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retronym (RE-truh-nim) - n., a word or phrase created because an existing term, once used alone, needs to be distinguished from a term for something new.
A mouthful, and not the best explanation. Once upon a time we had watches with hands, but then digital watches were developed and we had to start calling what had been just a watch an analog watch, to make it clear what kind. Other examples include acoustic guitar, snail-mail, whole milk, regular coffee, and rotary phone -- though that last, along with quill pens and manual typewriters, are disappearing entirely. Coined around 1980 by broadcast journalist Frank Mankiewicz (and popularized by William Safire) from Latin retro-, in its backward or old-school senses + Greek onymon, name.
---L.
A mouthful, and not the best explanation. Once upon a time we had watches with hands, but then digital watches were developed and we had to start calling what had been just a watch an analog watch, to make it clear what kind. Other examples include acoustic guitar, snail-mail, whole milk, regular coffee, and rotary phone -- though that last, along with quill pens and manual typewriters, are disappearing entirely. Coined around 1980 by broadcast journalist Frank Mankiewicz (and popularized by William Safire) from Latin retro-, in its backward or old-school senses + Greek onymon, name.
---L.
