In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Roy Schestowitz
<newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote
on Wed, 26 Apr 2006 15:23:33 +0100
<3123193.ZG6sB691hS@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> __/ [ Tim Smith ] on Wednesday 26 April 2006 14:03 \__
>
>> In article <1394080.ca2t7SajDr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
>> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>> >> How come I don't like Apple?
>>> >
>>> > I'm writing this on a mac (macs are very java-friendly, but i have
>>> > linux, windows desktop boxes too). I don't like Steve Jobs, he's a
>>> > freaking a*hole, but you gotta admit the mac is very easy to use and
>>> > good looking to the eyes.
>>>
>>>
>>> I was thinking along the lines of DRM and the adoption of terms like
>>> Podcast, among other things.
>>
>> So, basically, your dislike from Apple stems from them building products
>> like the iPod, that work so well that other people started using "pod"
>> as a generic term?
>
> It has a dangerous blinding effect. Think of "Google it", "IBM-compatible",
> "Hoover", "I'll have a Coke", "I have a Personal Computer (Windows)" and the
> list goes on. Use generic terms. Never allow yourself to fall into a
> terminological trap. The iPod and iPod nano, by the way, do not impress me
> much. I prefer my Tungsten.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Roy
>
Hmm....is it me or does the term "pod person" predate
a certain small music player unit manufactured by a
Cupertino-based company? :-)
Seems to me it started in 1984 around Reagan's reelection, as a
disparaging term for individuals who reelected him. (Unfortunately
Mondale wasn't all that exciting, especially among the conservative
set who would rather drop dead than pay more taxes to government.)
In particular I remember a Saturday Night Live Skit showed
a party being infiltrated thereby, carrying large green
beanpod-like containers.
In any event, a pod is a container (specifically for peas); the
term works for me. Besides, I think of incandescent light bulbs
when I hear "tungsten", though apparently 74W183.84 has other uses,
though, such as X-ray targets and seals:
http://www.webelements.com/webelements/elements/text/W/uses.html
so unless you're being enlightened by your music player (which is
possible since many shows offer streaming audio :-) ) I'm not
sure that's all that successful of a marketing term selection.
But whatever works.
Just to confuse things: it is also a group term for marine mammals
(a pod of whales, a pod of dolphins). Go fig. It can also be used
as a verb, though that's probably fairly rare amongst non-botanists.
A Google search on "pod person" coughed up a fair amount of confusion,
mixing iPod, PeaPod (Safeway's delivery service), and the fairing of
wings to fuselage of a 767 in one conspiracy website.
There's even a 1983 movie entry: Los nuevos extraterrestres:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086026/
which in the US was apparently released under the title
"The Pod People". I think this qualifies as "prior art". :-)
--
#191, ewill3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Windows Vista. Because it's time to refresh your hardware. Trust us.
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