“I’m sliding my finger to the right of the screen to answer the call” is the modern translation of “I’m picking up the phone”. Even to the younger generation, who have never literally picked up or hung up the phone, the contemporary version sounds odd. But hanging up the phone really doesn’t make any sense today. Phrases like "rewinding the tape", "dialing the phone", or "cranking the engine" are called skeuonyms, expressions left over from a technology no longer used.


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