Talk:3075: Anachronym Challenge

Shouldn't "Anachronym" be "Anachronism"? The listed items aren't archaic acronyms. 162.158.63.83 17:30, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

No, "-nym" means name, so this is names that are outdated 104.23.190.60 17:36, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

(The OP) Ah, I see now. An anachronym is a term used in an anachronistic way (like tin foil which isn't made of tin anymore), where an anacronym is an word that started as an acronym but is now treated as a word (people no longer think of it as an acronym). Neither term being in common parlance, and being only one letter different, my search for a definition got them confused.172.70.35.94 00:20, 12 April 2025 (UTC)

I'm not sure why he should be paying with paper money. He can easily pay by credit card ... using virtual debit card on his phone. -- Hkmaly (talk) 17:46, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

Paper money might not be made from paper anymore - at least, it isn't in NZ, where I live. 172.69.0.130 17:53, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

I think “paper money” is about paper no longer being made from papyrus. US bank notes are printed on rag paper, which is indeed a kind of paper despite containing little or no wood pulp.--Seakingsoyuz (talk) 18:20, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

Agreed. Rag paper is not just "a kind of paper", it's the original kind of paper (papyrus is not paper in any usual sense, because it is not made from pulped fibers). When paper was invented in China, it was made from rag fibers, and it was still made like that when it was first produced in Europe.

I don't think 'paper money' should be designated as being made of paper here. Everyone knows that paper money doesn't feel or act like paper. It's incredibly hard to rip. DollarStoreBa'al (talk) 18:27, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

Being Canadian, I thought the reference here was to what's described at Wikipedia as Polymer banknotes. --162.158.127.25 18:28, 12 April 2025 (UTC)

The "card" in credit card seems to come from Latin and Greek for a piece of paper or papyrus. So a credit card, now made of plastic, metal, semiconductors, etc. might be considered an anachronym. 162.158.41.95 19:20, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

I don't think anybody's made sense of or convincingly explained the title text. Paper money actually is basically made of paper. Maybe that's the joke and why it's in the title text. Is there anywhere teaching that paper money isn't made of paper? Maybe it used to be made of the same paper we use for writing on, like IOUs. 162.158.158.93 21:23, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

Not in the UK ... the notes are not made with any version of paper now. (see also Canada & New Zealand above.) The Yeti (talk) 20:38, 17 April 2025 (UTC)

I think I figured it out. The article focuses heavily on actual production, but Randall doesn't mean that the original products no longer exist, he means that they aren't what stores are selling. Thinking on this I realized that paper money is like that too -- it's no longer backed by gold or silver. I added a sentence to the article to say this using the concept "fake" like "imitation porcelain". 162.158.159.135 21:36, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

The same person (me) wrote both of these posts but the IP addresses are changed by the server. 162.158.158.16 21:40, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

It's not the server, it's the Cloudflare gateway. Don't worry about it. Even if it wasn't the Cloudflare gateway's IP that you were getting, there's a good chance that your actual IP, via your actual ISP, is not static enough to be guaranteed the same from one post to another. If you want to state your continuation (and not get a named account to do so...) just say "Hi, it's IP <1.2.3.4> again..." or whatever you need to do. But (as with me) you seem not to have a driving wish for continuity of self so... don't worry about it. Ok? 172.69.79.165 23:21, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

After thinking on this further I am no longer convinced by this explanation either. It's possible.162.158.158.16 21:40, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

He could pay with any form of contactless, given that pretty much everybody seems to touch whatever they're paying with against the sensor.172.70.162.58 13:24, 16 April 2025 (UTC)

Adults who "enjoy" rubber ducks include programmers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging 172.71.95.27 18:40, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

The word money came from words that meant coin. The word coin evidently came from wedge shaped. Not quite anachronym, though somewhat anachronism. 162.158.41.95 19:11, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

Surprised "lead pencil" didn't make the list 172.68.12.109 19:13, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

Not quite the same category. The core of wooden pencils never contained lead, that was always a misnomer by people who didn't know it was actually carbon. ChaoticNeutralCzech (talk) 08:07, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

I thought soft metals like lead did work for writing with though, functioning similarly to the graphite in a pencil but possibly needing a rougher surface like chalk does. I'm surprised the name isn't from actual use as I had informally learned it was. I think I tested it by writing with lead solder. In ancient Rome people would write on rougher slate, not sure what they used to write on the slate with though. 162.158.159.36 21:20, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

Duck Tape is no longer made from ducks! IIVQ (talk) 19:30, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

It Actually got its name from being made from "duck fabric," a kind of heavy very tightly woven cotton fabric. Then there was confusion by a brand putting a picture of a duck on the label, and people using it to join segments of heating ducts together, making people falsely think it was originally called "duct tape," with duck being a fanciful brand name. Originally though it was developed for the military in WW1 to seal ammunition boxes in a waterproof way, but due to widespread improvised uses by soldiers, post war they decided to market it to civilians.--172.71.255.102 17:11, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

