To put this title into context, yes I am (was) that person who cringed when someone referred to multiple records as ‘vinyls’ as the plural of ‘vinyl’ is …… wait for it …… ‘vinyl’, and yes I am (was) slightly judgmental when I started seeing records referred to as ‘vinyl’ as a complete substitute for the word ‘record’.
It’s Records, CDs and Cassettes surely? We say ‘records’ and we know that’s a LP (long play record), it could be an EP (extended play) or it could be a 12” or a 7”? We say CD which we assume is an album or we say CD Single to clarify.
We used to say ‘tapes’ or ‘tape, and regularly “can you tape that for me?” and we did say ‘Cassette Single’. Tape is what’s inside the cassette, it’s what the musical part is made from in the same way that vinyl is in most cases what the musical part of a record is made from, see where I’m going with this?
For CDs we just say that, the only people who said ‘compact disc’ were those advertising them on TV. We don’t say ‘Polycarbonate plastic disc with a reflective layer’ as that would be ridiculous.
Records are records, not always made from vinyl but my vacuum is a Vax but I still hoover the house. If I ever post what I buy which more occasional than often due to the number I still tag #vinyl #vinylcollector #vinylcollection so I can be (was) a hypocrite.
But I did cough the other day at a Tik Tok where the creator kept saying ‘vinyl record player’ which seemed a bit OTT.
Without getting too academic, ‘Semantic change is a form of language change regarding the evolution of word usage, usually to the point that the modern meaning is radically different from the original usage.’ Language evolves, word usage evolves, and it should.
So to get ‘irked’ when the dare I say new generation of vinyl collectors say “look at the vinyls I bought today” is wrong, its the language. This is also a generation who to be fair didn’t grow up buying albums, it was all streamed as a collection of songs. They will always be records and part of my record collection but language evolves just as music formats evolve.
I’m just glad more and more people are buying ‘vinyl records’ as that serves me, a music consumer well as the format stays alive and kicking, and supports the artists far better than streaming ever will.
Cover image by Photo by Jonas Leupe on Unsplash
