" gesture, which diners
>> make to signify to waiters that they want the bill. Of course these
>> days all the bills are printed out by computer.
>
> Hardly "all". In the US, just about every restaurant with a counter
> still uses hand-written "guest checks". Every waitress will have a
> pad of these on her person:
> http://www.guestchecks.us/v-web/productpage/images/186230.jpg
>
> Not that restaurants without counters won't, but if there's counter
> service the odds are more strongly in favor of hand-written checks.
>
> We have a lot of restaurants here that serve breakfast and lunch, but
> not dinner. In this type of restaurant, the waitress will leave a
> filled-out "guest check" on your table (or section of counter), and
> you take that the cashier to pay the bill.
Many is the restaurant in California where the waiter or waitress writes
the order down on a scratch pad, and brings the bill in printed form.
Some now have the invoice number in barcode, and the cashier brings the
proper records on the screen up by scanning that code.
/dps
>> The
>> most charming example was the "air scribble" gesture, which diners
>> make to signify to waiters that they want the bill. Of course these
>> days all the bills are printed out by computer.
>
> Hardly "all". In the US, just about every restaurant with a counter
> still uses hand-written "guest checks". Every waitress will have a
> pad of these on her person:
> http://www.guestchecks.us/v-web/productpage/images/186230.jpg
>
> Not that restaurants without counters won't, but if there's counter
> service the odds are more strongly in favor of hand-written checks.
>
> We have a lot of restaurants here that serve breakfast and lunch, but
> not dinner. In this type of restaurant, the waitress will leave a
> filled-out "guest check" on your table (or section of counter), and
> you take that the cashier to pay the bill.
the order down on a scratch pad, and brings the bill in printed form.
Some now have the invoice number in barcode, and the cashier brings the
proper records on the screen up by scanning that code.
/dps
tony cooper
Dec 3, 2011, 9:55:40 PM12/3/11
to
Snidely
Dec 3, 2011, 10:44:31 PM12/3/11
to
tony cooper <tony.co...@gmail.com> scribbled something like ...
> On Sun, 4 Dec 2011 02:25:25 +0000 (UTC), Snidely
> <snide...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>tony cooper <tony.co...@gmail.com> scribbled something like ...
>>
> On Sun, 4 Dec 2011 02:25:25 +0000 (UTC), Snidely
> <snide...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>tony cooper <tony.co...@gmail.com> scribbled something like ...
>>
>>> Hardly "all". In the US,
[Just want to see this emphasized in context:]
>>> just about every restaurant with a counter
>>> still uses hand-written "guest checks".
>>> still uses hand-written "guest checks".
>> Many is the restaurant in California where the waiter or waitress
>> writes the order down on a scratch pad, and brings the bill in
>> printed form. Some now have the invoice number in barcode, and the
>> cashier brings the proper records on the screen up by scanning that
>> code.
>>
> Is there a need to provide a definition of the word "all"?
>
Maybe. Watcha got?
>> writes the order down on a scratch pad, and brings the bill in
>> printed form. Some now have the invoice number in barcode, and the
>> cashier brings the proper records on the screen up by scanning that
>> code.
>>
> Is there a need to provide a definition of the word "all"?
>
/dps
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