List of retronyms

This is a list of retronyms, which are terms renamed after something similar but newer has come into being.

Nouns

A-B

;"Acoustic guitar" : Before the invention of the solid-body electric guitar, all guitars amplified the sound of a plucked string with a resonating hollow body. Similarly: "acoustic piano".cite news |first=William |last=Safire |authorlink=William Safire |coauthors= |title=Retronym |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/magazine/07wwln_safire.t.html |quote= |work=New York Times |date=January 7, 2007 |accessdate=2008-07-25 ] ;"AM radio": Before the introduction of broadcast FM radio, the AM broadcast band radio was simply as radio, wireless (in the UK) or as medium-wave radio (still the preferred term among radio enthusiasts) to distinguish it from the (also amplitude-modulated) shortwave radio bands.; "Analog synthesizer": Before synthesizers contained microchips, every stage of the internal electronic signal flow was analogous to a sound that would eventually be produced at the output stage, and this sound was shaped and altered as it passed through each filter and envelope.; "Analog (or analogue) watch": Before the advent of the digital watch, all watches had faces and hands. After the advent of the digital watch, watches with faces and hands became known as analog watches. [cite news |first=William |last=Safire |authorlink=William Safire |coauthors= |title=Retronym Watch |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEEDB153AF932A35752C1A964958260 |quote= |work=New York Times |date=November 1, 1992 |accessdate=2008-07-25 ] ; "Ancient Greek language": When it was a living language it was called simply Greek (polytonic|Ἑλληνική).; "Artistic gymnastics" : Generally known simply as gymnastics before Rhythmic gymnastics was added to the Olympic program in 1984.; "Bar soap" : The common cake of soap used in the tub or shower was familiarly called "soap" or "bath soap"; the term "bar soap" arose with the advent of soaps in liquid and gel form.; "Before Christ": References to dates BC are retronyms. (See also proleptic Julian calendar.); "Biological parent" or "Birth parent" : Before the mid-to-late 20th century, the distinction between natural and adoptive parents was rarely drawn; one simply had parents. The advent of adoptive rights organizations, and the general loosening of strictures by adoption agencies against revealing the identity of one's birth parents, gave rise to the term "biological parent". The development of in vitro fertilisation and sperm banks further increased the need to differentiate the biological father from the father who raises the child.; "Black powder" : Called "gunpowder" for centuries while it was in common use. The retronym "black powder" was coined in the late 19th century to differentiate it from the newly developed smokeless powder which superseded it.; "Black-and-white television" : Once called simply television, now the retronym is used to distinguish it from color television, which is now more commonly referred to by the unadorned term. Along the same lines: "broadcast television", "free-to-air television", "over-the-air television", "silent movie". Furthermore, in the not too distant future, the term "Standard Definition Television" (or possibly "Low Definition Television") may become necessary when HDTV becomes the "normal" kind of TV.; "Brick-and-mortar store", "high street shop" : As increasing use of the Internet allowed online stores, accessible only through computers, to compete with established retail shops, the latter began to be called "brick-and-mortar stores" or "high street shops" to indicate that customers could (or had to) visit them to examine and purchase their goods. These two terms are also often used to describe the physical storefronts of a retail business that also sells products online. In the U.S., "brick-and-mortar" emphasizes the physical construction of these stores, as opposed to the largely electronic nature of online stores. The terms "high street shop" (UK) or "main street store" or "downtown store" (U.S.) also serve to differentiate the more traditional retail venue from big-chain "box stores" such as K-mart or Wal-Mart, which did not exist prior to the 1960s. (The name "High Street" is commonly used in the UK for a town's primary thoroughfare. In the U.S., it is more likely to be called "Main Street".); "Broadcast television" : Television programming not generated by cable providers and/or available via cable or satellite television technology. "Broadcast television" refers to that programming which is available without cable or satellite subscription, since it is "broadcast" over the airwaves, as all television once was. The major networks (CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX) are broadcast television concerns.; "Brown Bess" : The standard British infantry arm of the 18th through early 19th century is referred to as "Brown Bess" today but during its period of use was known as "the King's Arm", "the King's Musket", or by its specific variation, such as "Land Pattern musket" ("Long Land Pattern" is a retronym for the oldest models applied when the later "Short Land Pattern" variety was developed). Although the term "Brown Bess" existed in the 18th century(for example "married to Brown Bess" to mean "in the army") the usage as a name for the firearm itself was only developed late in the era of its usage by the British Army. ; "George H.W. Bush": A rare example of a living person with a retronym. Until his son, George W. Bush, also became President, George (H.W.) Bush rarely, if ever, used his middle initials.

