This is topic Name that device in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.


To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/writers/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=004773

Posted by Bent Tree (Member # 7777) on :
 
Sort of a trivial question to start an entire thread over, but what would you call a device that converts a lexigram board into audible english?

My character has a bonobo that uses this sounding board to communicate with his human friend.

translator doesn't seem to do it justice.
 


Posted by Cheyne (Member # 7710) on :
 
A transvocoder? sounds a little cross dressy
 
Posted by Bent Tree (Member # 7777) on :
 
what is the base "vo" derived from? vocal?


 


Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :
 
A lingucypher...?
 
Posted by annepin (Member # 5952) on :
 
Vocalizer? I mean, all it does is give voice to whatever the bonobo keys in, right? This instrument seems like the sort of thing people would be quick to shorten.

Maybe Vox Box? It could be like brand name. Transvocalizer? Vocagrapher? Text vocalizer?
 


Posted by TaleSpinner (Member # 5638) on :
 
Lexivox. Bonovox. Lexiphon. Utterbox. Symbolyphon. SymbolSpeaker (SymSpeak) ... Speakeasy?

Cheers,
Pat
 


Posted by Bent Tree (Member # 7777) on :
 
I am liking transvocalizer. It is set pretty far into the future. I don't want to brand it.

Thank you all for the suggestions.

I also like babblers cypher base.

How about lexicypher?

I am wanting to build this ridiculously long name for some reason--

Probably because I wrote a humourous young readers piece where the five legged Professor Orphington created a transgenetic nano nuerotranslator.

Thanks again. keep em comming if you want.


 


Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :
 
Not just "cypher", the other half is "Linguist". Maybe it'd look clearer like this: Linguicypher. (An LC Module.)

 
Posted by Wolfe_boy (Member # 5456) on :
 
Wouldn't it just be a lexigram with new added audible feature? They didn't rename the phone when they made it cordless, handsfree, or cellular, and at this point in history we've advances a long way from the original telephone. Why change the name of a simple plastic board, especially when you're going to have to explain to us what it is exactly once you've tagged on a new name.

Jayson Merryfield
 


Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :
 
"Cell phone" is different than "telephone", but, with sub-vocal com-link systems (the military has employed a form of them since Vietnam), I wonder why that wouldn't be more readily available. Or, I'd imagine that the implants that the living cyborg is pioneering will have a nano-virus form that have their own advanced Wi-Fi connection and...

Hmm. Maybe I should write a story about...

[This message has been edited by InarticulateBabbler (edited April 26, 2008).]
 


Posted by slocum (Member # 7925) on :
 
The device Stephen Hawking uses is just called a speech synthesizer.
 
Posted by Bent Tree (Member # 7777) on :
 
Thanks slocum. Welcome to the forum.

I am still thinking about it.
 


Posted by wetwilly (Member # 1818) on :
 
Vocoder wouldn't really work, because a vocoder is already something and it's not that. A vocoder is a musical device that converts speech into electronic signals (so kind of the opposite of what your device is). For example, you talk into a microphone, and the vocoder converts it into electronic signal that you can than manipulate with a keyboard or a guitar or something, and "play" your voice as an instrument.
 
Posted by debhoag (Member # 5493) on :
 
it would be a Lackey - laCe - Lexigram Audible Converter into English
 
Posted by TaleSpinner (Member # 5638) on :
 

Or lexigramophone?

Pat
 


Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
 
I've generally heard vocoder referred to, mainly by critics, as a vox inhumana...

Neither voder nor vocoder is in my old dictionary, but I would think the derivation comes from Latin: voco, to call, vox or vocis, voice, vocare, call...i. e. English words like vocal or vocative or vociferate. (You get the idea.)

Telephone, on the other hand, is Greek...tele, afar, phone, sound. Shortened to phone in the USA, then linked with cell, Latin, small room.
 


Posted by debhoag (Member # 5493) on :
 
a lexigramaphone would be a LEGuP
 
Posted by Oridalon (Member # 7938) on :
 
Might I suggest, that once you have established what you want to call it, your long scientific name, that you come up with a slang for it that most people will refer to it by.
Sort of Snow Crash-esk, something humorous that will really mind this device into the mind of the reader... like Crackler, because of the static crackle beneath the voicing, for example. Mind you, thats just a generic example.

But it adds a flavor to stories to have a humorous street lingo.
(more from Snow Crash:
Minivan = Bimbo box
person decked out in recording equipment = Gargoyle
"Kourier's" skateboard = Plank
Magnetic Grappler = a poon (from harpoon)
Gated Suburb = Burbclaves
Something with a little flare to make it memorable.)

 


Posted by skadder (Member # 6757) on :
 
How about a lexitransvocabobulator V 1.6? It's catchy.
 
Posted by Bent Tree (Member # 7777) on :
 
I love having the opportunity to discuss things like this with such dynamic and creative minds.

I posted the placeholder "transvocalizer" in the first thirteen of a story in F&F
The jury is still out for me.

I think that the hardest thing for me is the circumstances surrounding its use. It isn't a common devise. it was developed by scientist solely for the use by the young prince's pet primate. There is no mainstream marketing. The world is based on a dictatorship.
 


Posted by TaleSpinner (Member # 5638) on :
 
An iTalk ?
 
Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :
 
lmao - I love it. We can call prosthetic legs iWalks, and replacement eyes iSees, and mechanical bowel replacements iSh**...

[This message has been edited by InarticulateBabbler (edited April 27, 2008).]
 


Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
 
iPass
 
Posted by Oridalon (Member # 7938) on :
 
there actually is something called:
iBot - can find videos on YouTube
like a Super-wheel chair....
not a far cry from iWalk...
 
Posted by debhoag (Member # 5493) on :
 
iPoop, Iab - hey, wait a minute . . .
 
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
 
...iDunno...
 
Posted by Cheyne (Member # 7710) on :
 
idunno-- ithink you are referring to the Encyclo-PDA

[This message has been edited by Cheyne (edited April 28, 2008).]
 


Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :
 
See that, Pat. You started a trend!

[This message has been edited by InarticulateBabbler (edited April 28, 2008).]
 


Posted by debhoag (Member # 5493) on :
 
Ipat?
 
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
 
...iGotaGalinKalamazoo...
 
Posted by TaleSpinner (Member # 5638) on :
 
iTrendsetter ... iWish
 
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
 
iDontthinkthishasmuchtodowiththetopic, though...
 
Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :
 
iAgreewithRobertNowallthatthisisgettingprettysilly
 


Copyright © 2008 Hatrack River Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classic™ 6.7.2