General Asylum

When and why did "loudspeaker" become "speaker" ?

80.187.103.7

Ole Lund Christensen

It irritates me, as "speaker" has another meaning, like speaker of the house or a public speaker. Both are humans, I hope:-)

Does this mean that todays "speaker" no longer can play loud:-)

Follow Ups:

LMFAO... - Presto 11:50:05 07/23/12 (0)
...has been elevated from it's former internet acronym status and is now an electro-pop musical duo!

Cheers,
Presto
Condensor became capacitor - Alpha Al 07:41:24 07/23/12 (0)
Retard coil became choke. Terms change.
Loudspeaker become speaker - Sumflow 21:04:59 07/22/12 (0)
Probably when the population shifted to the city. City's are loud without loudspeakers.
~~~
The Driver smiled when he lost the car in pursuit...
How about: 'F'or 'U'nlawful 'C'arnal 'K'nowledge?? and then turn into:WTF? (rotflmao) nt - Elizabeth 17:22:57 07/22/12 (5)
.
- Actually, it's origin is Middle English derived from Germanic and Latin from at least the 15th century. :-) - cfb 08:23:36 07/23/12 (3)
  nt.
  - Nope, probably Saxon/Germanic lots of other European languages - Timbo in Oz 15:12:38 07/23/12 (2)
    much earlier than the 15C. Yet even Gaelic (all forms incl. Briton) had similar - short & sharp - words for it
    
    Mother Tongue - Bill Bryson - a fun read.
    
    Note that a post in response is preferred.
    
    Warmest
    
    Timothy Bailey
    
    The Skyptical Mensurer and Audio Scrounger
    
    And gladly would he learn and gladly teach - Chaucer. ;-)!
    
    'Still not saluting.'
    - Well, there are the following articles on the subject, from Snopes and the Straight dope - cfb 17:04:01 07/23/12 (1)
      Etymology,
      
      Snopes
      and
      StraightDope column
      - As I posted it's a - very - old word. - Timbo in Oz 17:21:11 07/23/12 (0)
        
        In Reply to: RE: Well, there are the following articles on the subject, from Snopes and the Straight dope posted by cfb on July 23, 2012 at 17:04:01
        
        Just because the OED says 1503 doesn't mean it dates from then in English. Note the Indo-European point. Ancient.
        
        Snopes are wrong about it having been a taboo word for most of its existence. People were a lot less hung up about spelling, dialect, and accent, and such usage of swear words until quite recently. Even into the 18c the upper classes were great swearers.
        
        As a nation IMO&E the USA is among the most hung up about words compared to other English speaking countries. Australia probably the least ;-)!
        
        Note that a post in response is preferred.
        
        Warmest
        
        Timothy Bailey
        
        The Skyptical Mensurer and Audio Scrounger
        
        And gladly would he learn and gladly teach - Chaucer. ;-)!
        
        'Still not saluting.'
- Oh beHAVE, Lizzie. :-)) nt - andyr 19:32:07 07/22/12 (0)
  .
So you worship stadium speakers? nt - tinear 17:10:39 07/22/12 (0)
dsf
When did "Sir" become 'Dude' or 'Madame' become 'Dude' for that matter...? - Elizabeth 15:39:17 07/22/12 (2)
.
- RE: When did "Sir" become 'Dude' or 'Madame' become 'Dude' for that matter...? - esande 22:05:02 07/24/12 (0)
  The non-diminutive feminine of "dude" is "dudine."
  
  Edits: 07/24/12
- RE: When did "Sir" become 'Dude' or 'Madame' become 'Dude' for that matter...? - pictureguy 23:33:32 07/22/12 (0)
  Actually, the feminine diminutive of dude is dudette.
  Too much is never enough
Now that I think of it, when did "pickup" become "cartridge"? - 1973shovel 14:08:46 07/22/12 (0)
What happened to the terms "Head amp" and "pre-preamp"?

And when the hell did I get so old?
Really wasn't enough space above for "loudspeaker(s)"... - musetap 12:51:01 07/22/12 (0)
It's always been "speakers" as far as I know.

"One this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" - Michael McClure
Ole, let me 'splain* something, - M3 lover 11:06:38 07/22/12 (0)
at least here in the good old US of A, I don't know about Europe, Oz, or other places.

We seem to love to shorten or abbreviate words. Several other examples have been suggested here.

So just like hi-fidelity system became simply hi-fi, loudspeaker had to be shortened.

And now with text messaging, a whole new level has emerged. IMHO, LOL, KMA as examples, FYI. ;^)

*From the old "I Love Lucy" show, Ricky Ricardo would (ex)plain reasons to Lucy why she couldn't join his musical act.

"For a nominal service fee,
you can reach nirvana tonight."
The more uppity say transducer (nt) - Craiger56 08:57:24 07/22/12 (1)
.
- har�rumph - Kloss 09:43:57 07/22/12 (0)
  Transducer is the Electroacoustic driver the loudspeaker or [speaker] the whole.
Some loudspeakers are louder than others - genungo 08:51:10 07/22/12 (0)
When "loudspeakers" become "speakers", there will be no more hurt feelings. Peace will reign on the earth.
"He was one of those men who live in poverty so that their lines of questioning may continue." - John Steinbeck
What about "reproducer"? - DeKay 08:46:01 07/22/12 (0)
R&A (Reproducer & Amplifier) and Lowther reproducers for the British Isles.

Peerless Radio (USA) sold reproducers in the 1920's.
Some time after "Loudspeaking Telephone" went out of fashion... - Topper 08:17:51 07/22/12 (0)
