Modern modifiers

I feel a need for another light day today, so I'll pull out one of my light topics that I have in my notes:

I sometimes think about the fact that we have to put modifiers on certain things these days, where we didn't have to in the past, to distinguish them from their more modern — and now far more prevalent, in many cases — versions.

I'm talking about terms like “dial telephone”, “manual typewriter”, and “acoustic guitar”. There's also “analogue clock” (or “analog”, if you prefer that spelling). Oh, and “broadcast TV” (as opposed to cable) and “paper mail” (or “snail mail”, a term I dislike).

It occurs to me that to go along with “dial telephone” there's also “landline telephone”, something that might go away as more of us rely solely on our Star Trek communicators (and annoy everyone around us with them). The good part of it is that we might eventually be able to get rid of some of the wires that stretch through our vistas.

And talking of wires, “wired network” is another.

Do you have some favourites along this line?