C-G

; "Roman Catholicism" : Before multiple schisms, all Christianity was broadly the same.; "Classical music" : Refers to Western music over a very wide timespan; term not used until 1834.; "Cloth diaper" : Before the second half of the 20th century, all diapers (nappies, in the UK) were made from cloth and simply called "diapers". The advent of the disposable diaper gave rise to this term.; "": Spinoff from the film "Clerks" and originally had the same title. Fans used the name "The Animated Series" to distinguish it from the film.; "Coca-Cola Classic" : Originally caled Coca-Cola, the name was changed when the original recipe was reintroduced after New Coke failed to catch on. This is an example of a retronym officially coined by a product's manufacturer.; "Cold water faucet/tap" : Before the invention of the water heater, there was only the single faucet/tap at each sink.; "Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn" : This name is sometimes used by fans of the Command & Conquer series to refer to the original game of the series, officially known simply as "Command & Conquer".; "Conventional oven" : Before the development of the microwave oven, this term was not used. Now it is commonly found in cooking instructions for prepared foods.; "Conventional war" : Before the development of nuclear weapons, this term was not used. ("War", Gwynne Dyer); ": Las Vegas" : Not used before the debut of the spinoff series ' in 2002, and ' in 2004. ;"Curved or curly quotes" : Straight quotes were made widespread by typewriters.; "Day baseball" : Baseball played during the day, as all games were played before electric lighting in stadiums became common.; "Dial-up internet" (or just "dial-up") : Before broadband became widespread, it was the norm to connect to the internet via a modem over standard phone line, which meant the phone line could not be used to make calls until one logged off.; "Dino oil" : Motor oil derived from crude oil, from the geological age of the dinosaurs. Known as just "motor oil" before the synthetic oils became popular.; "Dirt road" : Before road paving whether by stone, brick or modern paving methods, all roads were nothing more than Dirt Paths commonly used by pedestrians, horse and by buggy. ; "Face-to-face conference" : A conference, not involving telephones or video cameras (similarly:"IRL-meeting = in-real-life meeting").; "Farmall Regular" : As explained at Farmall tractor, the name "Farmall" began as a model name but became a sub-brand name as additional models were developed.; "Field hockey" : Known simply as "hockey" until ice hockey and roller hockey became popular. (In addition, there is a game called street hockey which evolved from roller hockey: this is hockey without skates, which is the same basic concept as the original game from which ice hockey and roller hockey evolved.). Similarly, "Field soccer" (Football (soccer)).; "Film camera" :As opposed to digital camera.; "First Gundam": A nickname, commonly used by Japanese fans of the franchise and coined shortly after the release of Zeta Gundam. "Gundam 0079" is also used in the same fashion.; "Forward slash" : Before the introduction of ASCII and electronic keyboards for computers, typewriters had only one type of slash ("/"), normally the un-shifted key shared with the question mark. The rise of MS-DOS brought regular use of the backslash ("") character found on computer keyboards (for specifying directory paths). Before that time the symbol "/" was known simply as a "slash". (Other typographical names for this character are "virgule" and "solidus". In the UK, the character was traditionally known as an "oblique stroke" or, more simply, an "oblique". "To slash" means to cut with a scything motion, which is analogous to the motion of the pen as the character is handwritten.); "French franc" : The currency unit of France before the euro, which was originally the only franc, but had to be distinguished from the Belgian franc, Communauté Financière Africaine franc, and Swiss franc after those countries adopted the term.; "Frizzen" : This component was called the "hammer" while flintlock] firearms were in use. On percussion cap firearms which replaced flintlock the striking component was called the hammer and the term "frizzen" was applied to the hammer of flintlocks.; "GM "old-look" transit bus" : The GM old look did not originally have a name, but in 1959, a new design was released and was called the new look. After this many people started calling the older design the Old Look.;"Epic of Gilgamesh": originally titled "He Who Saw The Deep" or "Surpassing All Other Kings". Modern scholars named the story after its hero.

