What the Heck is a Retronym? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Both

The word retronym is derived from Greek and Latin. From Latin we get retro- meaning backward and from Greek we have -nym/onuma meaning name. Retronyms are usually adjectives in front of the object. In my example, before the electric guitar we just called it a guitar. But with the invention of the electric guitar, there had to be a differentiation between the two.

Answer: bar soap

In grocery or superstores today, an entire aisle can be devoted to the different kinds of body soaps and gels. They can be purchased in a wide variety of scents, textures and fun gimmicks. These new body washes are responsible for the retronym "bar soap".

Answer: land line

Occasionally, cell phones have static or connection problems. When this occurs, you may tell the person you are conversing with to call you on your "land line" or your home phone. Alexander Bell and Thomas Edison were responsible for the first patents for the commercial use of the telephone.

Answer: blond

In this situation, someone born with naturally fair, yellowish hair is called a natural blonde. This retronym was created to contrast with dyed blonde hair.

Answer: dirt roads

Another wonderful creation of modern day man is the paved road. This has made travel between even far distances so much easier on the traveler and the vehicle. An interesting tidbit: the oldest paved road was built in Egypt, 43 miles southwest of Cairo. It was built 4,600 years ago to make the transport of basalt from the quarry to Giza easier.

Answer: one-speed bicycle

The bicycle is a human-powered transport driven by pedals. Nowadays, you can find mountain bikes, racing bikes, tandems and cycle rickshaws.

Answer: digital

The first digital watch was a Pulsar brand prototype created in the 1970s. The price for this watch retailed around $2,000. Most early digital watches had an LED (light-emitting diode) display, but then liquid crystal displays (LCD) came into favor. Now, digital watches are generally much less expensive than analog ones. It would be hard to find a digital watch priced at $2,000 today!

Answer: contiguous U.S.

With Alaska north and west of Canada and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean, the retronym "contiguous United States" is used to describe the 48 states plus the District of Columbia which lie in between Canada and Mexico. It is also called the lower 48 and the military abbreviation is CONUS.

Answer: biological parent

The constant development of new scientific breakthroughs can make for some interesting retronyms. With so many new ways to conceive a child today, there is now a distinction between the family who raises a child and the biological mother and/or father.

The term birth parent is also sometimes used to refer to the person who gave birth to a child, but in the case of a surrogate mother who carried an embryo on behalf of the two biological parents, but was not actually involved genetically in the creation of the child, this person is not the biological mother. Birth parent has therefore become less commonly used than it was at one time to refer to the biological parent.

Answer: snail mail

Before the creation of electronic and voice mail, all mail was delivered to a person's home or business. Pre-Internet anything that you wanted sent had to be carried physically to its destination, so it was much slower than instant mail; thus the term "snail mail".

I hope you learned a little bit about retronyms. The idea for this quiz came from a category on the show "Jeopardy" and much information came from wikipedia. There is some information available online, if you feel so inclined to learn more about this neologism. As always, if you enjoyed this quiz, rate it well. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to drop me a line.