I really like the “meta” element in this one, not to mention the fireworks:
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Do you pronounce “mobile” the same when it is a noun for a sculpture with moving parts, and when it is an adjective meaning that something can move or be moved? The noun of course is also used in place of a phrase where it originally was the adjective, notably “a mobile phone” which some people will call “a mobile “.
Well yes, I do. But it is the third one in this entry from dictionary.com
/ ˈmoʊ bəl, -bil/ or, especially British, /-baɪl /
(In their other notation, [ moh-buhl, -beel or, especially British, -bahyl ])
(Though I recognize -beel IPA /-bil/, only for the city of Mobile, Ala.)
Now I have to go listen to that Dylan track to verify how he sang it, in 1965
Is the gas station one meant to be a Dad thing too?
Save the Phone Mobile for Alexander Calder Day, October 25.
Who uses the term “mobile phone” these days? :-)
Earlier tonight I watched the latest episode of Evil, with the audio description track on. Michael Emerson and Christine Lahti’s characters are taking care of a certain significant infant, and the crib is shown with a mobile hanging and twisting above it. The description track used the mo-beel pronunciation ; which I thought was not at all used for that sense. Shrug.
@ Grawlix (5) – I actually prefer the full term “mobile phone”, but that’s only because the American term “cell phone” just doesn’t work at all in Germany, and the German equivalent “das Handy” is a misbegotten abomination.
P.S. I have UK colleagues who sometimes refer to their “mobile”, but I don’t think they ever put the noun “phone” after it.
“P.S. I have UK colleagues who sometimes refer to their “mobile”, but I don’t think they ever put the noun “phone” after it.”
.. and how do they pronounce it? I would go for mobe-aisle.
A few weeks ago, I actually received a phone book. It covers 2 counties with a combined population of about a quarter million. There are 32 pages of residential listings. Pretty soon all the landlines will be gone & we’ll just say “phones”.
A “cell phone” is a kind of mobile phone, but not the only kind. There is also “satellite phone” for example, It’s an example of a thing being called by a detail of the technology that may or may not apply. Like “record album” for instance, which is now more likely to be an abstraction than a physical object. Or “gas pedal” in a Tesla. Which even in gasoline-powered cars was usually an air pedal.
@ deety (8) – It looked strange at first glance, but that is a very good rendition of the correct pronunciation.
I call mine the phone from h*ll! Or I call it “darn thing has another text from ‘the other political party’ yet again” generally get 3 – 20 of same daily when there is not an election or primary going on. (But I would be almost as annoyed as if our political party sent them also.)
I have learned that text messages are better than phone calls – no one ever texts “mom is terribly ill” or “so and so is dead” – those messages come by phone call.
I think I have mentioned before that that original “record album” dates from the days of 78rpm, and was a literal album, a book with sleeves for each record.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Do you pronounce “mobile” the same when it is a noun for a sculpture with moving parts, and when it is an adjective meaning that something can move or be moved? The noun of course is also used in place of a phrase where it originally was the adjective, notably “a mobile phone” which some people will call “a mobile “.
Well yes, I do. But it is the third one in this entry from dictionary.com
/ ˈmoʊ bəl, -bil/ or, especially British, /-baɪl /
(In their other notation, [ moh-buhl, -beel or, especially British, -bahyl ])
If you go to https://www.dictionary.com/browse/mobile and listen to the audio clips (which only cover the first two of those, omitting mine).
Sorry, I got lost there.
(Though I recognize -beel IPA /-bil/, only for the city of Mobile, Ala.)
Now I have to go listen to that Dylan track to verify how he sang it, in 1965
Is the gas station one meant to be a Dad thing too?
Save the Phone Mobile for Alexander Calder Day, October 25.
Who uses the term “mobile phone” these days? :-)
Earlier tonight I watched the latest episode of Evil, with the audio description track on. Michael Emerson and Christine Lahti’s characters are taking care of a certain significant infant, and the crib is shown with a mobile hanging and twisting above it. The description track used the mo-beel pronunciation ; which I thought was not at all used for that sense. Shrug.
@ Grawlix (5) – I actually prefer the full term “mobile phone”, but that’s only because the American term “cell phone” just doesn’t work at all in Germany, and the German equivalent “das Handy” is a misbegotten abomination.
P.S. I have UK colleagues who sometimes refer to their “mobile”, but I don’t think they ever put the noun “phone” after it.
“P.S. I have UK colleagues who sometimes refer to their “mobile”, but I don’t think they ever put the noun “phone” after it.”
.. and how do they pronounce it? I would go for mobe-aisle.
A few weeks ago, I actually received a phone book. It covers 2 counties with a combined population of about a quarter million. There are 32 pages of residential listings.
Pretty soon all the landlines will be gone & we’ll just say “phones”.
A “cell phone” is a kind of mobile phone, but not the only kind. There is also “satellite phone” for example, It’s an example of a thing being called by a detail of the technology that may or may not apply. Like “record album” for instance, which is now more likely to be an abstraction than a physical object. Or “gas pedal” in a Tesla. Which even in gasoline-powered cars was usually an air pedal.
@ deety (8) – It looked strange at first glance, but that is a very good rendition of the correct pronunciation.
I call mine the phone from h*ll! Or I call it “darn thing has another text from ‘the other political party’ yet again” generally get 3 – 20 of same daily when there is not an election or primary going on. (But I would be almost as annoyed as if our political party sent them also.)
I have learned that text messages are better than phone calls – no one ever texts “mom is terribly ill” or “so and so is dead” – those messages come by phone call.
I think I have mentioned before that that original “record album” dates from the days of 78rpm, and was a literal album, a book with sleeves for each record.