What your thinking about is "fabric tape" or "gaffer's tape". What people call "duck tape" is actually called "duct tape," as in the tape you would use on air ducting. Many people misheard and dropped the final "t", and of course the Duck brand didn't help. --Mblumber (talk) 21:32, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

With both terms "duck tape" and "duct tape", there's valid (if false) etymologies. Being somewhat waterproof (the fabric being at least water-resistant and the adhesive being good even on damp surfaces) it being a "duck" material is fairly relatable. With it having a degree of air-tightness and some degree of heat-resistance, it's also trivially useful for sealing ambient-temperature ducting gaps (though you really need the metal-foil types for ducts with high or variable temperature airflows passing through them). 172.69.79.165 23:21, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

Doing further research, the "duck" naming came first, due to it being made using duck fabric. Though there was some tape using it beforehand, it seems it first became widespread with something close to what we know today in WWII, intended for sealing ammunition boxes, but saw widespread other use by soldiers. Afterwards it was sold in hardware stores for household repairs, and made to be more heat tolerant to be good for use on heating ducts, also colored to match the tin typically used to make the ducts, and people started calling it "duct tape" in the 50's. Later, in the 70's, a company decided to market their brand by bringing back the original "duck" name, with a cartoon duck logo, though many people didn't realize that was the original name of that kind of tape, and thought they were just making a pun on "duct."--172.69.6.77 00:55, 15 April 2025 (UTC)

Duck/duct is one of my go-to examples of folk etymology and misplaced language-snobbery. "Actually, it's..." type behaviour concerning "duct" tape has historically been in the direction of "duck is the misnomer, based on mishearing". And thats wrong. It was duck,but people thought it couldn't be duck because why the hell would it be duck, what the hell does duck mean when it's tape? OHHHH! It must be duct because people tape ducts with it. But no. It was duck. It became duct. It became duck again. It was all these things, because the only true arbiter of correct usage is common usage...but saying (knowingly, with an air of superiority) that it was originally duct is fundamentally incorrect. Yorkshire Pudding (talk) 22:06, 15 April 2025 (UTC)

"digital money" shouldn't be listed as what "paper money" is actually made out of. Nobody would say "I'm paying with paper money" if they are paying with some digital currency. The anachronism is "paper money" being actually made of linen or whatever hi-tech fibers. 172.70.254.211 19:49, 11 April 2025 (UTC) anonymous user

Not even fibers. Sheet-polymers (with loads of complex embedded and pressed-in features) are becoming the new go-to for banknotes, in a number of countries. 172.68.205.135 23:24, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

My wife suggests that this is much easier if you are tech shopping: Apple, Mouse, Spam, Phish, Cookies.162.158.78.225 20:03, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

"Click mouse to accept cookie" meme - featuring rodent and confection. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/06/e6/7d/06e67d6ee5a2afa112bf548463e97125.jpg 172.70.35.94 00:20, 12 April 2025 (UTC)

That's not in the same category since computer mice were never made of actual mice^{[citation needed]}. Anyway, I'm sure there are some examples in tech: compressed air (gas duster) cans do not actually contain nitrogen or oxygen but a mixture of hydrocarbon gases that can be liquified at pressures obtainable in a cheap can to drastically increase the volume ratio, but I can imagine people might have used actual pressurized air containers for dusting at some point (though likely not commercially). ChaoticNeutralCzech (talk) 08:07, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

Not sure why "sidewalk chalk" on there and who decides that calcium carbonate is allowed to be called chalk, but calcium sulphate is not. --108.162.216.196 05:25, 12 April 2025 (UTC)

I came here wondering why it was on the list, but for a different reason: It's never been made from sidewalks. Yes, I actually needed to read the list to clear up the misconception. --162.158.127.25 18:28, 12 April 2025 (UTC)

Because, other than the use we give it as "thing you write on blackboards with", chalk is originally a stone made of relatively loose calciulm carbonate (limestone mostly made from foraminifers), which is what was used to write on slate blackboards before we started making them out of pressed gypsum. --172.64.238.130

Calcium carbonate chalk is still produced (mostly for mathematicians). Search for "Hagoromo Fulltouch." 172.71.190.234 (talk) 15:47, 17 April 2025 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

You can still buy solid cast-iron irons. Although I doubt anyone actually uses them for smoothing clothes, more for decoration. SDSpivey (talk) 16:23, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

If you can still buy _new_ ones update the article! People likely use the old ones in traditional communities though. 162.158.159.36 21:20, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

When I typed started typing "silverware made" into Google, it suggested "silverware real silver", which brought up a very ad-heavy results page. A few of them were re-selling vintage silverware, but most seemed to be offering "new" designs. I had to scroll down several pages before I found stuff that looked even like a catalog, rather than an ad for one particular possible purchase.

But since it seems like a competitive market, and I wasn't patient enough to look for an informational marketing page, I don't feel comfortable picking one (or several) particular ads as the citation.

