Suffering from Vocab-lag?

My 11-year-old daughter was just telling me how she’d seen a meme (and there’s a funny NEW word) on Instagram that joked how kids of today’s generation will never understand the satisfaction of angrily flipping a cell phone shut after a disagreement. Instead, they’d just have to jab at the fake buttons on the touch-screen. 

I quickly slipped into the “well, in MY day…” mode.

“I remember when we used to ‘hang up on someone’ when we were angry.”

I guess no one actually hangs up telephones, anymore, no matter their mood. And yet we say, “I’d better hang up now” when we’re getting ready to say goodbye. At least I still do. My daughter assured me that she and her friends use the outdated term, as well. That surprised me, since she’s never used a phone that hung on a hook.

Yesterday, I gave a presentation with Powerpoint and kept referring to my “slides.” And yet, there are no real slides involved. 

I was also being recorded so people who had to miss the workshop could listen to it at a later time. I caught myself referring to the people “listening to the tape.” Yeah…right. 

Last week my son and I were watching Ironman III on Blu-ray, and I missed a few lines of dialogue. I gestured to the remote my son held. “Can you rewind a little?” Rewind? Really?

I wonder what other outdated terms are still lurking about out there in our cultural lexicon. Does anyone still clock in or punch out at work? Do we refer to 6:15 as a quarter past the hour, even though we’re reading it on a digital clock? I’ve always wondered if the expression, “time running out” referred to an hourglass. When was the last time you rolled up the window in your car? How about dialing your telephone?

One time my son was repeating himself, and I told him he sounded like a broken record. Since he was fascinated by the Guinness Book of World Records, he thought maybe I was suggesting he’d said it more than anyone else, ever.

Since I write historical fiction, my characters are in a similar situation. At the turn of the century, technology was changing so fast, I imagine it was difficult for anyone to keep up. Telephones, automobiles, electric lights–their language must have experienced dramatic shifts. I wonder how long people continued to say, “Will you please light the lamp?” instead of “turn on the lights“? Did they say, “pull back on the reins” instead of “hit the brakes?”

It boggles my mind.

Can you come up with any other outdated tech terms lagging in our vocabulary? Or imagine other ways people in history might have struggled with the new language?

If you can, leave it in the comments below. I’ll make sure to pencil it in on my list.