In article <slrnd89hkr.l11.chris@ccserver.keris.net>,
Chris Croughton <chris@keristor.net> wrote:
> On 13 May 2005 06:31:19 -0700, credoquaabsurdum
> <credoquaabsurdum@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > Chris Croughton wrote:
> >
> >> Most people in the UK that I know use "land line" (or "landline").
> >> That seems to be a recent (last few years) take-up of the term by
> >> ordinary people, it was in common military and technical usage a
> >> decade or so ago but at that time it seemed to be regarded as
> >> 'jargon'.
Pop-media use (such as in the movie _The Matrix_) has brought this into
common usage, I think.
> > Exactly. "Land line/landline" is what I told my learner, but is sounds
> > a lot like "Charlie Whiskey Foxtrot, do we need to get a land line
> > into the Waco compound, over?"
>
> And what's the opposite, a skyline or sealine? Or even an airline?
"Airwave." "On the line" works in both cases, so the distinction is
just whether one is anchored by a cord, anchored by a short-range
cordless phone (is that "mobile" or "land line"? ;), or fully mobile (as
with a cell.
FWIW, I call a cordless phone "land line" (although I might adopt
"stationary" as the opposite of "mobile" -- I like that! :), because the
communication to the other person isn't cordless -- it's just that MY
communication with the PHONE SET (base unit) is cordless. But that's
like having a remote control for my TV -- it doesn't make the TV
"mobile", it just gives me some flexibility in my interactions with the
TV.
> >> "Call me on my mobile" (but not 'at') is common UK usage, the
In the US, "call me *ON* my mobile" (or "...cell"), but "call me *AT*
123-456-7890". Alternately, "call me at home" or "call me at my work
number"
People also tend to mix and match "voicemail" and "message" -- saying
"leave me a voicemail at home" or "leave a message on my answering
machine at work", even though the underlying technologies may actually
be the reverse of that.
> >> alternatives being "landline" or sometimes "house phone" or "home
> >> phone" or "call me at home". "... on/at my stationary" would not be
> >> good English (although 'mobile' has made the transition to a noun
> >> easily, 'stationary' and 'regular' haven't).
> >
> > Every time I think "Mobil," I think gas and an oil-check.
"Call me on my stationary" works, unless the listener mistakes
"stationery", which could lead them to believe you're requesting a
written response in an awkward way. "Call me on my regular" makes me
immediately think "I'm glad he didn't ask me to call him on his
irregular!"
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