# Real, Dead Tree, Physical...what do you call them?



## Klip (Mar 7, 2011)

I tend to trip over this one.  E-books are e-books so that's easy.  But what do you call the printed on paper kind?

Some people call them "real" books, which leaves me asking how e-books aren't real?
Then you have "dead tree books" which is just too snarky for me, and makes me want to google "environmental costs of ebooks" 
Paper books?  Printed" books? Smelly books? I've even seen "physical" books which sounds like a euphemism. 

?


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## flipside (Dec 7, 2011)

Print. Or books.

eBooks have eBooks. Unless I specify a specific file format.


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

I don't like to call them "real books" as that implies ebooks are somehow fake or less important. On the other hand, I don't care for the "dead tree" thing either because it sounds judgemental, like the speaker is suggesting it's wrong for books to be printed or for people to buy them. Not saying that's what everyone means by it but it always makes me cringe to hear the beautiful books on my shelves referred to as "dead" anything. It feels almost irreverent. So I go with "print books" or simply "books". I think I've even said "physical book" before, which actually doesn't make a lot of sense, but seems to get the idea across.


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## D/W (Dec 29, 2010)

I usually refer to them as print or paper books.


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## Todd Young (May 2, 2011)

I'd say print or paper books, but I've seen them referred to as pbooks.


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## Math (Oct 13, 2011)

I'm turning this on its head, and thinking about what we will call eBooks in the future, rather than what we will call printed material.

And maybe 'e-books'/'eBooks' will become 'books' in the near future.

If someone says they will 'write to me'  - I don't know if that's to my inbox or letterbox. People used to say 'I'll send you an e-mail' but now it seems to be just a 'message', and the distinction between the two seems to be blurring fast (as regards nouns we use for them)

Maybe as soon as someone coins a good way to describe printed books - it won't be a description that's needed anyway!!


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## James Everington (Dec 25, 2010)

I just call them books (print and e) in the same way I'd call an album an album regardless of whether it was on vinyl, CD, MP3 etc...


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## Klip (Mar 7, 2011)

@Dara - exactly how I feel about the "dead tree" thing.  It is such a loaded term, it immedeatly sounds like I'm making a judgement.  Reminds me of people who feed their dogs on the raw-food diet calling commercial dog food "Doom Nuggets"  

@Math - you may be right.  For a while people made a big difference between "paperbacks" and "books" but that distinction has largely faded.  But I think there may be more practical reasons to distinguish between paper based and e-formats for quite a while to come.

@James - I think of them all as books as well, but often enough it is necessary to distinguish for practical reasons.  For example, if my friends want to borrow a book but they dont possess a reader, or if somebody wants me to email them a book, etc.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

I usually use pbook or paperbook


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Paper or print.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

paper. 

I find 'dead tree book' or it's acronym distasteful.


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## Klip (Mar 7, 2011)

Geoffrey said:


> I usually use pbook or paperbook


"pbook"

I like that. Makes sense.


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## anguabell (Jan 9, 2011)

I prefer paper books (although they do feel more real - or tangible - to me) as I don't have any need for all those endless abbreviations. I don't think pbook sounds too good when you pronounce it in your head, sorry


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## KateEllison (Jul 9, 2011)

I say print or paper book. I think pbook is kinda cute, though.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

dtb
It is what it is.


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## Matt Larkin (Sep 27, 2011)

Print books, if there is a need to distinguish between formats.

Calling them dead trees is just provacative. I don't call a hamburger a dead cow sandwich--we have a word for that already--and the only reason I could see to do so is to provoke an argument.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Yeah, I find "dead tree book" to be subtle dig at people who don't read ebooks but equally, calling paper books "real books" is a slight dig at people who do read ebooks.


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## cheriereich (Feb 12, 2011)

Hm, I haven't seen the use of "pbooks" until today. I usually go for print of paper books. "Real books" irks me, although I don't mind "dead tree book" as much because that is what they are, but I tend to go with "print" or "paper." I might have to start using "pbooks," though. I like it.


