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Vintage Television and Video Vintage television and video equipment, programmes, VCRs etc.

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Old 12th Dec 2019, 12:48 pm   #61
Oldmadham
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Default Re: Television set?

In Oz, it used to be "Television Set" or "TV set".
We understood what was meant when Brits spoke of "the Telly", but it sounded a bit weird.
After a while, simply "the TV " became common, & over many years "the Telly" has drifted into our vocabulory.

Transistor radios were usually called "transistor" sets, then the exceedingly annoying "transistor", then "tranny" ---AAARRRGGGHHH!

When I went to the UK in 1971 on a "working holiday", I thought I knew most of the "Britspeak" terms, like the aforesaid "Telly", "Lorries" for trucks, & "Artics" for semitrailers, but I was taken by surprise by the very common use of "motor" for "car".

All good, I quickly became used to that, then came the event which shook my assurance to its foundations.
One day, a bloke came in to work & said to the Boss:-

"I've got my motor out the front".

I casually glanced out the door expecting to see a Mini or something, only to be confronted with a ginormous "Artic" loaded down to the gunwales with stuff.

I decided then & there, that I would be very cautious in assuming what someone was talking about when they used common terminology in the "Mother Country"!
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Old 12th Dec 2019, 4:24 pm   #62
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The full French description for a TV set is la poste de télévision.

I was never any good at French and at school this phrase always perplexed me. I had visions of a post with a CRT stuck on top, or perhaps it was a pillar box? I was puzzled and my French teacher just rolled her eyes at my question. Seemed to be a perfectly good question and after all these years I still don't have an answer!

As for Australia - I was very puzzled as to what a 'pokie' could be as there were adverts all over the place. 'Poker Machine', I was told, and all fell into place. Makes 'telly' look very mild.

Ho hum, perhaps it all adds some colour to life!

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Old 12th Dec 2019, 8:34 pm   #63
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A post, I think in English, French, Dutch and German all the same, can also mean a stationary contraption or position related to some activity or functionality. The French (and Flemish) chose to use that as a word for set. In Dutch, "toestel" is the most often used word, in German "gerät". All meaning roughly the same, though the literal translation for "gerät" would probably be "apparatus".
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Old 12th Dec 2019, 8:43 pm   #64
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When I first rented a colour TV in February 1970. The rental agreement (Radio Rentals) called the TV set a TELEVISOR.
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Old 12th Dec 2019, 10:02 pm   #65
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Quote:
A post, I think in English, French, Dutch and German all the same, can also mean a stationary contraption or position related to some activity or functionality.
I came to guess (no thanks to teacher . . .) that it might be something like an employee being 'in post', but I wasn't sure. The person watching the TV was 'employed' in the process of watching. It could also (so I thought), be like a 'custom's post' or a 'first-aid post' where things/services happened. The idea of it being a 'post' as found in a fence seemed too far-fetched, so the 'in post' or 'service point' concept seemed more plausible. I still don't know for sure and I guess it doesn't really matter . . .

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Old 12th Dec 2019, 10:07 pm   #66
Maarten
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I think that's the same meaning as the multilingual one I was referring to. It might be related to the word 'position' as well, an employee or a soldier can take position at his post.

I think the teacher should have taken the oppertunity for a teaching moment, but I guess not all teachers teach.
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Old 15th Dec 2019, 1:16 am   #67
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The expression "television set" does have a legal meaning. It is used in the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1967 , and a new legal definition of the expression was provided by the Communications (Television Licencing) Regulations 2004 to make it clear that it does not include computer apparatus.

Last edited by emeritus; 15th Dec 2019 at 1:22 am.
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Old 15th Dec 2019, 6:02 am   #68
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldmadham View Post
In Oz, it used to be "Television Set" or "TV set".
In NZ - this part at least - and my generation (just turned 48) I've only every really known them as TVs or televisions in daily use. I've just checked a few retailers - two NZ ones, one NZ division of an Australian one, and one Australian one who sell here, and all refer to a mix of TV and television.

Transistor radios were called that, or transistors.

Of course being a small country with lots of diverse cultural influences, we have to be flexible. We know that the Brit estate car is a station wagon, that the American pickup is a ute, and the Aussie esky is a chilly bin. Hearing talk of miles on UK and American shows is grating, but we can just multiply by 1.6.

My wife does mock me when I slip up an say I'm going to tape something though - apparently using that term when scheduling a recording on Mediaportal is hilarious....
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Old 15th Dec 2019, 10:05 am   #69
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Default Re: Television set?

Slightly OT, maybe, but earlier posts referring to Record Players and the like fail to mention that the (once)common English term 'Gramophone' is actually a misnomer. The coorct word should, IMHO, be 'Graphophone' as in the name of the UK Columbia Record Label, which was owned by the 'Columbia Graphophone Company. Like the word 'Phonograph', it of course means 'write-sound', a precise description of what a record player does (more correctly I guess, this should apply to what a record maker does.
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Old 15th Dec 2019, 12:12 pm   #70
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Davewantsone View Post
When I first rented a colour TV in February 1970. The rental agreement (Radio Rentals) called the TV set a TELEVISOR.
I suspect that this is due to the fact that Radio Rentals owned the Baird name and 'TELEVISOR' was a Baird registered name. They probably used this as maybe a link with the past. John.
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Old 15th Dec 2019, 6:01 pm   #71
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To add to the confusion, a CB transceiver is invariably described as a Rig rather than a Set.
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Old 16th Dec 2019, 1:20 am   #72
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Quote:
Originally Posted by arjoll View Post
My wife does mock me when I slip up an say I'm going to tape something though - apparently using that term when scheduling a recording on Mediaportal is hilarious....
Up to a few years ago in the UK, it was very common to hear "Sky Plus" used as a verb, meaning to record a programme.
Sky+ being Murdoch's subscription satellite PVR.
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Old 16th Dec 2019, 11:10 am   #73
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 'LIVEWIRE?' View Post
Slightly OT, maybe, but earlier posts referring to Record Players and the like fail to mention that the (once)common English term 'Gramophone' is actually a misnomer. The coorct word should, IMHO, be 'Graphophone' as in the name of the UK Columbia Record Label, which was owned by the 'Columbia Graphophone Company. Like the word 'Phonograph', it of course means 'write-sound', a precise description of what a record player does (more correctly I guess, this should apply to what a record maker does.
I think the Gramophone Co. Ltd. of Hayes, Middlesex, outsold the Columbia Graphophone, and thereby became generic.
(They went to court to defend their trademark, and lost).
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Old 16th Dec 2019, 11:21 am   #74
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I always thought that in the UK a phonograph referred to a cylinder machine such as the Edison Gem. A gramophone played a flat disc.
The term 'RIG' again applies to an articulated lorry with a separate motor unit and one or more trailers, hence a 'set' of parts. J.
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Old 17th Dec 2019, 10:06 am   #75
Brigham
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In Britain, the two sides of the 'format war' were the Phonograph (cylinder records) and the Gramophone (disc records).
Both were trademarks belonging to the major competitors, and both eventually became generic.
The Graphophone (Capital G) lost out because it was a gramophone (small g).
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