H-L

; "Hard cider" : In Europe and Asia, "cider" refers to fermented (alcoholic) apple juice. In the U.S., "cider" often refers to non-alcoholic spiced or carbonated apple juice. "Hard cider" specifies the alcoholic version. ; "Hard disk" : All disks were hard (i.e., constructed of rigid instead of flexible magnetic material) until the advent of the floppy disk.; "Hard phone" : With the advent of the soft phone, physical telephones became known as hard phones.; "Home movie" : To distinguish it from a cinema movie-the invention of film predates the invention of the cinema.; "Horse cavalry" : Used to distinguish the now mostly obsolete original use of horses in a military mounted combat role, with the advent of tanks and other motorized vehicles (mechanized cavalry or armored cavalry) following World War I, and the use of helicopters (air cavalry) during the Vietnam War era.; "Hot chocolate" : In the days before the invention of sweet solid chocolate for eating, the word "chocolate" was usually used to refer to the drink; references to it in, say, Jane Austen's novels are confusing to the 21st century eye. For a while after the chocolate bar was invented it was referred to as "bar chocolate", but due to its stunning rise in popularity in the latter half of the 19th century it eventually laid claim to the basic word.; "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark" : Used on some promotional materials accompanying 1999 and 2003 reissues of "Raiders of the Lost Ark"; "Inground pool" : A swimming pool where the filled high water level is flush with the ground; compared to above an "above ground pool" where the entire pool is above ground level; "iPod classic" : The original iPod in its latest generation has now been officially called the iPod classic, as every other iPod model currently uses a suffix to define itself.; "Landline phone service" : With the advent of cellular or mobile phone services, traditional hard-wired phone service became popularly known as "landline" phones. Previously, this term was generally only used by military personnel and amateur radio operators. (In the movie "The Matrix" a landline phone was also referred to as a "hardline".) Even though a considerable amount of landline phone traffic is transmitted via airwaves, this term comes from the physical cabling that provides the "last mile" connection between the customer premises and local phone distribution centers. Because of the communications industry's love for acronyms, landline phone service has also been called POTS--Plain Old Telephone Service. The logical complement of this acronym, "PANS" became a backronym for "Pretty Amazing New Services". In the telecommunications industry the term wireline is used for landline phone services, to distinguish them from wireless or mobile phone services. Wireline is clearly another retronym.; "Latin America, Anglo-America" : Since the term America is frequently associated (however controversially) with the United States of America, "Latin America" provides more precise identification of the largely Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries in the Americas. Likewise, the remaining, primarily English-speaking countries of the U.S.A. and Canada are sometimes referred to as "Anglo-America", distinguishing them both from "America" and from North America, which includes Spanish-speaking Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and also Belize, which is English- and Spanish-speaking.;"Live action" : A form of a film that consists of images consisting of predominantly actual actors and objects that exist in the actual world, as opposed to an animated film, which predominantly consists of artificial static images or objects that take advantage of the persistence of vision principle of film to give an illusion of life.; "Live poker" : What casinos call the kind of poker played with cards by people sitting at a table; what many others still just call "poker"; also called a "ring game". The term became necessary to distinguish it from video poker, which is far more common in casinos today.; "Luggable computer" : The first generation of computers marketed as "portable", such as the Kaypro or the Osborne series, were quite bulky and were heavier than a bowling ball. The weight was mostly due the fact they had a conventional CRT-type monitor built right in. When the first laptop computers came out, the earlier, heavier portable machines were suddenly referred to as "luggables".

