h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Okay, it's been a few years now and we're still using the anagram. We all now, nobody ever called them VHS's or Video Home Systems, it was shortened to Videos and we called the black brick things 'Video tapes'. Now we can't call them Digis because that refers to the digital set top boxes, so I think we should call DVD players 'Versetiles'!!!

VHS actually stood for Vertical Helical System, and referred to the way that data we recorded to the tape.

Sorry, but I had to that.


Geggs

And I think we should call the discs "shiny magic discs of joy".

Who are you, the Scottish hotel owner from Little Britain???

You should here the names I call them when they refuse to play

Just to be slightly pedantic, DVD is not an anagram, it's an abbreviation, or if you have a hair-lip it might just become an acronym!

If video players became "videos'", the surely DVD players will one day become "digeos'"......Closely followed by fridges becoming "fridgeos'" & bridges becoming "bridgeos'"........

I think it's time for my medication now.......

I call them a pain in the arse. I prefer tape. Still prefer music tapes to cds - mainly because when I stop them, they stay where they are!

CDs can do that too - you just need a player with a resume function.

I have a DVD recorder but I've never been sure what terminology to use - we still refer to "taping" things even though there's no tape involved. "Will you disc the football for me while I'm out?" just doesn't sound right!

"CDs can do that too - you just need a player with a resume function"

Not if you change the discs though. I have to share a house with someone with very different taste in music to me.

Try using the word 'record'.

I call them 'Bobs' but I call a lot of things 'bobs' except pizzas that are called 'Dave' my fridge is claled 'Giles'

Oh no, round here we call DVDs "Davids"

Now that's a shame, cos DaViD would actually be a rather good name for the discs.

But there's enough confusion already with liquorice pizzas, I'm not risking anyone sticking a slice of Quatrro Stagioni in my player!

You also have to differenitate between DVD players and DVD recorders, although presumably in not too much time player only units will be obsolete

see? great minds

A recordable DVD could be a "Camp David". i.e. a David that goes both ways

DR E. said:


"And I think we should call the discs "shiny magic discs of joy".


Obviously his girlfriend never insisted on owning and PLAYING discs such as Titanic and Grease. I call such dics coasters and use them accordingly

Well, since CDs are still called CDs, I see no reason to replace DVD. VHS was never used as a blanket description since there were at least three competing versions of videotape, so the generic term stuck.

Videodisk could have stuck, but they decided (quite late on) that the V stood for Versatile rather than video, so videodisk is left as a rather 80s term. Laserdisk is a trademark of a particular format, so that's out.

Given that both of the forthcoming high-density disk formats appear to be using the 'DVD' name as part of theirs, it looks like DVD has already become a generic term.

Got it, call it: Vidisk. Alright it sounds like a place in Belarus, but it goes!!!