A word for obsolete and outdated concepts that are still widely used

[Glizdka]

I remember I knew the word for it, but for the life of me I can't recall it.

What do you call obsolete and outdated concepts that are still in popular use? Like dialing a number, even though nobody dials any number anymore with the invention of the smartphone.

 

[SoothingDave]

I don't know the answer there. "Rolling up the windows" in a car is another phrase that is outdated.

Nobody dials a number because of the invention of the touchtone phone, not the smartphone.

 

[probus]

Antiquated or outdated may be what you are looking for. Obsolete is another possibility.

And people still use ‘carbon copy’ as a metaphor for the noun ‘duplicate’ although nobody uses carbon paper nowadays.

 

[Glizdka]

No, there's like a proper term for this kind of words. They're not antiquated, obsolete or outdated because they're actually still widely used; it's just that their origin and the core idea behind them are so old they no longer make sense at face value.

 

[tedmc]

archaism?

 

[kilroy65]

@Glizdka, do you mean "anachronism"?

 

[Tarheel]

I didn't know "

No, there's like a proper term for THESE KINDS of words. They're not antiquated, obsolete or outdated because they're actually still widely used; it's just that their origin and the core idea behind them are so old they no longer make sense at face value.

I don't think people use "dialed" much anymore. We call people.

 

[Glizdka]

Archaisms aren't used anymore. Anachronisms don't fit the time period.

What I mean is words that are old and no longer make sense literally, but are still commonly used and understood.

Another example I could give is carbon copy. Making a duplicate of a document by using carbon paper no longer happens these days, but we still use the term (and it's abbreviation CC) when sending electronic mail.

 

[teechar]

I remember I knew the word for it, but for the life of me I can't recall it.

Could you perhaps be thinking of "legacy"?

 

[probus]

[QUOTE="Glizdka, post: 1936293, member: 698269"

Another example I could give is carbon copy.

As I said in post number 3. But carbon copy is very rarely or never used as a verb. It's a noun only.

 

[Flask]

I remember I knew the word for it, but for the life of me I can't recall it.

What do you call obsolete and outdated concepts that are still in popular use? Like dialing a number, even though nobody dials any number anymore with the invention of the smartphone.

fossilized expressions

 

[Glizdka]

As I said in post number 3. But carbon copy is very rarely or never used as a verb. It's a noun only.

I've somehow completely missed that. Sorry.

The word I'm looking for is perhaps a form of skeuomorphism in language (a skeuonomer?), or maybe a shade of metonymy that utilizes temporal familiarity.

 

[jutfrank]

Semantic relic?

 

[Glizdka]

Semantic relic and fossilized expressions are alright I guess, but there's a proper term for these kinds of words and expressions, and it's driving me crazy that I can't recall it.

Another example I can think of is how we call these uppercase: ABCDEFG, and these lowercase: abcdefg, even though we don't keep letters in cases anymore like how we used to in mechanical typesetting.

 

[teechar]

I found this too:

7 Obsolete Allusions That We Still Use

Common terms referencing things that have fallen by the wayside

www.merriam-webster.com

 

[Glizdka]

Yes! The article is exactly about what I mean, though I'd rather find a more specific term for it than allusion, which is a wider concept. Or, perhaps, I'm going to have to be satisfied with the answer that it's a specific case of allusion.

Now that I think about it, aren't turn on/off/up/down also the same kind of thing? Modern devices rarely have anything to turn, but rather buttons to press or screens to tap.