Mobile phone vs Cell phone

T-mobile   Fri Aug 04, 2006 1:33 am GMT
I have noticed that the Americans say Cell phone and the Europeans Mobile phone!

Why is it called a Cell phone in America? The phone is not cellular, the network is cellular not the phone. The network is made of coverage cells, and not the phone. Therefore the phone is mobile because of the cellular network.

“Most current mobile phones connect to a cellular network of base stations (cell sites), which is in turn interconnected to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) (the exception are satellite phones). Cellular networks were first introduced in the early to mid 1980s (the 1G generation)”

Lately in Europe, because of the 3G network the mobile phone is renamed to Videophone or 3G ( 3rd generation face-to-face video) phone.
vid   Fri Aug 04, 2006 8:32 pm GMT
cell phone is slang that become official in Americas

the corect form is portable or mobile
Tiffany   Fri Aug 04, 2006 9:23 pm GMT
In Italy, people call them "cellulare" - so it's obviously not only slang only prevalent in the Americas.
tel   Fri Aug 04, 2006 11:52 pm GMT
Mobile phone terms across the world.

Cell phones or cell in India, South Africa, United States of America, Canada, Philippines, New Zealand

celulares (singular form celular) in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Puerto Rico and other Spanish-speaking countries as the Spanish word for Cellular. It is also used in Portuguese-speaking Brazil.
telefonito (meaning little phone) in Argentina.

EUROPE

mobil in Denmark, Hungary, Norway, Slovakia and Sweden
mobilais telefons or mobilais in Latvia
mobile, short for "mobile phone" (in the sense of "cellular phone"), a term in everyday usage in some English-speaking countries such as the UK and Australia. Also commonly used by industry insiders in America, although with a different pronunciation.
mobiles in Australia, India, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, Germany
Мобілка or Mobilka as a slang term in Ukraine
mobilní telefony (singular form mobilní telefon), or simply mobily (mobil) in Czech Republic
mobilny telefon (= mobile phone), or mobilnik, mobila for short. Older names are sotovy telefon (= cell phone) and trubka (= handset) in Russia
mòbils in Andorra
mobiltelefon in Denmark, Hungary, Norway, Sweden
mobilus telefonas or mobilus in Lithuania
mobitel in Slovenia.
móviles (móvil) in Spanish and mòbils (mòbil) in Catalan in Spain
portable (literally portable) in France
telefonino (meaning small phone), or Cellulare (short form for Telefono cellulare) in Italy
mobil (mobile) in Romania
telemóveis (singular form telemóvel) in Portugal
Guest   Fri Aug 04, 2006 11:56 pm GMT
Italy is the only european country that uses cellulare alternating with mobile and telefonino.

It looks like America and South America and few others have a tendency for slang.
Tiffany   Sat Aug 05, 2006 3:07 am GMT
<<Italy is the only european country that uses cellulare alternating with mobile and telefonino. >>

And Italy does not use "mobile", it is not an alternate word. I know of telefonino, but cellulare is much more common.

Why is it labelled slang anyway?

Here is the definition for slang from dictionary.com:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/slang

slang
n.

1. A kind of language occurring chiefly in casual and playful speech, made up typically of short-lived coinages and figures of speech that are deliberately used in place of standard terms for added raciness, humor, irreverence, or other effect.

2. Language peculiar to a group; argot or jargon: thieves' slang.

Cell or Cell Phone definitely does not meet the criteria for number one as it occurs in everyday speech, formal and informal. There is no raciness, humor, irreverence, or other effect implied in it

If you are judging it on the basis of number two, then European usage is just as much slang.
Kirk   Sat Aug 05, 2006 3:17 am GMT
<<mobiles in Australia, India, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, Germany >>

People are much more likely to say 'Das Handy' in German. When I was taking German that's the word we learned because that's what is commonly used instead of 'Mobiltelefon'.

Interestingly, Korean also took the English word 'hand' for cell phones. In Korean 'cell phone' is (using official Romanization) 'haendeupon' [hEnd1p_hon], from English 'hand' + 'phone'.

And Tiffany's right about slang. 'Cell phone' isn't slang by any accurate definition of it.
guest   Sat Aug 05, 2006 4:24 am GMT
correct term is portable phone and mobile phone, and for obvious reasons!
Guest   Sat Aug 05, 2006 4:31 am GMT
Another correct term would be 'Wireless Phone'.
just Mobile   Sat Aug 05, 2006 11:53 am GMT
'Cell phone' is not slang- is just incorrect. The phone itself is very compact and not made out of (cell sites)

“Most current mobile phones connect to a cellular network of base stations (cell sites)"

CELLULAR Network
= Mobile PHONE

You guys are diagonally crossing the CELLULAR with PHONE (see above)
its just like saying Mobile Network ! LOL
Uriel   Sat Aug 05, 2006 11:58 am GMT
What do you care what we call it? It works for us.
greg   Sat Aug 05, 2006 12:41 pm GMT
tel : « portable (literally portable) in France »

Ici on dit <portable> [pɔʁtabl(ə)] et <mobile> [mobil(ə)].

Mais <portable> désigne à la fois {un téléphone} et {un ordinateur}.
Jacyra   Sat Aug 05, 2006 4:51 pm GMT
it's CELULAR in Brazil, but TELEMÓVEL in Portugal
Brazilian opted for more American/Italian version.

mobile is said ['moubl] in the USA, not ['moubail]
Guest   Sun Aug 06, 2006 2:02 am GMT
"CELLULAR Network
= Mobile PHONE

You guys are diagonally crossing the CELLULAR with PHONE (see above)
its just like saying Mobile Network ! LOL "

I fully agree with that!

"Cell Phone" is incorrect by far, just like "Mobile Network” is.

The American continent will never learn to speak properly...Brazilians translate proper Portuguese into Brazilian Portuguese a Creole archaic version, with a grammar that looks like a mess for any Continental Portuguese speaker. Also the low 65 % Brazilian literacy rate, contributes to this depravation of Brazilian Portuguese.
Uriel   Sun Aug 06, 2006 4:59 am GMT
Well, how about if those of us in the New World just don't call you "mobile" snobs in the Old.... doesn't sound like you'll be missing us.

And I hate to burst your bubbles, but you will also hear "mobile phone" in the US. Maybe not as often as "cell phone", but we all know what it means. So get a grip.