Chinese character keyboard
That was the most ridiculous part of a ridiculous episode. I've lived in China for 7 years, and never seen a chinese character only keyboard. Not even on chinese brand computers.
shareThat was mainly to show Cabe's lack of technology knowledge. I love how they tease him. Especially when he was saying he was taping them and he was told it was digital. I still say I taped something rather then I recorded it. Lol
Who else here still use outdated phrases?
I check "the answering machine" for messages...
it's voice mail and it's on my phone.....
I also tape shows... on my dvr.... which of course is digital....
I still say I taped something rather then I recorded it.*SMILE* you should have used "...rather than I...".
I would not have mentioned it except this thread is 'picking' at the idea of a Chinese keyboard...
The show could also have been set in Russia and had a different keyboard, or one of the Korea's, or a middle east country, or any of dozens of others...
Rather than call them "outdated phrases", maybe we could refer to them as "phrases that have been overcome by events".
"Drop a dime."
Anyone watching older "cop shows" (like NYPD Blue, Starsky and Hutch, plus many others) that used the phrase "drop a dime" as slang referring to making an anonymous call to the Police, using a pay phone, might recognize that phrase.
It is outdated on several levels though:
1) You need to really look hard to even find a pay phone anymore,
2) Due to inflation, the "dime" rate for a local pay phone call went to $0.25 well before cell phones pretty much eliminated pay phones.
3) "Anonymous phone call", well, enough said about that, but brings to mind the phrases "burner phone" and "surveilance cameras"...
TMI about phones: (Too Much Information)
Owing to the lobbying of lawmakers by industries, the phone companies are allowed to charge more for phone service using touch tone dialing. There is no actual requirement to NOT use a rotary dial phone, or a more modern phone that has a switch to select between "tone" and "pulse" dialing set to "pulse" dialing.
I strongly suspect the phone company(s) will not remove that fee from your bill, or it may not even be itemized in phone bills now. In fact, modern phone equipment requires more time and equipment to process "pulse dialing" than what tone dialing requires. Fortunately, few people use "pulse dialing" anymore on their "landline phone" equipment, (phones, FAX machines, dial-up modems, etc.).
Like I mentioned, "overcome by events".
"Check your oil?"
Old TV shows and movies depict gas/service station attendants asking the driver if they wanted their oil checked while they were filling their gas tank. Window cleaning was also done, and free. As a service to customers with various handicaps or disabilities (or wishing to show how wealthy they are) there are probably still some "full service" pumps available on a limited basis. (However, it has been years since I saw a "Full Service" sign on pumps, now I only see "Call attendant for assistance" signs.) OSHA has had a part in virtually eliminating the job of pumping customer's gas/fuel though, as well as the desire for "economy rates" on gas/fuel. Since gasoline fumes have been determined as hazardous, OSHA would have required protective measures to safeguard the "pump jockeys" health. Going even further, gas pump nozzles are now fitted with equipment to protect against "splash" from overfilling a tank, and recovering the gas fumes from a tank being filled, sending those fumes into the station's main tank, so they are not vented into the air as "hydrocarbon emissions", and helping to reduce the chances of pump fires.
I remember being challenged once at a service station as I was pumping my own gas. That was normal for the state (in the USA) where I had been living for years, but in the state I was passing through, pumping your own gas was actually illegal! (Yes, there was some justification for that, ranging from drive-off gas thefts, pumping into illegal containers, and accidental fires sparked by static electricity.)
Want to "mess with somebody"? (Current slang usually refers to sexual activity.)
The older version of that phrase goes somewhat along the idea of a practical joke, but is far less, and some examples may even be grouped with dialects in communication.
Use one of the older time references when/if someone asks for the time.
If they have a digital watch, use things like "quarter til", "half past" and the like, (meaning "15 minutes before", and "30 minutes after" respectively). If you are old enough to remember when the digital watches (etc.) first became popular, you may remember asking for the time, and getting a reply like "4:57" instead of "almost five", (or almost "quitting time"). Similarly, if the person asking has an "analog watch", (with hands), answer them with a digital reply like "one fifty" so they need to think about the answer, (1:50).
And use of a 24-hour time reply (sometimes called military time) can confuse people. "Seventeen hundred hours", meaning 5PM, again, "quitting time" from a "nine-to-five" job...
"Hands at ten and two!"
Just thought of that one because of the previous time references. That also has been overcome by events on several levels.
1) "analog time references", after all, what teen driver doesn't have a cell phone with a digital time,
2) that is no longer the recommended hand positions on a steering wheel, due to the driver's airbag in the center of the steering wheel. "Nine and three" I believe is now recommended.
And in line with this phrase may soon be "Two hands on the steering wheel!" with the trend toward self-driving vehicles (perhaps) eventually even making a steering wheel obsolete...
this could go on indefinitely...
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