I just listened to the May 18 episode about retronyms (words whose meaning change because of new developments). Your reference to colour television reminded me of an incident that occurred about 30 years ago.

Friends of ours emigrated to Israel in the 70’s. Because imported appliances in Israel were subject to very hefty duties, it was normal for immigrants (who were not subject to the duties)to bring in top of the line items when they arrived. This included colour televisions. Our friends however were not big tv watchers and brought in an old black and white set. This befuddled the customs inspectors who had no classification for such a beast. After much consideration, they marked it down as “televsion - not colour”.

martha said:

That’s great, Raphael! Thanks for posting this.

Reminds me, oddly enough, about a guidebook to Israel that I read just before going there years ago. If memory serves, the book mentioned the difficulties of incorporating new technology into an old language and noted that in Israel, the back axle of a car is called a “beckexel” (or some similar-sounding word), which makes sense, but the front axle of a car is called the “front beckexel.” At the time, I didn’t try to verify that, but would love to know whether that’s really true!

Thanks for replying Martha.

I’ve emailed some of my Israeli friends to find out more details on this.

In the interim, I’m reminded of my favorite street in Brooklyn - Old New Utrecht