M-P

; "Mainframe computer" : When minicomputers (which were the size and shape of a desk or credenza) were introduced in the early 1970s, existing systems that often consisted of multiple large racks of equipment received the name "mainframe", alluding to the vertical cabinets or "frames" in which they were installed.; "Manual transmission" (also "standard transmission") : Automotive transmissions were all manual, of course, before the invention of the automatic transmission.; "Meatspace or "meat life" : All of physical reality, as distinguished from cyberspace.; "Mechanical fuel injection" : The amount of fuel squirted into an internal combustion engine by a fuel injection system was, before integrated circuitry became applied to motor vehicle engines, originally regulated by a calibrated mechanical linkage. What made for the retronym was the more precise "Electronic Fuel Injection", which employed more sensors.; "Muzzleloader" : For centuries virtually all firearms were loaded from the muzzle, so there was no need for a term to distinguish this characteristic until the general adoption of breech-loading firearms in the 19th century. ; "Natural language" : A language, used by humans, that evolved naturally in its society. Contrast with computer programming languages or constructed languages. Often referred to as "human language".; "Naturally-aspirated engines" : Internal combustion engines that use vacuum and venturi effect to draw the air and fuel mixture into the cylinders, without fuel injection, turbo-charger, or supercharger.; "Old Look": A type of Transit Bus, which gained this name after the introduction of the New Look bus. Both were made by GM; "Old Testament": In the Jewish tradition, the Hebrew Bible is know as the Tanakh.; "Optical zoom" : The advent of digital cameras (and accompanying digital zoom) necessitated this retronym, describing the "analog" method of achieving close-up using a zoom lens.; "Organic farming" : Farming practiced without the use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides, and so forth.; "Original Recipe Chicken" : The original type of Kentucky Fried Chicken seasoned with eleven herbs and spices, before Extra Crispy Chicken and other varieties were introduced.; "Over-the-board chess" (also "OTB chess") : Chess played in real time using a physical chessboard, as opposed to computer chess or correspondence chess.; "Orthodox Judaism" : Before the advent of the Reform and Conservative movements, all Judaism was orthodox.;"Paleoconservative" : Traditionally conservative, as opposed to neoconservative.;"Paper copy", "hard copy" : With the proliferation of insubstantial and indistinguishable digital document copies, physical document copies acquired this retronym. Occasionally extended to the copying devices; i.e., "paper copiers". The jocular substitute "dead-tree copy" is sometimes used. (The synonym "hardcopy" predates the digital age, apparently differentiating paper copies from microfilm and other human-unreadable forms.); "Parallel ATA (PATA)" : The original ATA interface was parallel; the qualification became necessary when Serial ATA was introduced.; "Plain M&M's" and "Milk Chocolate M&M's": Plain M&M's candies would not have been called that until 1954, when Peanut M&M's were introduced. In 2000, "Plain" was renamed "Milk Chocolate"Dubious|date=September 2007 with little explanation by Mars Inc.; "Post sedan" or "post coupe" : In the United States this indicates a car with a full-height B-pillar, as opposed to a pillarless (half-height B-pillar) hardtop. Generally used only in referring to classic cars from the 1950 to 1980 period because fashion and safety regulations dictate nearly all modern cars are post models. ; "Pre-Dreadnought battleship" : The revolution in battleship design brought about by the construction of HMS "Dreadnought" resulted in almost all the battleships built before her completion becoming known as "pre-Dreadnought battleships", whereas before they had simply been "battleships".; "Prime lens": A camera lens with a fixed focal length ("e.g." 28mm), as opposed to a zoom lens, which can cover a range of focal lengths ("e.g." 28-105mm). Before the invention of zoom lenses, all camera lenses had a fixed focal length, so they were just called "lenses".; "Procedural programming": Before object-oriented programming was invented in the 1980s, there was just programming.; "Prop plane" : As jet aircraft became the primary people movers of the airways, the older propeller-based technology received this occasional shorthand nickname to distinguish it.; "Pulse dialing" : After touch tone dialing on telephones became common, the older dialing standard became known as pulse dialing.; "Push lawnmower" : With the invention of the gasoline- (Petrol or petroleum spirit outside the U.S.) and electric-powered lawnmower, the lowly manually propelled lawnmower became known as the push mower.

