OESF Portables Forum

General Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: iamasmith on February 19, 2005, 06:35:26 am

Title: Trivia Hunt : Why Is It Called A Zaurus
Post by: iamasmith on February 19, 2005, 06:35:26 am
Hi,

Anyone got any idea behind the naming of the Zaurus?, Does it actually mean anything? if it doesn't then it's probably a mix of names that marketing put together.

So does anyone know for sure?

- Andy
Title: Trivia Hunt : Why Is It Called A Zaurus
Post by: jogloran on February 19, 2005, 09:16:04 am
According to the Japanese wikipedia article http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaurus (http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaurus) it's just a modification of 'saurus', ostensibly when some executive at Sharp liked the idea of strength that the association with dinosaurs conveyed.

Strikes me as an odd thing to name a PDA, since most people associate dinosaurs with incredible size, but there you go.
Title: Trivia Hunt : Why Is It Called A Zaurus
Post by: loopy29 on February 19, 2005, 09:31:22 am
yeah, incredible size and extinction...
Title: Trivia Hunt : Why Is It Called A Zaurus
Post by: padishah_emperor on February 19, 2005, 10:56:40 am
They'd been smoking a lot of herb.
Title: Trivia Hunt : Why Is It Called A Zaurus
Post by: iamasmith on February 19, 2005, 12:59:34 pm
Gosh, so the rather dodgy JPEG that appears on the FAQ stuff was closer to the truth than I imaged.... I'm shocked. LOL.
Title: Trivia Hunt : Why Is It Called A Zaurus
Post by: padishah_emperor on February 19, 2005, 06:01:47 pm
Good heavens! He's trying to faq her, I'd never noticed! That's perverse ;-)
Title: Trivia Hunt : Why Is It Called A Zaurus
Post by: nilch on February 19, 2005, 11:15:36 pm
:-) ... and I am laughing and rolling on the floor here  

Oh God..., what a connotation to the name Zaurus :-)
Title: Trivia Hunt : Why Is It Called A Zaurus
Post by: iamasmith on February 20, 2005, 05:08:58 am
I don't know who acquired this incriminating shot of Mr Veloco R Aptor here, but I'm sure it's out of context....

we really have to suggest that he's lookiing over the girls shoulder because I'm sure that's what he would claim and it could be the source of a little 'heat' otherwise.....

I favour changing this pic on the FAQs to something a little less ambiguous.

+ Actually I think the 'saur' part of Dinosaur in latin means Lizard. Any latin buffs who can confirm?

(BTW: My original guess about the naming was 'The Zaurus' <- 'The Saurus' <- 'Thesaurus'. There doesn't seem to be any firm evidence to support that though.)
Title: Trivia Hunt : Why Is It Called A Zaurus
Post by: loopy29 on February 20, 2005, 05:41:45 am
Quote
I don't know who acquired this incriminating shot of Mr Veloco R Aptor here, but I'm sure it's out of context....

we really have to suggest that he's lookiing over the girls shoulder because I'm sure that's what he would claim and it could be the source of a little 'heat' otherwise.....

I favour changing this pic on the FAQs to something a little less ambiguous.

Don't know about this. I think it is hilarious...
Quote
+ Actually I think the 'saur' part of Dinosaur in latin means Lizard. Any latin buffs who can confirm?

Yep, it means horrible lizard.
Title: Trivia Hunt : Why Is It Called A Zaurus
Post by: iamasmith on February 20, 2005, 12:27:24 pm
Actually the picture could indicate the kind of 'geek addiction' that many of us suffer.... instead of a 'Monkey on your back'.....
Title: Trivia Hunt : Why Is It Called A Zaurus
Post by: chrget on February 20, 2005, 02:49:20 pm
Quote
Quote
Actually I think the 'saur' part of Dinosaur in latin means Lizard. Any latin buffs who can confirm?

Yep, it means horrible lizard.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=67918\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

And for completeness' sake, it' greek and not latin

Best regards,
Chris.
Title: Trivia Hunt : Why Is It Called A Zaurus
Post by: Stubear on February 21, 2005, 03:43:17 am
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Gosh, so the rather dodgy JPEG that appears on the FAQ stuff was closer to the truth than I imaged.... I'm shocked. LOL.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=67870\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

That add was for the early M models of the zaurs, that didn't have linux as an OS but some proprietory OS that Sharp built or bought.

That was quite a populr add in Japan when it first came out (around 96 if memory serves), it was on TV all the time and that pic or slight variations of it were plastered all over the trains.

Can't seem to find any large size copies around on the net any more

Stu
Title: Trivia Hunt : Why Is It Called A Zaurus
Post by: ev1l on February 21, 2005, 09:40:56 am
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Yep, it means horrible lizard.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=67918\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
Terrible, not horrible, silly
Title: Trivia Hunt : Why Is It Called A Zaurus
Post by: jim-in-baltimore on February 21, 2005, 08:55:55 pm
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Quote
Yep, it means horrible lizard.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=67918\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
Terrible, not horrible, silly
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=68060\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Saurus is a Latin word (by definition, it uses latin characters).  According to the Oxford Latin Dictionary, saurus means a fish, in particular the horse-mackerel.

What you may be looking for is "saura" (\sigma\alpha\upsilon\rho\alpha), which is a Latinized Greek word meaning a type of lizard or salamander.  Neither terrible nor horrible is implied in the original word.      


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Don't call me off topic, you're off topic, this whole court's off topic.
Title: Trivia Hunt : Why Is It Called A Zaurus
Post by: iamasmith on February 22, 2005, 04:29:57 am
Excellent, yes I think people might be getting mixed up with the commonly known Tyrannosaurus - Which does, I believe, mean "Terrible Lizard".
Title: Trivia Hunt : Why Is It Called A Zaurus
Post by: speculatrix on February 23, 2005, 07:23:39 am
I always assumed it was meant to allude to thesaurus, to imply a source of information.

I now stand corrected!
Title: Trivia Hunt : Why Is It Called A Zaurus
Post by: bluedevils on February 23, 2005, 11:53:57 am
http://bedoper.com/reptilian/archive9.htm (http://bedoper.com/reptilian/archive9.htm)
Title: Trivia Hunt : Why Is It Called A Zaurus
Post by: stupkid on February 23, 2005, 12:43:35 pm
Here is was dictionary.com says:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=dinosaur (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=dinosaur)

New Latin Dnosauria, group name, from Dnosaurus, former genus name  : Greek deinos, monstrous + Greek sauros, lizard.
Title: Trivia Hunt : Why Is It Called A Zaurus
Post by: iamasmith on February 23, 2005, 01:09:19 pm
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http://bedoper.com/reptilian/archive9.htm (http://bedoper.com/reptilian/archive9.htm)
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=68321\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Well I guess now I understand the pitch..... er no actually I don't. - Unless these were limited edition novelty power packs for the original Z
Title: Trivia Hunt : Why Is It Called A Zaurus
Post by: padishah_emperor on February 23, 2005, 06:57:30 pm
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http://bedoper.com/reptilian/archive9.htm (http://bedoper.com/reptilian/archive9.htm)
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=68321\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Wow...
Freaky, so the Zaurus is a device which allows you to be humped by a frisky T-Rex as part of a Freemason, Illuminati, Satanic nazi conspiracy?

Glad I got a Yopy  

I need to go to bed