Re: Telestrate
Posted by Brian from Shawnee on March
27, 2003 In Reply to: Re: Telestrate posted
by TheFallen on March 27, 2003
: : Does any one know the meaning
of the word "telestrate"? I think it might be some kind of portmanteau.
: :
Thanks in advance for any information.
: It's a hideous word, isn't it? I only
know it as a verb and have heard it used by those masters of word mutilation at
Microsoft, amongst others. It's a recent coinage to do with overlaying graphics
onto video, usually in the course of a presentation, or maybe, if you have interactive
TV, if you call up facts about the programme that you are currently watching which
then overlay the screen. The provenance is fairly depressingly clear - tele as
in "television" (a leap of faith from the original Gr**k "distant") and strate
as in L*tin "layer".
I've never come across this word in verb form before. I'm
familiar with the form "telestrator", which is an electronic pen used by commentators
during sporting events to draw lines on a freeze-frame on the screen, to clarify
some point they're making about the action. Currently the device is seeing heavy
use on maps of Iraq.
I was somewhat surprised that "Telestrator" doesn't seem
to be a trade mark or brand name.
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