The passing of some technologies, or the geographic shift of some industries, also leaves behind traces in economic statistics, as well as in the language.
For example, US statistics about industrial production and exports, which are classified into four-digit Standard Industrial Classification Codes, formerly had dozens of categories for various kinds of shoe machinery. By the same token, the statistics that tracked employment trends assigned tracked all kinds of worker skills related to shoe manufacturing.
About 30 years ago, when the US shoe industry sailed offshore and the computer industry took off, a reform of the SIC codes took place to accommodate the changes. In 1997, statisticians, rolled out a more detailed six-digit North American Industry Classification System.
To give an example of two phrases that you still might hear, "a flash in the pan" and "hanging fire" both refer to malfunctions of muzzle-loading firearms. Though in fact, the hobbyists who build and use those muskets might still experience, and definitely understand, those events.
One bizarre regional term sometimes heard in England is "dropping a clanger." It refers to a bygone cooking recipe or meal practice in which a farm cook would prepare pastries filled with meat at one end and jam at the other. The field worker would eat the meat-filled part first, and then the jam-filled part for dessert. Dropping this clanger before lunch would mix up the two parts; and probably break the pastry as well, resulting in an unappetizing mess. Hence, "dropping a clanger" as a mistake.
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branchandroot
Obsolete phrases
Date: Jan. 9th, 2013 11:43 am (UTC)For example, US statistics about industrial production and exports, which are classified into four-digit Standard Industrial Classification Codes, formerly had dozens of categories for various kinds of shoe machinery. By the same token, the statistics that tracked employment trends assigned tracked all kinds of worker skills related to shoe manufacturing.
About 30 years ago, when the US shoe industry sailed offshore and the computer industry took off, a reform of the SIC codes took place to accommodate the changes. In 1997, statisticians, rolled out a more detailed six-digit North American Industry Classification System.
To give an example of two phrases that you still might hear, "a flash in the pan" and "hanging fire" both refer to malfunctions of muzzle-loading firearms. Though in fact, the hobbyists who build and use those muskets might still experience, and definitely understand, those events.
One bizarre regional term sometimes heard in England is "dropping a clanger." It refers to a bygone cooking recipe or meal practice in which a farm cook would prepare pastries filled with meat at one end and jam at the other. The field worker would eat the meat-filled part first, and then the jam-filled part for dessert. Dropping this clanger before lunch would mix up the two parts; and probably break the pastry as well, resulting in an unappetizing mess. Hence, "dropping a clanger" as a mistake.