Forward Anachronyms

"Let me delete that."
— Amanda Payne, erasing the chalkboard

I don't know how long I've been doing this, or if it applies to dry-erase boards too, but students in all of my classes last semester pointed out my use of "delete" when I am erasing a chalkboard. Apart from being a sign that I spend too much time on the computer (and not that much time erasing chalkboards, my belothed), it's a rare example of an anachronym in the forward direction! Most of these words-in-the-wrong-time are old-timey words used now, not current words used for old-timey things, which chalkboards definitely are. Some old-timey phrases are like,"roll up the car window" (when there is no longer any rolling done), or "gchat me" (when they're no doubt using some more modern chat service, possibly not even on Goog). Heddwen Newton has a great list of anachronyms (and symbols) in the common direction, if that interests you.

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