9 Old-Fashioned Tech Terms You Still Use Today

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Image: Flickr, Brandon King

By Yohana Desta2014-03-04 11:04:50 UTC

You probably don't remember the last time you actually "dialed" a phone number, but you might remember the last time you said you did.

Old terminology dies hard. Though technology changes swiftly from day to day, there are still old-fashioned terms we cling to, using them frequently even though they no longer have a relevant meaning. We "tune in" to the "tube," all with the aid of the trusty "clicker."

See also: 7 Ways You're Killing Your Tech

Unless you're a Luddite exclusively using obsolete technology, you'll recognize these nine ancient tech terms as relics of a bygone era.

1. 'Dial'

Image: Flickr, Oona Räisänen

Plenty of people still say they're "dialing" a phone number. The term goes back to the beginning of the telephone era, when phones had a rotary dial — a switchboard users needed to swing each number. Rotary phones haven't been used for decades, but people still say they're dialing away.

2. 'Hanging up'

Unless you're using a pay phone (which isn't likely), you aren't "hanging up" anything. That phrase refers to ending a phone call by placing a corded phone back into its holder, which, most often, literally hung on a wall. Ending a call today usually just requires the click of a button or the tap of a smartphone screen.

3. 'Roll up/down the window'

In ye olden days, cars had a handle that you needed to rotate in order to pull the window up or down. Modern cars aren't made with a crank anymore — they just have a button or switch that you can click upward or downward to maneuver the window direction.

4. 'Carbon copy'

Image: Flickr, Quinn Dombrowski

This term originally referred to the days before Xeroxing, when, in order to make copies, you would need to place a sheet of carbon paper behind the original sheet so the ink transferred over.

Now, the term lives on in email (when you CC someone, you send them a "carbon copy" of your email). It's also popular in everyday conversation, calling two similar items carbon copies of each other.

5. 'Clicker'

Even if you don't say this, you know someone who does. Plenty of people comfortably refer to a TV's remote control as a clicker, because in the early days of television, the control used to make a very loud clicking sound.

6. 'The tube'

Image: Flickr, Jennifer James

Referring to a TV as "the tube" is a sign you aren't ready for the HD age. TVs as we know them now are flat-panel LCD wonders, whereas their predecessors were made with cathode ray tubes (hence the nickname). Tube television sets have essentially been phased out, but the name persists (and we fondly remember the nickname every time we click over to YouTube).

7. 'Tuning in'

This term was applicable when TVs relied on antennae to get good reception. Users literally had to tune the rabbit ears atop a set in order to get a good signal and enjoy their shows. In the ultra digital age, that's yesteryear's problem.

8. 'Tape'

There are several ways people still use the word "tape," but many use it when talking about recording. Using it interchangeably with the term (or "DVR-ing" or "TiVo-ing") is a relic leftover from the glory days of actual tapes and VHS.

9. 'Rewind'

This is essentially the universal term for reversing something to watch it again, whether it's a YouTube video, a movie streaming on Netflix or even a DVD. However, there's nothing to wind anymore — to rewind something requires physical tape.

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Topics: old technology, Tech, telephone, Television, Work & Play