4 ms·

TBH even as a native English speaker who grew up with them, I never realized that "cassettes" were (only) supposed to contain magnetic tape; I just internalized

by wk_end 1y ago

TBH even as a native English speaker who grew up with them, I never realized that "cassettes" were (only) supposed to contain magnetic tape; I just internalized that audio and video tapes were "cassettes" and games came on "cartridges" (regardless of what Nintendo wanted us to call them). A Japanese audience was probably even less inclined to learn yet another loanword to preserve that technical distinction.

aspenmayer 1y ago
I think the cassette is the thing that holds the media, as opposed to a reel-to-reel tape, which is just on a spool, for example. To this reading, it makes sense to call the game cartridge a cassette, but I haven’t ever heard of carts called cassettes in English.
Lammy 1y ago
> A Japanese audience was probably even less inclined to learn yet another loanword to preserve that technical distinction. That's what I mean, though, is that my internalized idea of cassette == tape was the one that was wrong. It was one of those words I learned incorrectly as a child based on the observation that everything adults called “cassettes” had magnetic tape in common, not realizing that “cassette” is describing the enclosure instead of the contents and literally means “little box” (case-ette). Nintendo were using it correctly and taught me something in the process and that's why I think it's cool and wanted to share.
- pm215 1y ago
  For a counterexample in the other direction, the 8-track system uses "cartridge" for its enclosure-with-audio-on-magnetic-tape object.
- fair_enough 1y ago
  Japanese is full of loanwords precisely because those good folks on the other side of the world find so many things about Western culture fascinating. My Japanese father-in-law even played QB and Safety for his university's American-style football team in the 80s and grew up as a fan of Jack Lambert and Mean Joe Greene. Many people in Japan are just as much "Americanophiles" as some of us are "Japanophiles".
  - namibj 1y ago
    Their word for (part time) job (as opposed to career position) is literally the German word for "work": arbeit. Of course transliterated with some minor phonetic loss, but that's expected.
bitwize 1y ago
Early home console players in my country (USA) sometimes referred to game cartridges as "tapes" because of their resemblance to audiocassettes or 8-track cassettes (e.g., "Atari tapes"). In the Homestar Runner canon, Strong Bad has been known to make reference to "Sega tapes". And then there's the generation of UK gamers who got their games for Commodore or the Speccy, on actual audiocassette for 10 quid apiece at the chemist's. Games on cassette were available on American micros as well, but didn't attract nearly as much interest.

by wk_end 1y ago

aspenmayer 1y ago

I think the cassette is the thing that holds the media, as opposed to a reel-to-reel tape, which is just on a spool, for example. To this reading, it makes sense to call the game cartridge a cassette, but I haven’t ever heard of carts called cassettes in English.

Lammy 1y ago

> A Japanese audience was probably even less inclined to learn yet another loanword to preserve that technical distinction. That's what I mean, though, is that my internalized idea of cassette == tape was the one that was wrong. It was one of those words I learned incorrectly as a child based on the observation that everything adults called “cassettes” had magnetic tape in common, not realizing that “cassette” is describing the enclosure instead of the contents and literally means “little box” (case-ette). Nintendo were using it correctly and taught me something in the process and that's why I think it's cool and wanted to share.

pm215 1y ago
For a counterexample in the other direction, the 8-track system uses "cartridge" for its enclosure-with-audio-on-magnetic-tape object.
fair_enough 1y ago
Japanese is full of loanwords precisely because those good folks on the other side of the world find so many things about Western culture fascinating. My Japanese father-in-law even played QB and Safety for his university's American-style football team in the 80s and grew up as a fan of Jack Lambert and Mean Joe Greene. Many people in Japan are just as much "Americanophiles" as some of us are "Japanophiles".
- namibj 1y ago
  Their word for (part time) job (as opposed to career position) is literally the German word for "work": arbeit. Of course transliterated with some minor phonetic loss, but that's expected.

bitwize 1y ago

Early home console players in my country (USA) sometimes referred to game cartridges as "tapes" because of their resemblance to audiocassettes or 8-track cassettes (e.g., "Atari tapes"). In the Homestar Runner canon, Strong Bad has been known to make reference to "Sega tapes". And then there's the generation of UK gamers who got their games for Commodore or the Speccy, on actual audiocassette for 10 quid apiece at the chemist's. Games on cassette were available on American micros as well, but didn't attract nearly as much interest.