Wondermark by David Malki for February 28, 2024

Before you Google (like me), no, Hulk Hogan did not get his name that way. Vince McMahon gave him the ‘Hogan’ moniker.

Nurses in white dresses and funny little caps; doctors with head mirrors; hobos with a stick over their shoulder [technical term is a ‘bindlestiff’]; reporters with a Press card in their hatband; photographers with an accordion style camera; hippies with flowers in their hair; cops swinging a nightstick on a lanyard; and a desert island the side of a kingsize bed with a single palm tree.

The old Looney Tunes were field with references to WWII, and the home effort in particular: “Was this trip really necessary?” “Turon out that light!!” “Food hoarder!” as well as ration cards. Most of them were ,Ade decades before 60s movies.

Other words that have semantically shifted as technology changes:

ALBUM. Use to mean a set of covers with blank sleeves, in which to house a collection. It could be photos, stamps… or 78RPM records. The ‘pages’ between the covers were sleeves designed for whatever the album served. By the 1960s. album was already being used to refer to the 12" vinyl disc, even without a cover.

VIDEO. Pretty much anything to do with visual media. From the Latin ‘videre,’ meaning ‘to see.’ When DVDs became popular, video became relegated to meaning specifically VHS tapes- as if DVDs were not a video medium. In the UK, video could also meaning specifically a VCR.

Ice box

We still “dial” a number on a cell phone and “hang up” when the conversation is over. We also try to get cars to “crank over” when they’re cold.

I find it interesting how we create new terms for older items/technologies, since we use the old term for the newer version. Ex: hardbacks (formerly known as “books” before paperbacks), landlines (formerly “telephones” before cell phones), etc.

I’m glad I don’t drink coffee. :)

and spiderman was actually bit by a radioactive dung beetle. no, really, it’s true…

Love that line – “made ya google!”