Can you name the innovations that necessitated these new terms: “static billboard,” “wet signature,” “paper book,” “traditional cigarette”? Think “electronic” — electronic billboards, e-signatures, ...

Get it? It’s better explained through examples than a definition. Take the word “telephone.” When many of us were kids, we’d dial the telephone to reach the party we wanted. Then the “push-button ...

Retronyms are adjectival qualifiers, like “acoustic” guitar and “snail” mail, that were previously unneeded — because all guitars were acoustic and all mail was slow. We only added qualifiers when ...

Retronyms are adjectival qualifiers, like “acoustic” guitar and “snail” mail, that were previously unneeded — because all guitars were acoustic and all mail was slow. We only added qualifiers when ...

Example - " Nobody ever heard of analog clocks until digital clocks became common, so `analog clock' is a retronym" ...

Last month’s sniper attacks in the Washington area forced officials there to invent a new term for homicides unrelated to the sniper: “traditional murders.” “Traditional murders” is a retronym, a word ...

Ruminating in his Washington Post column about the potential political "firsts" in the 2008 campaign, Eugene Robinson noted that "we've come far enough to seriously consider electing the first U.S.