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## Jan Strnad (May 27, 2010)

Print, printed, or paper books.

I could go for p-books for short.


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## Carl Ashmore (Oct 12, 2010)

I agree - print or paper books


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## jabeard (Apr 22, 2011)

I tend to call them physical books.


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## Carolyn62 (Sep 5, 2011)

I call them paper books. No other term works for me.


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

I call them paper books. Calling them Dead Tree Books is like calling e-books "Memory Hole Books". But I only use the term paper books or e-books when I need to make a make a distinction, otherwise it is just "books". Of course, we could use the term "codex".


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

James Everington said:


> I just call them books (print and e) in the same way I'd call an album an album regardless of whether it was on vinyl, CD, MP3 etc...


this.... a book is a book is a book.... and music is an album....


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

I call them "print" books since they have to be printed - or hardcover, since if I buy a book it tends to be hardcover rather than paperback.  "Physical" is another one I use.


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## Adonna (Feb 4, 2012)

I refer to them as "regular" but I guess that's just as bad as "real" book.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Adonna said:


> I refer to them as "regular" but I guess that's just as bad as "real" book.


And when ebooks are the norm they'll be 'regular' and I guess paper will be "classic" format.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

With Kindle owners, "dead tree books", with the great unwashed masses, "paper books".

Reminds me of the critique of IBM's poor marketing for their personal computer products, when Jerry Pournelle announced that if IBM went into the fried chicken business, they would advertise "warm dead chicken"!


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## theraven (Dec 30, 2009)

print or physical books


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## Klip (Mar 7, 2011)

QuantumIguana said:


> I call them paper books. Calling them Dead Tree Books is like calling e-books "Memory Hole Books". But I only use the term paper books or e-books when I need to make a make a distinction, otherwise it is just "books". Of course, we could use the term "codex".


Memory hole! That's a new one for me.

@scarlet - and if your friend who does not have an ereader asks to borrow a copy of a book you only have in electronic version, you would say: "well, I've only got it as a _book_, you know, not as a *book*"


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## Klip (Mar 7, 2011)

Ann in Arlington said:


> And when ebooks are the norm they'll be 'regular' and I guess paper will be "classic" format.


...that sounds sort of likely. Could set up some cognitive dissonance though. "Microwaving for One - a classic book."


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

I call them 'hard copy' books.


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## Tinker (Oct 3, 2011)

I call a book a book. 

Julia


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## kaotickitten (Jan 9, 2011)

Well if I am distinguishing between the two.  Than it would be DTB just for reference. Yet in everyday life I call both ebooks and DTB's books.  If someone asks to borrow a book I have only on the kindle than I will tell them so.  I know many here see DTB as  a wrong thing but it is just easier to type and that way it distinguishes the way I read the book.


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## jbcohen (Jul 29, 2011)

I am going to be the odd person in this conversation the printed ones I typically referr to them as books while the electronic ones I call documents.  The reason that I use these titles are that Miriam and Webster defines a book as: a set of written sheets of skin or paper or tablets of wood or ivory (the definition requires that the book written on paper or some other item), where as a document is defined as a writing conveying information (no requirement that the materiel be printed).  Thus I generally referr to ebooks as documents.


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## FrankColes (Feb 22, 2012)

Strictly speaking, the term 'book' refers to the print version - a book is by definition printed.
Ebook refers to electronic form.

But usage does change, and usually can't be beaten into submission, only usage. Otherwise we'd still be calling books scrolls, and possibly in the days of the scroll they would have all been reading papyrus, before that stones. Before that...you get the picture.

No need for the dead tree nonsense either, unless you do want to make a point, the word book is derived from the old word for beech, as in beech tree, from several European languages. Presumably it was already dead when those medieval types started marking up their to do lists.

Personally I opt for dead cow sandwhich every time, I like binary fiction on my ereader and burnt ink on my papyrus.