R-Z

; "Raw milk": milk in its natural form distinguished from pasteurized milk.; "Real life": used by online communities, meaning Life outside of a fictional or non-internet related environment.; "Real numbers": coined after the development of the imaginary numbers.; "Real tennis" : was once known simply as tennis, but came into use at the end of the 19th century to distinguish it from the game of lawn tennis patented in 1874.; "Red Book audio CD" : At first, all audio CDs complied to the red book standard. Then, other implementations of the audio CD such as super audio CD, MP3 CDs and arguably DVD-Audio, and is now referred to as red book audio to differentiate between different standards.; "Reel-to-reel" or "open reel" : Tape recorders were originally simply "tape recorders," as they all used a pair of open reels to hold the magnetic recording medium. The term "reel-to-reel" was introduced when various forms of cassette tape formats became popular.; "Regular coffee" : Once, coffee was just "coffee", caffeine and all. The development of decaffeinated coffee caused this coinage.; "Rotary telephone" or "dial telephone" : The kind of telephone in common use before touch-tone telephones.; "Rugby union" : To differentiate it from its descendant, rugby league. Like hockey, the original term of "rugby" is still widespread. ; "Scalar processors" : As opposed to Vector processors.; "Seventy-eight (78) rpm records" : Before the advent of 33⅓ rpm and 45 rpm vinyl records, these were known simply as "records", "phonograph records" or "gramophone records".; "Silent film" : In the earliest days of the film industry, all films were without sound. Once "talkies" became the norm, it became necessary to specify that a particular film was "silent."; "Sit-down restaurant" : With the rise of fast-food and take-out restaurants, the "standard" restaurant received a new name in the United States. (In the United Kingdom, fast food and takeaway (takeout) outlets are not normally referred to as "restaurants", so the "sit-down" qualifier is not necessary.); "Snail mail" (also known as "land mail", "paper mail", "p-mail", and "postal mail") : Non-electronic mail delivered to physical locations, such as one's home or business. Before email and voice mail, all mail was physical, and much slower by comparison — thus, the "snail" appellation.;"Snow skiing": Water skiing now necessitates this differentiation. This, however, only applies to an area where both "snow" as well as "water" skiing are likely. "Snow skiing" would not be mentioned in the Alpine regions, unless large lakes offered the availability of water skiing.; "Solo motorcycle" : So called instead of "motorcycle" when some were being built with a sidecar.; "": The series' actual title "Star Trek" is now often used to refer collectively to the original series and its multitude of spin-offs.;"" : Originally released in 1977 under the title "Star Wars". The new title was applied in a 1981 re-release after the decision to make additional films, allowing "Star Wars" to refer to the entire series.; "Static electricity" : see "triboelectricity", below.;"" : Broadcast as just "Survivor". When the show subsequently used other locales, the location of the first season was added to the title to distinguish it.; "Terrestrial radio": As opposed to satellite radio.; "Traditional animation": With the rise of computer animation, hand-drawn, cel-based (or "2D") animation is now referred to as this.; "Trans World Airlines": Originally meant for Transcontinental and Western Airways, the name was changed after they expanded its route network to Europe and Asia.; ' : referring to the original "Transformers" toyline which ran from 1984 to 1992, and the assorted tie-in media. Then known only as "The Transformers," when the sequel series, ' launched by Hasbro in 1993, all previous subject matter was dubbed "Generation 1" - many individuals did this independently, as it is a logical progression, and when the online fandom began growing in the 90s, the term became the definitive one for that era. The term subsequently made it into official use through toy reissues from and comic books, most notably on Japanese toy packaging.; "Triboelectricity" : Electricity was so named from the Greek word for amber, because of the discovery that if it was rubbed (generating what is now called "triboelectricity") it would attract objects (due to a charge of "static electricity"). "Electric currents" and other forms of generation were discovered later.; "Tricorn" : When these hats were in fashion in the 18th century they were known as "cocked hats". The retronym "tricorn" was applied to them after they went out of popular fashion, differentiating them from later "bicorne" styles. ;"Tube amplifier" : Tube amplifiers for musical instruments were largely replaced by "transistor" (or solid state) amplifiers during the 1960s and 1970s. ;"Tube TV or CRT TV" : Originally, all televisions used a cathode ray tube (CRT) to produce a TV image. But with the recent popularity of newer television technologies such as LCD, plasma, or DLP, some stores now describe the sets that still use a picture tube as tube TVs or CRT TVs.; "Upright bicycle": The advent of the Recumbent bicycle sometimes requires a speaker to make the distinction between that and the conventional "upright bicycle". ; "Viennese waltz" : The original waltz, as distinct from other styles of waltz that have since developed.; "Vinyl record" : A term that arose to distinguish 33⅓- and 45-rpm phonograph records (LPs and 45s) from the compact discs (CDs) that have since replaced them for nearly all physical records and record albums. ; "Visible light" : Before the discovery of invisible wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, all light was considered visible.; "Water-activated stamps" (gummed stamps) : The predominant kind of postage stamp before self-adhesive stamps became popular.; "Whole milk" : Milk was formerly available in just one version, with the cream included, and benefitted gradually by pasteurization and homogenization. But it was still called simply "milk". This variety of milk is now referred to in the U.S. as "whole milk" (3.25% milkfat) to distinguish it from "2% (reduced fat) milk, 1% (low fat) milk," and "skim milk" (nearly no fat). In the UK, the terms "whole milk" (also "full-cream milk" or "full-fat milk") (3.5%), "semi-skimmed milk" (about 1.5%) and "skimmed milk" (almost no fat) are commonly used.; "Win16" : The original, 16-bit Windows API, as distinguished from the newer "Win32" and "Win64".; "World War I" : Originally this was called "The Great War" and commonly believed to be "the war to end all wars". However, when a second war enveloped Europe, Asia, and much of the Pacific, it became necessary to distinguish them. Similarly, the 1991 war in the Persian Gulf, formerly called "Desert Storm" or just the "Gulf War", is now (since the 2003 invasion of Iraq) often referred to as "The First Gulf War".; "Zune 30" : Used to describe the first-generation Zune device; the "30" was added after the release of the Zune 4, 8, and 80

