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If I had to rename "Smartphone" I would call it "Personal Computer". My phone is way more "personal" than my desktop and laptop. But there's absolutely nothing
by talles 11y ago
If I had to rename "Smartphone" I would call it "Personal Computer". My phone is way more "personal" than my desktop and laptop.
But there's absolutely nothing wrong with "Smartphone". Two are the reasons:
1 - There's history there. Most of the words aren't precisely crafted by linguists when society needs them, we simply build on what already exists. The so called smartphone came from the cellphone that came from the telephone, the name itself hints you about its origins. It's fascinating what you can learn about a word when you study its etymology.
http://etymonline.com http://etymonline.com
2 - Meaning wise I wouldn't worry so much about the connotations that the author mentions (I wouldn't worry at all). I'm with Wittgenstein in this one: the word means whatever we decide it means.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Investigations#Meaning_is_use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Investigations#M...
- punee 11y agoI'm pretty sure that Wittgenstein, while agreeing with your point about meaning being defined by use, would still argue that there's a lot of unspoken confusion that comes from calling the smartphone a smartphone. The first thing I did when opening this thread was Ctrl+F to see if anyone was suggesting it should be called a "personal computer", because that's what I've thought best described what the smartphone really has become. Now, to suggest even trying to use that to refer to smartphones these days would be adding a much heavier does of confusion. But the insight seems fundamentally right to me. Interesting article on the subject that brings up this point: http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2015/11/7/mobile-ecosystems-and-the-death-of-pcs http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2015/11/7/mobile-ecosyste...