"Enunciator" is in limited use these days, also...

W
Loudspeaker is still used but I miss squawker the most - Kloss 07:57:16 07/22/12 (5)
Audio kept woofer, tweeter but change squawker to mid-range = lame. The patch cord became stereo interconnect loudspeakers became lowly speakers then all went down hill.
- RE: "then all went down hill." - 1973shovel 08:15:52 07/22/12 (4)
  I've read old articles using "squawker" but never actually heard anyone say it. I've heard more than a few speakers it applied to though!
  And then there's the issue of a hi-fi system being referred to as a "stereo". I grew up with the term "stereo", but have since changed to calling it a "hi-fi". Especially when I discovered that I generally preferred the sound of many amps and speakers of the hi-fi era to the latter stereo (i.e.: solid state and inefficient speaker) era.
  (Edited for spelling)
  
  Edits: 07/22/12
  - Stero came later - Sumflow 11:04:55 07/26/12 (0)
    Beach Boys, Byrds, The wrecking crew were Stereo
    ~~~
    The Driver smiled when he lost the car in pursuit accelerating out of the S turn...
  - Hi-Fi was first - Sumflow 11:02:38 07/26/12 (0)
    Our records said stereo long before solid state. Elvis was hi-fi.
    ~~~
    The Driver smiled when he lost the car in pursuit accelerating out of the S turn...
  - RE: Midrange Horn Drivers are still call sqawkers, - Mechans 10:02:37 07/23/12 (0)
    when I read about them. They are pretty much a vintage item for home based hi fi but the sound reinforcement systems see to still use them and the term. I always call my Klipsch Horn Midranges Sqawkers for some reason. The term fits them well.
    
    Steve
  - RE: "then all went down hill." - Kloss 08:26:02 07/22/12 (0)
    I restore collect vintage the term squawker was used long before midrange. My gramps a old audio sales man back in the 50s-60s referred to his system as a HI-FI when I was just a wee bastard. And it was stereo.
For the Same Reason the "Telephone" Became "Phone"............ [nt] - Todd Krieger 00:57:29 07/22/12 (10)
- And carriage became car. (nt) - mark111 09:56:58 07/22/12 (1)
  .
  - RE: And carriage became car. (nt) - josh358 18:54:22 07/24/12 (0)
    As best I can tell from the somewhat scrambled information in Merriam-Webster, both "car" and "carriage" come from the French "carre," "carriage" via a verb, "carier."
    
    Latin carrus > French carre > ME carre > car
    
    Latin carrus > Frnech carre > French carier to transport > French cariage > ME cariage > carriage
- Television became TV, and no text became NT (NT) - 1973shovel 06:41:57 07/22/12 (0)
  I said NT, damnit!
- RE: For the Same Reason the "Telephone" Became "Phone"............ [nt] - The Heretic 01:15:37 07/22/12 (6)
  When did Automobile become auto? Auto has another meaning.
  
  Where did Aeroplane become plane? Plane has another meaning.
  
  When did Ole Lund Christensen become a whiny complaining git?
  - RE: For the Same Reason the "Telephone" Became "Phone"............ [nt] - Inmate51 09:20:53 07/22/12 (0)
    When did airplane become aeroplane? ;)
    
    When did a pretty good performance become totally awesome?
  - I did intend this to be fun on a Sunday, so I used :-) - Ole Lund Christensen 03:24:11 07/22/12 (4)
    More seriously the word "loudspeaker" was once used exactly for that, a tool to make a human speaker louder.
    - RE: I did intend this to be fun on a Sunday, so I used :-) - rick_m 06:50:41 07/22/12 (3)
      "More seriously the word "loudspeaker" was once used exactly for that, a tool to make a human speaker louder."
      
      But that's going the wrong way for most speakers, which is why we invented the microphone.
      
      R.
      - RE: I did intend this to be fun on a Sunday, so I used :-) - Kloss 08:02:56 07/22/12 (2)
        
        In Reply to: RE: I did intend this to be fun on a Sunday, so I used :-) posted by rick_m on July 22, 2012 at 06:50:41
        
        Microphones do need to be connected ie patched to something like a loudspeaker with a squawker. Think the posters referring to the days before drivers and amplification. When one shouted into a horn like a cheer leader then you became a loud speaker.
        
        RE: I did intend this to be fun on a Sunday, so I used :-) - Inmate51 16:30:18 07/22/12 (0)
        
        In Reply to: RE: I did intend this to be fun on a Sunday, so I used :-) posted by Kloss on July 22, 2012 at 08:02:56
        
        I'm wondering what the dispersion characteristics of that horn are? Guessing it's pretty directional.
        
        RE: I did intend this to be fun on a Sunday, so I used :-) - rick_m 08:53:12 07/22/12 (0)
        
        In Reply to: RE: I did intend this to be fun on a Sunday, so I used :-) posted by Kloss on July 22, 2012 at 08:02:56
        
        Errr, actually I was thinking microphones, in the microphone vs megaphone context, as something to quiet noisy speakers. An especially valuable tool in the political season....
        
        Yes I DO have a warped sense of humor, tiz the extent of my inheritance.
        
        Regards, Rick

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