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ventaA quick question:
[Poll #1344729]
Edit: I don't mean "give me a list of names", I mean "which term would you naturally use in conversation if talking about such a thing".
If you're going to fill in an answer, please do so before reading on.
I would habitually refer to that sort of stereo (ie portable, speaker at either end, tape deck in the middle) as a ghetto-blaster. I seem to remember that that's what everyone was calling them in the 80s when I first started interacting with such things.
Problem is, I've no idea of the origin of the term. Which ghettos were being blasted exactly ? Is it possible that someone somewhere might find it an offensive term ?[*] Is it even in common enough usage now that I could expect someone to be sure what I meant - or am I just hopelessly outdated in my choice of name ?
What other words are there ? Apart from radio-cassette player, of course. I'm not very clear on what exactly a boombox might be - could it be one of those, or is it subtly different ? Can I still call it a ghetto blaster if it's got a CD player in it ? Does the choice of name depend on the kind of music player - could one still blast ghettos with Wagner, for example ?
[*] According to Wikipedia, yes. But it's a particularly shoddily written piece, plus I'm interested in what other people think.
That image is just quickly grabbed from google image search, so if you're in The Future, it's probably red-exed by now.
[Poll #1344729]
Edit: I don't mean "give me a list of names", I mean "which term would you naturally use in conversation if talking about such a thing".
If you're going to fill in an answer, please do so before reading on.
I would habitually refer to that sort of stereo (ie portable, speaker at either end, tape deck in the middle) as a ghetto-blaster. I seem to remember that that's what everyone was calling them in the 80s when I first started interacting with such things.
Problem is, I've no idea of the origin of the term. Which ghettos were being blasted exactly ? Is it possible that someone somewhere might find it an offensive term ?[*] Is it even in common enough usage now that I could expect someone to be sure what I meant - or am I just hopelessly outdated in my choice of name ?
What other words are there ? Apart from radio-cassette player, of course. I'm not very clear on what exactly a boombox might be - could it be one of those, or is it subtly different ? Can I still call it a ghetto blaster if it's got a CD player in it ? Does the choice of name depend on the kind of music player - could one still blast ghettos with Wagner, for example ?
[*] According to Wikipedia, yes. But it's a particularly shoddily written piece, plus I'm interested in what other people think.
That image is just quickly grabbed from google image search, so if you're in The Future, it's probably red-exed by now.
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no subject
Date: 2009-02-06 01:53 pm (UTC)I called it a "radio". It's too small to be a ghetto blaster. In the 80s it would have been a radio-cassette-player or something, but these days the tape player part will have stopped working (if the several examples of similar bits of kit in our house are anything to go by), whereas you'll still be able to get Radio 4, at least.