My sister is studying at a German university. Having talked to her about her experiences there means I can understand blog posts like this one instead of just being confused.
For non-Europeans: apparently in some parts of continental Europe
video projectors are called beamers
. Given how much more
succinct and easy on the vocal apparatus beamer
is than
video projector
, not to mention that it's plain cool, I think
we should adopt the name here in the States. All in favor: refer to
the next video projector you see as a beamer
. If enough of us
do it they'll call it a movement!
UPDATE: the original post confused overhead
and video projectors. I always have used the terms
interchangably, and apparently incorrectly. I'm not sure why: maybe
it's partly because when I was a kid the only projectors I encountered
were overheads. Anyway, several readers wrote me to say that
beamer
is quite specifically a term for a
video-projector and not at all a term for the
overhead type. My bad.
Comment by Meike Reichle on 2007-12-13:
Hey Daniel!
actually we do call an overhead projector[0] simply an "Overhead" (in the former GDR is used to be called a "Polylux"). A "Beamer" is a video projector[1].
Best wishes from Germany, Meike
[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:OHP-sch.JPG [1] http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/video/graphics/LG-JT41.jpg
Comment by Magnus Therning on 2007-12-13:
No, /video projectors/ are called beamers in some places.
Search for "beamer" on wikipedia and you'll find "Video projector, a pseudo-anglicism in a number of languages including German and Dutch."
An overhead projector is quite a different thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overhead_projector
/Magnus (wearing his besserwisser hat)