Why is it called a TV 'set'?

[redqueen]

It's not like there's two of them. 'Pair' of pants makes more sense, cause at least there's two legs. So what's the 'set' all about?

I was just thinking about the term cause I think my TV is broken and so I was looking at some online.

[Shell Beau]

1. Like a pair of panties but only one bra?!?

Interesting.

[Dr. Strange]

2. A set can have one element.

Indeed, the empty set has no elements. Much like the show "Joanie Loves Chachi" had no plot. Or humor. Or redeeming qualities.

[redqueen]

4. Stop that.

No math geek talk allowed.

:spank:

[old mark]

12. If your TV was turned off, would you have a null set? Or would it now be

an empty set? {}



:shrug:

mark

[Dr. Strange]

15. It would be a null set.

Much like it would be if Fox News was on.

[gmoney]

16. should it always be THE empty set, rather than AN empty set

Because there's only ONE empty set universally, right? Because it's empty!

You don't have an empty set of wolverines that's any different than an empty set of toast pastries, or irrational numbers, right?

And before anyone asks, there WAS a band called The Empty Set a few years ago... a Young Fresh Fellows side project, IIRC.

[old mark]

28. Of course - forgive my ignorance. nt

[gmoney]

33. No offense intended. Just having fun with the empty set!

:)

[old mark]

34. {}...nt

[Duer 157099]

3. Let me set a spell and think about this...

OK, first of all, people set on their asses to watch it.

Also, it's a collection of parts, a set if you will.

And maybe because the screen and the cabinet were two parts that came together in a set?

I don't hear it called a set anymore, just flat panel TV or some such.

[Duer 157099]

5. Pair of sunglasses is another weird one

Although since there is a monacle, maybe "pair" is ok for 2 lenses.

But if pair of pants applies since there are 2 legs, why don't we wear pairs of shirts since we have 2 arms? I think maybe pair of pants originated from when a suit came with 2 pairs of pants?

Language can be so odd.

[HopeHoops]

6. Then there was "console" - back when it was a thing the size of a buffet.

Lets see - 19" TV, AM/FM radio, turntable, built in speakers, and a pull down drawer for the LPs.

[redqueen]

7. Good lord... yeah...

I thought that might be the reason after DUer (numbersnumbersnumbers) said that about a cabinet. I forgot they used to come like that.

[HopeHoops]

11. I still have a working receiver from one - with physical capacitor plates for tuning.

It is old enough that it won't work with a modern (as in after 1975) turntable because you need a pre-amp for those. It came with a turntable with a ceramic needle head that amplified the signal and that's what the receiver expects.

[Gormy Cuss]

8. Because like radios, which were also called radio sets at one time, it's a collection or set

of separate devices brought together to produce the television???

[redqueen]

14. Radio set? Never heard of that.

Simpler times. I bet they didn't have three different types of TVs back then, with ridiculous amounts of options and crap.

[Gormy Cuss]

21. More people lived on farms back then

so they had plenty of crap. :P


Seriously though, you'll hear radios referred to as radio sets in movies from the 1930s and 1940s. There was a question about radio ownership on the 1930 decennial census and it refers to them as radio sets.

[dalaigh lllama]

18. I think you're right

I never knew they were called "radio sets" until I was browsing through the 1930 census records not too long ago. One of the questions to check was whether or not the home had a "radio set." Maybe it seemed natural to go from radio sets to tv sets back in the 50's and the term just stuck.

[elocs]

35. Yes, radio set, wireless set, crystal set (made one in jr. high school). n/t

[The2ndWheel]

9. Setting maybe

Set it down on a table, floor, whatever.

Here's the one that I don't get. We say that "I have to go take a shit", when what we're doing, is giving one.

[old mark]

13. Besides, where would you want to take it? Or did you have too many

and want to remove one?
No one ever replies, "Oh, take a few - they are pretty small...and we have way more than we need..."

mark

[Duer 157099]

24. I have thought about that one as well

The taking a shit one. And why is it that "giving a shit" actually is a good thing? But yet, when someone says "don't give me shit" they mean don't give me trouble.

[One_Life_To_Give]

10. Too hard to pronounce Kinescope nt

[JBoy]

17. Because you use it to buy a "set" of steak knives.

[sarge43]

19. OK, according to My Husband the Nerd, TV set is a hold over term

from the early days of radio. Early radios were a "set" of components -- receivers, amplifiers, batteries, speaker(s), etc

[hippywife]

29. And don't forget

the tubes! :hi:

[hunter]

36. .

[hunter]

37. That's what I'd say also.

In the old days you'd assemble a working "radio set" from components that often required a lot of tinkering to get them set up and working properly. What kind of components you got depended on what kind of radio you wanted and what you could afford. Even a simple crystal radio set had multiple components -- the "detector," the grounding and antenna system, the headphones, etc.

Sophisticated crystal receiver from around 1914:



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

One of my great grandfathers loved radio. The only reason he and my great grandma agreed to rural electrification across their homestead was because radio batteries were messy and expensive. They had Aladdin oil lamps and wood stoves so they didn't need electricity for anything but the radio.

[ashling]

20. OK, sit down and hold on, because I am about to use logic here

not really

before they started making TV machines that you hang on the wall, you had to set it on the floor or on some sort of cabinet or shelf - get it? good. :shrug:

actually, pair of pants doesn't make sense, as opposed to a pair of hose, have you ever seen anybody wearing one pant. Of course not, that would be silly. Or a pair of panties.

Now a pair of hose is logical because you need one for the front yard and one for the back yard or you are continually having to drag one ho around to the other location.

[edbermac]

22. Why do they call it Rhode Island?

Isn't an island surrounded by water? :shrug:

[sakabatou]

23. I think it has to do with how TV came out

How it had many parts to it. You'd have the TV, antenna, and later the VCR. All separate.

[pitohui]

25. it used to be in like a wooden console thingy, so it was a whole furniture set

a cabinet and the actual electronics if that makes any sense

[bikebloke]

26. TV's started out as a set of mostly tubes.

Like radio. Set just stuck over time.

[whistler162]

27. Because calling it a ready or a hut or a hike didn't catch on....

[mike_c]

30. because it's a set of electronic components....

Even though it's packaged in one box, it's still a set of interconnected components, much like a computer. There's a regulated power supply, a tuner, a signal amplifier, probably a separate audio amplifier, and a cathode ray monitor (at least originally). Each component is a separate electronic entity, just connected permanently inside one box for convenience rather than sold separately like stereo components. The same goes for radios, especially older "sets"-- they are collections of independent electronic circuits all packaged in one box for convenience.

[madinmaryland]

31. Actually it was a set of tubes that was bringing you pictures on another tube.

Hence it was shortened to a TV Set. "of tubes"

BTW, don't you enjoy being on the web set... "of tubes"

Yes, I'm channeling Ted Stevens!!

[Orrex]

32. That what the Egyptian gods called it when they were speaking disparagingly

Much like we call it the idiot box.