13 Jun 2013

DO YOU HAVE YOUR OWN DEVICE ?

Jenny Matlock
more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday


During my tour around the UK, each night we stayed in another city and in another hotel. My first question was when we had got our room keys "Do you have Internet". The answer was always "yes" except in one hotel which looked like a little castle and was in renovation.

Besides my astonishment about the sometimes horrendous internet connection prices, I was also confronted with a new word "device" ! I mean the word is not new but the meaning has changed. And that I didn't know. The first time when a receptionist asked me if I had my own "device", I asked myself what she meant ! I asked her "what do you mean by device ?" she looked at me surprised and said "an iPad" No, I answered,  I have no iPad but I have a notebook. Now she was surprised. I told her that it was also a computer but in miniature, and therefore also a "device". When I had payed I told her to better use the word Computer instead of "Device" or she should say "do you have a thing"! 

I didn't want to remain ignorant and googled for the word "Device" !

An online dictionary explained :

de•vice (dɪˈvaɪs)
n.
1. a thing made for a particular purpose, esp. a mechanical, electric, or electronic invention or contrivance.
2. a plan, scheme, or procedure for effecting a purpose.
3. a crafty scheme; trick.
4. a word pattern, figure of speech, theatrical convention, etc., used in a literary or dramatic work to evoke a desired effect.
5. something elaborately or fancifully designed.
6. a representation or design used esp. as a heraldic charge or an emblem.
7. a motto; slogan.
8. Archaic. devising; invention.

In short : a device means a thing !

I found a new website "Webopedia" ! (not Wikipedia) and there it makes it really clear :

"Any machine that feeds data into a computer"

For example, a keyboard is an input device, whereas a display monitor is an output device. Input devices other than the keyboard are sometimes called alternate input devices. Mice, trackballs, and light pens are all alternate input devices.

I rubbed my hands and purred like a cat ! Now I knew ! I will show them that old ladies are not so stupid as especially young males think when it comes to computers ! I only hoped to find a receptionist who would ask me "THE" question "do you have your own device ?"


my devices

And it happened in the last hotel ! I innocently looked at the young man and asked him, "what device do you mean exactly ? my keyboard, my monitor, my mouse, or my Ethernet cable ? I have it all, but I call that a computer !" I should have taken a picture of his face ! But then he started to laugh and I explained him my adventure with the word "Device" in the first hotel, and still laughing he agreed, that never ever again he would ask a client "Do you have your own device ?"

Devices






12 comments:

  1. lol I guess you have to know the local lingo lol
    I don't understand my son when he chats with his friends. They are like way out there.
    They laugh at my lingo too

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  2. Good for you, especially telling the young man at the second hotel that you had several devices.
    You are very brave.
    K

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  3. He, he!! I only look for free wifi when I travel. I was pleased to find it quite often in Germany, I only took along one device: my phone, where I could read e-mails and chat. I am always amazed how you find time to blog as well.

    PS:Thanks St@rbucks for showing the Germans the use of the toilet can be for free :)

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  4. Hi Gattina .. I get in a right muddle with my 'devices' .. but this summer is a learning time. I now have an ipad and look forward to using it properly.

    Perhaps if we meet in July you can show me your devices - I'd be interested to see how you 'work' etc .. They look very neat and compact ..

    Cheers to you and I love the story - glad the chap laughed .. Hilary

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  5. I think people often don't consider the words they use - they just use the latest buzz words.

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  6. Oh yes the many devices of our life! Old and new, it's so interesting to follow how some words have changed so much to keep up with all the modern devices. Like the mouse! Running wild and free or making my on-line pleasure better!!!

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  7. that's modern technology for you. I don't use the word device, more often it's g'adget' - which means the same thing but to me, it's less confusing.

    hope you have a great day.

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  8. HAH! cute story, amazing how the internet has changed our lives, isn't it?

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  9. I've not heard of the word device being used in hotels. We seem to find the more expensive the hotel is, the higher the price for internet access. It should be just free now.

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  10. You are so funny! I bet those hotel clerks will always remember you. And yeah, you have a LOT of devices...and you have fun with them ;>)

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  11. haha

    What an entertaining post. Loved it.

    =)

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  12. Darling post for the letter "D"!

    It sounds like your adventures around the UK were delightful...

    I'm happy to hear you demonstrated the craftiness of women like us!

    You go girl!

    A+

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