I wonder sometimes what would be the oldest extant word based on technology no longer in use. Taping an interview? Dialing someone? https://twitter.com/hels/status/679059633949011970 …
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Replying to @mwichary
Font is a good one, late 17th century. Still used for selling type, but several generations of obsolete tech later. In general there are a lot of words from printing, which makes sense, considering that printers preserved the written word, so their terminology survived.
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Replying to @kimaboe
But font feels like it doesn’t count because fonts still exist. They’re just a different/more modern version of the same idea. But I bet there must have been a device used for typesetting that’s no longer there, immortalized in some term…
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You could say that about the majority of terms collected. I agree that font and foundry and many other technical terms count in this game, although founded metal fonts are still used by some (as are wind-down car windows :)
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I don’t think I agree! iPods, actual burning of the midnight oil, or scrolls are used by very few. Fonts are everywhere, maybe more than ever before.
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Yes, those are pure examples but you also had several not so pure ones
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Fair.
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