Perhaps someone else does. Or perhaps a screenshot archived somewhere. JimJJewett (talk) 18:09, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

Since when are ads considered reliable sources? --FaviFake (talk) 19:24, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

Since they indicate what's popular, what's commonly seen and commonly used. Yorkshire Pudding (talk) 09:38, 16 April 2025 (UTC)

Steel

Stainless steel does contain Fe, so "iron" ain't that "wrong". 172.70.35.95 05:48, 12 April 2025 (UTC)

We have long made a distinction between "iron" and "steel", not to mention that, while stainless steel has about 1% carbon by weight (give or take: sometime more, sometimes less), since carbon is over 4 times lighter than iron, that makes about 4% (and up to 10%) of the atoms carbon, not to mention that, to be stainless, it has to either have a by weight composition of either over 10% chromium or over 8% nickel, which are almost the same weight as iron (a difference of around 5%, lower for chromium, higher for nickel). Given that the average stainless steel has a 18% by weight of chromium, adding that with the carbon means that only 3 out of 4 atoms are iron, and if you have copper and tin or copper and tin in that same ratio, it would long have surpassed the line to be called "bronze" or "brass", respectively. "Having iron atoms" is not the same as "made of iron", mainly when it originally was indeed made out of (wrought) iron. --188.114.111.245

99% is a way higher percentage than say, the amount of nickel in nickels ($0.05 coins): 25% (US) or 2% (Canadian). The latter might qualify for this list because it actually used to be made of near-pure nickel, while the US coin's composition never changed since the first (1866) version that became known as the "nickel". ChaoticNeutralCzech (talk) 11:48, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

Steel (stainless or otherwise) does not occur naturally. It has to be made. By humans. Out of iron. So in this case 'having iron atoms' DOES mean 'made of (as a synonym of 'from') iron'. 172.70.86.129 04:11, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

Bronze contains mostly copper. So I assume you would call it copper, too. --162.158.130.67 11:15, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

"Cutlery" specifically refers to metallic implements with a cutting edge. Knives, scissors, and swords are cutlery; Spoons and forks are not cutlery. Table knives, forks, and spoons, collectively are "flatware". 162.158.164.155 10:01, 12 April 2025 (UTC)

I was really hoping to re-edit that element, anyway. The comic says "silverware" which can relate to cutlery/other food-implements or to the plates or candlesticks or even trophies. Someone assumed that meant cutlery(+dining implements in general). As well as other improvable writing about the assumption they went with. 172.70.58.49 22:58, 12 April 2025 (UTC)

I assume the confusion comes from the respecive British and American terms for a collection of forks, knives, and spoons. British English calls these things "cutlery" even if they don't have a cutting edge. American English commonly refers to these as "silverware," especially when made with stainless steel, although I have also heard the term "plastic silverware" or "wooden silverware" when "flatware" would probably have been a more accurate generic term. 172.70.163.35 18:09, 13 April 2025 (UTC) (an American expat)

While its etymology indicates cutting edges, is "cutlery" actually used to mean "bladed items" anywhere? In UK English, it exclusively means eating irons, and is the standard, unremarkable, everyday term. In the places that don't refer to their knives, forks and spoons collectively as "cutlery", do they really use the word at all? Yorkshire Pudding (talk) 09:34, 16 April 2025 (UTC)

Paper

I just want to point out that paper made from cotton fibers instead of wood pulp is still paper. You can buy it in the store. There are non-paper banknotes now, but not in the U.S., and I'd be surprised if polymer banknotes were ever called "paper money". LtPowers (talk) 12:35, 12 April 2025 (UTC)

Be surprised. That's what they're usually called in Canada. --162.158.127.164 18:29, 12 April 2025 (UTC)

And anywhere with polymer bills. "Paper money" = bills. Still, it's true that cotton-linen paper is still paper, so is hemp paper and any other paper made from cellulose fibers (paper can be categorized by cellulose source, average fiber length, thickness, impurities and papermaking method). You can even make paper out of old clothes made from vegetable textiles (like blue jeans, cotton T-shirts or hemp pants). As a weird side note, there are non-cellulose papers, like silk paper, but they are made in the same way as regular paper (which is not how plymer bills are made, to my understanding)--188.114.111.245

Yeah, I've always heard of it as "paper money" --<b><i>xnerkcd</b></i> (talk) 07:10, 13 April 2025 (UTC)

I have a different comment on the "money" section, namely that the thin. flat, wrinkleable stuff nowadays are not (at least not in the US) "promissory notes", and they haven't been since the Silver Certificates went out of circulation. No one makes any promises about them, other than that they are legal for paying debts. The stuff nowadays would be better called "fiat money", or perhaps someone else can offer a better term.

"Folding"? 172.70.58.50 20:50, 18 April 2025 (UTC)

Ironing boards obviously came from use of irons. As irons aren't iron anymore, ironing board is also anachronistic. Quite often aluminium foil is refered to as 'silver foil', which is both not true (not made of silver), but also true (silver colour). And then there are people who still open 'tin cans' (but not). The Yeti (talk) 20:38, 17 April 2025 (UTC)