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## Sean Patrick Fox (Dec 3, 2011)

I use all of the terms. Paper, real, print, traditional, regular, etc. But never "dead tree books" or "DTB." Just not my thing.


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

Merriam-Webster lists the e-book as one of the definitions of a book, under definition 1g. The dictionaries do not seem to have been able to figure out how to incorporate the e-book into the definition, I suspect it will move up to higher than 1g. Definition 1h is "magazine", but few would consider a magazine to be a book, even though it is words printed on paper with a cover.

I would expect that a definition that includes both paper and e-books will probably move up the list. We do use the word book to refer to both the medium and the content, and that can be tricky. Is a short story a book? If you print it on paper, yes, it is. One problem is that people often use "book" and "novel" interchangeably, but in the past it was not at all uncommon to print shorter works.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/book


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

jbcohen said:


> I am going to be the odd person in this conversation the printed ones I typically referr to them as books while the electronic ones I call documents. The reason that I use these titles are that Miriam and Webster defines a book as: a set of written sheets of skin or paper or tablets of wood or ivory (the definition requires that the book written on paper or some other item), where as a document is defined as a writing conveying information (no requirement that the materiel be printed). Thus I generally referr to ebooks as documents.


That's nice but the great majority of people wouldn't understand you without explanation. Even here on this forum.

And terms evolve.

Your choice of course.


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## Kimberly Llewellyn (Aug 18, 2011)

*Ebook* vs. *tree* book is what I have heard from the start and so that is what I tend to call them.


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## Math (Oct 13, 2011)

QuantumIguana said:


> Merriam-Webster lists the e-book as one of the definitions of a book, under definition 1g. The dictionaries do not seem to have been able to figure out how to incorporate the e-book into the definition, I suspect it will move up to higher than 1g. Definition 1h is "magazine", but few would consider a magazine to be a book, even though it is words printed on paper with a cover.


Don't go to comic-con!! Everyone refers to comics as 'books'. And that is my thought, as 'book' is used as a contraction. So e-books are books as comic-books are books. Simple.

If there was a comic and a regular looking book on a table, and someone asked me to 'pass me my book' - I would say 'Do you mean the book or the comic-book?'

Why oh why must we re-label something like an old fashioned book, to distinguish it from something _new _ that has it's _own _ label in the first place? Grrr. If one wishes to stress the difference - it should be the e-book that is stressed, as that is newest and still least common thing. Rant over...breathing deeply


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

The little word "book" certainly can be maddening. We use the phrase "comic book", and it does match definition 1b of Merriam-Webster, although we would generally call that a magazine rather than a book.  

Comic book makes a distinction between a comic magazine and a comic strip. And of course the word comic is itself rather anachronistic. Most comic strips in the paper are comedic (there are a some exceptions, of course), but most comic books are not comedic.

Then there is the term "graphic novel", which isn't a novel at all. I'm not denigrating the graphic novel, it's just not a novel.


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## Rick Gualtieri (Oct 31, 2011)

Too annoy some of my non-ereading friends, I've taken to occasionally calling them "hunks of dead tree flesh" 

Outside of that, they're just books just the same as they've always been.


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## deckard (Jan 13, 2011)

QuantumIguana said:


> Then there is the term "graphic novel", which isn't a novel at all. I'm not denigrating the graphic novel, it's just not a novel.


The first time I saw the term 'graphic novel' I was in a (I think) Walden Bookstore many years ago.

I thought that was the adult literature section. 

Deckard


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## StephenLivingston (May 10, 2011)

I use "book" for both.  If I want to differentiate between the forms it's "ebook" and "paper book".
Best wishes, Stephen Livingston.


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## Steverino (Jan 5, 2011)

Let's just not call them "book books".


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## Ergodic Mage (Jan 23, 2012)

Books always works for me. eBooks for my Kindle and PDFs for my laptop.


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