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100 years from now cars will still make a vestigial sound that is simply taken for granted and not really considered until some wise-ass at a party starts in "Funny story..."


We will have to explain the origin of the sound coming out of our car speakers to our kids, like we have to explain the floppy disk icon for saving a file.


A friend's young daughter asked him why the phone made a "funny sound" when taking a picture. She's never encountered a film camera or heard a real shutter click before.


To be fair, someone who has a lot of experience with film cameras could legitimately ask the same question. Why the hell would a completely different technology ape the noises of a previous generation?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph

I guess in this case (with sound) it would be called skeuophone.


It's also that some countries legally required digital cameras to make noises when taking photos, to make surreptitious photography impossible.




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