Language is about Efficiency, Not Clarity
What Does the Word “Phone” Mean?
How would you describe the above object? Is it a cellphone? A mobile phone? A smartphone? Or just a phone?
One of my English students recently pointed out to me that it is hard to speak English because even words that she thought were the same in English and Japanese were not always the case. As an English teacher, I was not surprised by this; it is a common complaint of many language learners after all.
However, as we started to go through a list of words that she thought were the same, but in fact were not, some of them caught my attention. Here they are.
- Personal Computer (or PC)
- Notebook computer
- Smartphone
- Mechanical Pencil
- Earphones
What was odd was that they are the same in both Japanese and English.
When I pointed this out, she said:
Yes, but native speakers never say ‘smartphone,’ and correct me.
She was not wrong. I do not call the device that I use everyday a smartphone, cell phone, or mobile phone. I simply call it a phone. It is my “phone.”
