From the Word Fugitives archive...

Things to put PINs in

Please note: This page is a read-only archive of messages posted in the Word Fugitives conference of Post & Riposte.

Topic:	1) Thing to put PINs in (1 of 11), Read 133 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Barbara Wallraff ([email protected])
Date:	Thursday, September 09, 1999 09:37 AM

Chandra McCann writes: "For months now, I have been wondering: what is the name of the thingy into which one punches one's PIN and other account information when paying with a bank card?"

Topic:	1) Thing to put PINs in (2 of 11), Read 124 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Van Happy ([email protected])
Date:	Friday, September 10, 1999 12:11 PM

PIN cushion?
It's a keypad really, isn't it, though.

V.H.

Topic:	1) Thing to put PINs in (3 of 11), Read 119 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Barbara Wallraff ([email protected])
Date:	Friday, September 10, 1999 03:29 PM

But there's also the part of the device that you swipe the card through -- assuming I'm thinking of the same "thingy" that Chandra is -- so it's not *just* a keypad, is it? Or *is* that what it's called? This is something I use at least once a week, and I was fascinated to realize that I really don't know what its name is.

Topic:	1) Thing to put PINs in (4 of 11), Read 118 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Aaron Reneker ([email protected])
Date:	Friday, September 10, 1999 04:45 PM

In many places, I think the little slotted device through which you slide your card is called either a scanner or a "reader." If there is a compicated name (and there usually is), I am not sure what it might be.

Aaron

Topic:	1) Thing to put PINs in (5 of 11), Read 111 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Matt Swift ([email protected])
Date:	Saturday, September 11, 1999 06:51 AM

On 9/10/99 3:29:45 PM, Barbara Wallraff wrote:

>But there's also the part of
>the device that you swipe the
>card through -- assuming I'm

"swiper" or "card swiper" is what i've always said to myself.

a certain kind of solution is easy: these devices are bought and sold under some specific name that would not be difficult to discover. it may not be a satisfying answer, of course, but it would have the advantage of authority.

what do all the checkers at the supermarket and banks say when they direct their customers to this device?

Topic:	1) Thing to put PINs in (6 of 11), Read 112 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Rus Bowden ([email protected])
Date:	Saturday, September 11, 1999 07:33 AM

Matt,

I believe they say, "Put your card through the machine."

Rus

Topic:	1) Thing to put PINs in (7 of 11), Read 103 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Gregory Alan Bolcer ([email protected])
Date:	Monday, September 13, 1999 11:32 AM

On 9/11/99 7:33:58 AM, Rus Bowden wrote:
>Matt,
>
>I believe they say, "Put your
>card through the machine."
>
>Rus
>
Yes they do. So far we have keypad, cusion, swiper,
machine....I like some type of card kiosk (key-osk?)

Greg

Topic:	1) Thing to put PINs in (8 of 11), Read 108 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Chris Tozier ([email protected])
Date:	Monday, September 13, 1999 11:42 AM

It is called a saca.
Self-service
automatic
card
authenticator

Topic:	1) Thing to put PINs in (9 of 11), Read 18 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Tricia Tazuk ([email protected])
Date:	Wednesday, September 29, 1999 12:25 AM

Is "saca" your proposed lexeme or something you heard elsewhere?

I know that the ones that are used by merchants to authorize credit cards (and which are increasingly used as debit card readers) are called Zons (singular: Zon), or at least the ones made by Verifone are. But this doesn't cover the rest. I'd vote for the existing words "keypad" or "terminal".

Topic:	1) Thing to put PINs in (10 of 11), Read 48 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Joss Randall ([email protected])
Date:	Tuesday, September 21, 1999 04:59 AM

There is no need to invent a new word or acronym. A perfectly good word already exists: an etui, which is according to Oxford, "a small case for needles, etc."

Topic:	1) Thing to put PINs in (11 of 11), Read 11 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Dan Dillon ([email protected])
Date:	Wednesday, September 29, 1999 07:43 PM

A saca in Arabic is a tobacco shop.

Return to the Court Record index.

Return to the Word Fugitives main page.