6 ms·

Reminds me of "handy", the German word for "cell phone". My German friend said "we just use the English word for that." I have yet to find an English speaker wh

Reminds me of "handy", the German word for "cell phone". My German friend said "we just use the English word for that." I have yet to find an English speaker who calls a mobile phone a "handy".

Lxr 10y ago
"Handphone" is common in SE Asia, from the literal translation of the Chinese word.
- thaumasiotes 10y ago
  > from the literal translation of the Chinese word Well, they both refer to hands, I guess. The Chinese word is 手机 shouji "hand machine". "Phone" is 电话 dianhua "electric speech". Those two words aren't related.
  - Lxr 10y ago
    Interesting, thanks for the clarification!
    - yaowenjiaozi 10y ago
      "Handphone" is from 手提电话, meaning hand-held telephone.
      - contingencies 10y ago
        Also interesting to me in this area was the emergence of the so-called IP卡 ("IP card") referring to pre-paid long distance telephone cards sold within mainland China. These were big business until the mid to late noughties.
- eatonphil 10y ago
  In Korea it's called 핸드폰 (pronounced like: hen duh pone). Not sure where it borrowed that from directly though.
pilaf 10y ago
At least in Argentina (not sure about other Spanish-speaking countries) "handy" is used for walkie-talkies, but not cell phones. I wonder if it comes from the German use of that word, or if both languages borrowed it from somewhere else. Checking the Wikipedia article for walkie-talkie just now, it seems the formal name for it is "handheld transceiver", so it makes sense that "handy" would derive from that. Edit: I was too lazy, scrolling down a bit on the same article mentions and explains the term "hand[y|ie]".
- eternauta3k 10y ago
  There's also "pendrive", which native speakers call "USB drive".
  - funkyy 10y ago
    Pendrive is common across whole English and the non-English speaking world.
    - bshimmin 10y ago
      There are a hell of a lot of names for them, and I think native speakers of English use a variety: http://dispenser.homenet.org/~dispenser/cgi-bin/rdcheck.py?page=USB_flash_drive http://dispenser.homenet.org/~dispenser/cgi-bin/rdcheck.py?p... I think most native speakers who aren't technical would pick something from that list which probably doesn't have "USB" in it and then wrap it with "little" and "thing" - eg. "little thumb drive thing".
      - TazeTSchnitzel 10y ago
        “a USB” is common
    - Armisael16 10y ago
      As a resident of the English speaking world I'm going to have to disagree with you.
bryanlarsen 10y ago
Japan had several cell phone networks using an alternative to GSM called the Personal Handy-phone System. This was an urban only network with extremely small cells that let them make ridiculously small and inexpensive phones.
- kalleboo 10y ago
  One of the PHS networks is even still running! You can still get a PHS phone from Y!Mobile (yes, a Yahoo! brand) https://online-store.ymobile.jp/regi/?oid=WX01SH&plan=000K13 https://online-store.ymobile.jp/regi/?oid=WX01SH&plan=000K13 What's interesting is that in Europe, DECT was designed to work the same way, but it never caught on as anything aside from a home cordless phone standard. Wikipedia says there was even a public DECT network in Italy until 2001.
  - achamayou 10y ago
    There was one in France in 91-97 (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bi-Bop https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bi-Bop), Apple even made a compatible PowerBook 180 with a special antenna (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powerbop https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powerbop).
- UncleSlacky 10y ago
  Reminds me of the short-lived Rabbit phone system: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_(telecommunications) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_(telecommunications)
Digit-Al 10y ago
In England, if you said "my wife gave me a hnady for my birthday" it would mean something very different :-)

Reminds me of "handy", the German word for "cell phone". My German friend said "we just use the English word for that." I have yet to find an English speaker who calls a mobile phone a "handy".

Lxr 10y ago

"Handphone" is common in SE Asia, from the literal translation of the Chinese word.

thaumasiotes 10y ago
> from the literal translation of the Chinese word Well, they both refer to hands, I guess. The Chinese word is 手机 shouji "hand machine". "Phone" is 电话 dianhua "electric speech". Those two words aren't related.
- Lxr 10y ago
  Interesting, thanks for the clarification!
  - yaowenjiaozi 10y ago
    "Handphone" is from 手提电话, meaning hand-held telephone.
    - contingencies 10y ago
      Also interesting to me in this area was the emergence of the so-called IP卡 ("IP card") referring to pre-paid long distance telephone cards sold within mainland China. These were big business until the mid to late noughties.
eatonphil 10y ago
In Korea it's called 핸드폰 (pronounced like: hen duh pone). Not sure where it borrowed that from directly though.

pilaf 10y ago

At least in Argentina (not sure about other Spanish-speaking countries) "handy" is used for walkie-talkies, but not cell phones. I wonder if it comes from the German use of that word, or if both languages borrowed it from somewhere else. Checking the Wikipedia article for walkie-talkie just now, it seems the formal name for it is "handheld transceiver", so it makes sense that "handy" would derive from that. Edit: I was too lazy, scrolling down a bit on the same article mentions and explains the term "hand[y|ie]".

eternauta3k 10y ago
There's also "pendrive", which native speakers call "USB drive".
- funkyy 10y ago
  Pendrive is common across whole English and the non-English speaking world.
  - bshimmin 10y ago
    There are a hell of a lot of names for them, and I think native speakers of English use a variety: http://dispenser.homenet.org/~dispenser/cgi-bin/rdcheck.py?page=USB_flash_drive http://dispenser.homenet.org/~dispenser/cgi-bin/rdcheck.py?p... I think most native speakers who aren't technical would pick something from that list which probably doesn't have "USB" in it and then wrap it with "little" and "thing" - eg. "little thumb drive thing".
    - TazeTSchnitzel 10y ago
      “a USB” is common
  - Armisael16 10y ago
    As a resident of the English speaking world I'm going to have to disagree with you.

bryanlarsen 10y ago

Japan had several cell phone networks using an alternative to GSM called the Personal Handy-phone System. This was an urban only network with extremely small cells that let them make ridiculously small and inexpensive phones.

kalleboo 10y ago
One of the PHS networks is even still running! You can still get a PHS phone from Y!Mobile (yes, a Yahoo! brand) https://online-store.ymobile.jp/regi/?oid=WX01SH&plan=000K13 https://online-store.ymobile.jp/regi/?oid=WX01SH&plan=000K13 What's interesting is that in Europe, DECT was designed to work the same way, but it never caught on as anything aside from a home cordless phone standard. Wikipedia says there was even a public DECT network in Italy until 2001.
- achamayou 10y ago
  There was one in France in 91-97 (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bi-Bop https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bi-Bop), Apple even made a compatible PowerBook 180 with a special antenna (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powerbop https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powerbop).
UncleSlacky 10y ago
Reminds me of the short-lived Rabbit phone system: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_(telecommunications) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_(telecommunications)

Digit-Al 10y ago

In England, if you said "my wife gave me a hnady for my birthday" it would mean something very different :-)