Geographic retronyms

; "Asia Minor" : The name "Asia" was first applied to the mainland east of the Aegean islands, and later extended to the greater landmass of which that is a peninsula.; "Baja California" : The name "California" was first applied to the peninsula (thought to be an island), and later extended – and then restricted – to Alta California. (The Spanish "Alta" and "Baja" correspond in this case to English "Upper" and "Lower".); "East Indies" : After Columbus landed in the West Indies.; "East Prussia" : Prussia began as a duchy in Poland. As the highest-ranking dignity of the Hohenzollern dynasty, the name came to be applied to their territories stretching across Germany.; "Gran Colombia" : Historians' term for the first "Republic of Colombia", which included what are now Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama.; "Great Britain" : Britons fleeing the Germanic invasions settled in Armorica which became Brittany or Little Britannia.; "Lower Saxony" : The kingdom and duchies of Saxony are outside the original lowland territory of the Saxon people.; "Manhattan Chinatown" : For a long time New York City had only one Chinatown. However, there are now large Asian communities in Sunset Park, Brooklyn and Flushing, Queens, and therefore a need has developed to differentiate between the city's three Chinatowns. ; "Old Chinatown" : London's original Chinatown (destroyed in The Blitz) was in Limehouse; the new Chinatown is in Soho.; "Washington, D.C." : was simply "Washington" or "Washington City" until the northern part of the Oregon Territory became "Washington Territory".

