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Ask HN: Is the word "Computer" outdated?

7 points by tzaman ↗ HN
I had a discussion with myself while driving the other day (who doesn't do that?), and I saw this jumbo ad for "PC computers", which got me smiling, since the C stands for computer anyway.

But it got me thinking at the same time - back in the old days, computers really were computing and were used for it, but nowadays the computing part is just an underlying cause/feature for their existence, but we use them mainly for media consumption and communication, so naming them computers doesn't feel right any more - it's like cars would be called spinners because spinning wheels (or engine) is what gets us around.

Your thoughts?

15 comments

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Piskvorrr
Calculators don't work by moving pebbles around, but they're called calculators anyway (from Latin calculus, literally "pebble"). On the same note, is the point of movies the fact that they're moving images? Yet the name derives from this.

TL;DR: Do you want a logical language? Try Lojban, not English ;)

thomasfoster96
It's not really outdated; more or less that the use of the word will change.

They're still computers, but computers are now just the engines running a huge array of devices. After all, I think the computer is going to be the next motor.

For clarity I think it's better to call "PCs" desktops or laptops for the time being.

ignostic
It also makes little sense to call most phones "phones." They're also cameras, camcorders, MP3 players, maps, browsers, etc.

As devices converge it may someday no longer make sense to have more than one device with serious processing power. I'm not sure I care much what we'll call it at that point.

zamalek
What would you call them in that case? The whole "I'm a PC, I'm a Mac" campaign means that consumers now see PCs as "Microsoft computers" (and the rest of us generally use it interchangeably with "computer"); you would need a new encompassing term for the ol' tower on your desktop type of cat voyeurism device.

As time goes on the etymology of words generally becomes questionable: I don't think "computer" being inappropriate is a good reason to drop it.

That being said "desktop" is what I use, I rarely use "computer" these days.

tzaman
Don't know what the alternative would be, I don't own a Microsoft computer, so I always refer to mine as mac. I agree, to many folks Microsoft == Windows == Computer
k__
I'm from Germany and here the people use the word "computer" or "PC". Some people even say "Rechner" which is a rather crude german translation of "computer", which is also used in "Taschenrechner"/"pocket calculator".

But only for desktop computers.

For the rest, most people use their concrete names like "notebook", "netbook", "laptop", "tablet", "smartphone", "server", etc.

chewxy
Depending on what Chinese you speak, computers translate to "Electronic calculator" or "Electric brain". There strangely isn't a notion of "personal" computing.

(phones are electric speech)

mathattack
I think the definition of computer has expanded. Mainframes used be all that was computers. Then minis. Then PCs. Now phones and tablets. Our cars have computers in them. It's just a short form of "Computing Machine."
dm2
There isn't a better word though.

The worst is when people try to use a different name, like "box".

Yes, technically millions of different devices are computers, everything from sim cards to satellites to robots to TVs.

When someone asks to look at your computer, you don't show them your phone, even though there is very little technical difference, you show them your laptop or desktop computer.

speeder
I still use my computer to compute (spreadsheets anyone?) so no, leave it alone! I want to compute!
damian2000
One case is a Raspberry Pi - they are undoubtedly a computer, but as far as I know most people don't refer to them as that when they own one, they just refer to it as "my Pi" or "my Raspberry Pi".
jaxbot
Weird. I had this exact same thought last night when I was going to bed. That seems to happen to me a lot; think something before bed, and then see it within the week. I should play lotto.

In all seriousness, though, "computer" describes a device that, well, does a computation. And while they definitely still do this, more now than ever, that's not what we use them for. We use them, truly, as communicators. Same with the word "phone". Really, the words have become obsolete because the actual product is obsolete, too. We think of computers in terms of what we use them for, not what they do inside them.