Television set?
 

I was listening to " Hancock's half hour" on R4x the other day, when the lad himself a made reference to a " television set". This started me thinking: when did we stop all them "sets" and why did we call them "sets" in the first place? I've searched this site, so hopefully not answered elsewhere.

Re: Television set?
 

This is the way I see it.

If you look at an early wireless, it is clearly a "set of parts" wired together on a wooden or Ebonite baseboard, and very often hand assembled by the user. The name "set" somehow just stuck.

Perhaps they could just as well have been called "kits", come to think of it we do tend to call our electronic tech "kit" these days.

Professional and amateur radio operators have always used the word "rig" to refer to their apparatus.

Re: Television set?
 

Spot on, but it seems that only radio and television were ever called "sets"
Other brown goods, such as record players and tape recorders etc were not.
:beer:
Mark

Re: Television set?
 

I have to admit I still call them 'television sets', even when referring to the latest large screen 4k OLED! My customers must think I'm very old.
Oh - I suppose I am!

Re: Television set?
 

Don't forget that the military officially called their radios 'sets', the Army in particular with a whole range of 'Wireless Sets', the Wireless Set No. 19 probably being the best known.

Andy

Re: Television set?
 

'Television Receiver' was presumably too long for general use.
Am I the only one who gets irked at some of these abbreviations? 'Television' is the process, not the device.
I came to dislike it at an early age, when I read (in some novel) that 'a cable' appeared on some executive's desk. THAT took some explaining.

Re: Television set?
 

Hi,

And the American military SCR - Set Complete Radio.

Kind regards
Dave

Re: Television set?
 

One of our teachers at school about 30 years ago always referred to a "stereo set" when talking about what I'd call stereo system. It seemed odd then and still does now. He originated from Ireland so maybe it was a common term there.

Re: Television set?
 

I can understand "set" in the context of something which is multiple interconnected/interdependent units [the TV itself, the PVR and the Sky/Virgin-box for example] or as in a "set of crockery" but in the context of a single standalone unit surely the "set" part is redundant?

You don't talk about the keyboard, screen, mouse, system-unit of a personal computer as a "PC set" do you?

Re: Television set?
 

No. Maybe we should?

Of course, most modern TV receivers are a 'set' - the display device, and the remote control. So, a set of parts.

(Incidentally, when I first typed the above sentence, I typed 'handset'. Now there's a conundrum!)

Re: Television set?
 

Box set.:idea:

Lawrence.

Re: Television set?
 

I assume that at one time "television" referred to what it does, i.e. enabling you to see at a distance. So a television set was a set which enabled you to see distant things. Over time the word transformed into a noun in its own right. A bit like people referring to a wireless. You know what is meant although there are many things around which don't have any wires.

Re: Television set?
 

I refer to CRT TVs as being “sets” but flatscreens I do not.

Could it be from the valve TVs that the name was used, as you’d have a set of valves (and other components) working to make something out of the television signals the Television set is recieving.

Re: Television set?
 

I still use "set" to denote the actual apparatus as opposed to the medium. The term is still current...I recently bought a "set top box" but I know few people who could balance one on top of their set these days

Re: Television set?
 

In the early days a wireless receiver literally consisted of several wooden or ebonite boxes
each containing a section of the receiver. RF amplifier, [maybe 2] detector, AF amp again maybe two or more and output stage. This would add up to as many as six separate units placed in a line and linked with stout wire and brass terminals. The whole assembly was then known as a 'set'. There are a couple of examples at the Dulwich Museum.
Old terms die very slowly and today it would be very rare to hear someone say ' Switch on the Radio Set'.
Early television receivers were also built on the 'set' system usually an RF unit, timebases and power supply, connected with plugs and sockets. Regards, John.

Re: Television set?
 

Possibly because radio's and TV's were or could be assembled either from a kit or from parts purchased separately. I don't think record players or tape recorders ever fell into that category at least not for the average man in the street.

Re: Television set?
 

OT but why washing 'machine'?

Re: Television set?
 

I did wonder when the term "Do Not Adjust Your Set" dropped out of regular use.

By the 1980s technical problems tended to be captioned or announced as something like "We apologise for the loss of..."

I did wonder what cables were originally, until I realised it meant a telegram, something which has dropped out of everyday use.

I think I was watching a film that mentions someone receiving a cable while onboard a ship that made it clear.

Re: Television set?
 

In certain circles the term "wire" remains in use - as in Newswire, or "I'll wire you the payment".

[Other similar-era, terms that have dropped-out of use: Film, Fax, Newsreel, and Mixtape]

Re: Television set?
 

I often watch Film4 on a TV set and listen to BBC Radio 4's "The Film Programme" on a radio set.