Retronymic adjectives

; "Analog/analogue" : Describes non-digital devices: "analog clock", "analog recording".; "Conventional", "classic", or "traditional" : Describes devices or methods that have been largely replaced or significantly supplemented by new ones. For example, "conventional" (non-microwave) "oven", or "conventional weapon" (one which does not incorporate chemical, biological or nuclear payloads).; "I", "Senior", " the Elder" : When a dynastic ruler has or adopts a name identical to that of a predecessor, the original is often retroactively given the Roman numeral "I". For example, William I of Orange was called William during his lifetime. Names (typically of males) may also follow this convention, or the father may be given the suffix "Senior" ("Sr."), with "Junior" ("Jr.") for the son; Roman numerals would be used if the name is repeated again.; "I" or "1", also "part 1", "version 1", etc. : Also sometimes used to refer to the first incarnation of a movie, video game, etc. after sequels have been created, although such works are seldom renamed in this way officially. When Sony released the PlayStation 2, a redesigned version of the original PlayStation was also released under the name PSOne.; "Old" : Naturally used when there is officially a "new" version of anything, to refer to the previous version. For example, when British money was decimalised and the "new penny" of 1/100 pound was adopted, the previous penny of 1/240 pound became known as the old penny.; "Offline" : Computer users will sometimes agree to meet "offline", i.e. in person as opposed to "online" in an internet-based chat room or other such means of electronic communication. Before the internet became widely used, this was of course the only way to "meet" someone and the term "to meet offline" was unheard of.; "Regular" (or "plain") : Used to refer to an original product after line-extensions are released. For example, one could formerly just ask for a Pepsi. But with the advent of multiple line-extensions like Diet Pepsi or Pepsi Twist, one might ask for a "regular" Pepsi when one wants the original drink. Similarly, "regular" Oreo cookies were called that after Double Stuf Oreos and other varieties were released. Another example is in the United States Regular Gasoline (Petrol or Petroleum spirit outside the U.S.) has now come to mean 87 Octane -rated Unleaded (ratings in other countries vary). In the United States almost all Gasoline had tetraethyl lead additive and was sold as either Regular Gasoline (Octane rating of 89) as well as High Test (Octane ratings of 91 or higher until phased out in the late 1970's when all new cars made since 1975 had catalytic converters.; "Roman Catholic" : The qualification "Roman" is vaguely self-contradictory, because the essential meaning of the word "catholic" is "universal". However, schisms over the centuries have divided the original Christian church into many churches and sects, including multiple "Catholic" ones; therefore "Roman" was added to specify the church headquartered at Vatican City.; "Video" : Not itself a retronym, but in need of some. In the UK a "video" is a VCR or a VHS tape and "to video" is to record a television programme. Nowadays, video (ie audio-visual) recordings are commonly/increasingly made on hard disks or DVDs, rather than tapes. One logical development that is slowly growing is to specify "analog video" versus "digital video". (All VCRs make use of digital technology; but a distinction can be drawn between whether the video content is encoded as analog data or digital data (0s and 1s).; "Wired" and "Wireless" : "Wired" or "hardwired" refer to products such as telephones, headphones, speakers, computer accessories, etc, which are now available in wireless versions. "Wireless telegraphy" and "wireless telephony" were some of the first applications of radio technology, way back in the 1910s and 1920s; "wireless" as a noun today is sometimes simply a synonym for "mobile phone service"/"cell phone service".

References