(Until it becomes more standard, "cellphone" will continue to make me think "selfown.")
Friday, October 16, 2009
If I Were Callin' the Shots Around Here ...
I'd say that "healthcare" is now officially one word (contrary to how the New York Times and one of the major dictionaries write it) but "cell phone" is not. Not yet, at least.
(Until it becomes more standard, "cellphone" will continue to make me think "selfown.")
(Until it becomes more standard, "cellphone" will continue to make me think "selfown.")
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6 comments:
Thanks. I've been wondering about "healthcare" and, like a lot of folks, talking about it quite a bit lately. It's nice to know that I was right all along. :-) I hadn't any idea about "cell phone."
Yeah, you're as good a standard setter as any other--especially when you agree with me.
: )
Since I wrote that, I did some digging and learned that the LA Times style guide says "health care" is two words (or hyphenated as a modifier). But an LA Times archives search demonstrates clearly that the Times has changed its practice without documenting the change. (I don't think anyone has updated their once timely style style guide in like 10 years.)
They use "healthcare" almost exclusively now.
I can remain an amused bystander on the cell phone issue, because in my part of the world it is neither a cell phone nor a cellphone, but a "mobile phone" (often abbreviated to "mobile", as in: "I will call you on your mobile").
The American terminology does have a way of creeping in, though.
Some people here use "mobile." I like it. "Cell" sounds like something they scrape off you at the doctor's office and/or where convicts go.
Since everyone has a cell phone now, we can probably drop the cell or mobile. It's assumed that a phone is one you can take out of the house with you.
I guess that's true. But I find a bit threatening the idea of "phones" meaning cell phones.
I guess that's because I worry land lines will disappear. And that makes me uncomfortable because, in my area at least, 911 cell service is really bad. It can take them like 10-12 minutes just to ANSWER the phone. Land-line-based 911 service is fast.
Not that I call 911 often. But the whole idea of an "emergency" is that it's something rare -- but urgent.
So I cling ...
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