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I am 100% certain that I feel asleep one night and then woke up in an alternate universe

ActionableMango

ActionableMango

macrumors G3
Original poster
Sep 21, 2010
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In my original universe, everyone referred to adapters as adapters.

Now I'm in some sort of parallel universe where everyone still refers to adapters as adapters, unless they are sold by Apple, in which case everyone except Apple refers to Apple's adapters as dongles.

Since there is no rational reason why simultaneously overnight everyone worldwide would start referring to Apple's adapters as dongles, I have reached the inescapable conclusion that I have traveled to a parallel universe where that's just perfectly normal.
 
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It's because of the sheer hilarity of the fact that you need an adapter to connect the phone and computer... Made by the same company.
You'd have an easier time connecting a USB C Android.

I think the nickname stuck just like the word "Gate" and the phrase "You're doing it wrong" did.
 
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But the good news is once you update all your stuff to a USB C connection you will no longer need a dongle or (as I still call it) an adaptor.
The bad news is I have so many USB 2/3 peripherals that by the time I get them all changed, :apple: will have moved on to USB D (which of course won't be backwards capability).

How many things in your house have USB 2/3? 30+, 60+, 100+?
Granted a lot aren't used anymore, but some are. I don't need a faster port to power my USB fan or charge my headphones.
 
I think I'm missing something.
Screen Shot 2017-02-13 at 7.47.16 PM.png

In any store I've gone too and on Apple's store everything is labeled as Adapter. Other than someone on a stage using the term dongle I can't remember it ever actually being labeled as such.
 
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mmomega said:
I think I'm missing something.
View attachment 688465
In any store I've gone too and on Apple's store everything is labeled as Adapter. Other than someone on a stage using the term dongle I can't remember it ever actually being labeled as such.
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Agreed. I've never seen it labeled "dongle" in any type of print/ad/marketing material, etc. I caught the term from an IT class I took years ago. Besides myself and one friend of mine that use the term in kind of a goofy joking way, I've never heard anyone else use it.
 
[Curmudgeon]Ugh! Marketing people at it again.:mad: How dare they bastardize a word old greybeards have long associated with something else.:eek: In my days, a dongle was a piece of hardware required for a program to run. This was back when expensive software had hardware copy protection. And a Hacker was someone who cobbled together a nifty piece of code, not someone who broke into computers. They were called Cracker. Marketeers bastardizing old words and making up nonsensical ones.:mad::mad::mad:[\Curmudgeon]
 
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The good news is that everything is moving towards wireless. Probably won't need many in 10 years. I work in the education field, so approximately 50 years for me.
 
Septembersrain said:
You'd have an easier time connecting a USB C Android.
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I just purchased a USED Android phone (Nexus 6P -- released before the Touch Bar Macbooks) and it uses a USB-C to USB-C connector.

AND it ships with a USB-A to USB-C connector. Go figure.
 
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ActionableMango said:
I exempted Apple:




I am seeing "dongle" all over the place, in relation to Apple's adapters:
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Well, we also see things like "literal" used all over the place to mean the opposite of that very word, or "could care less" to mean the opposite of the phrase, etc.--common usage of something doesn't necessarily mean it's correct or that it's even accepted, just more that common sense is often enough basically anything but common.
 
AustinIllini said:
Dongle is a long standing tech term. It's easier to say and it does sound funny, which is appropriate because Apple removing usable ports is a joke.
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Oh yes, definitely. My first dongle was a 25-pin serial dongle with pass-through on a PC-XT or maybe a 286. The company I work at uses USB dongles for licensing.

But dongle is a long standing tech term for a physical security/licensing device, not an Apple adapter or cable. Which is how everyone is suddenly and simultaneously using the term now.
 
ActionableMango said:
Oh yes, definitely. My first dongle was a 25-pin serial dongle with pass-through on a PC-XT or maybe a 286. The company I work at uses USB dongles for licensing.

But dongle is a long standing tech term for a physical security/licensing device, not an Apple adapter or cable. Which is how everyone is suddenly and simultaneously using the term now.
Click to expand...
There were basically two parallel definitions. The first is like you said, for licensing, but the other is for wireless connectivity. I believe the second definition is where the current usage comes from. Early adapters/dongles for the MacBook Pro enabled ethernet connectivity, so it makes sense why that would morph into what a dongle is considered today.
 
ActionableMango said:
Oh yes, definitely. My first dongle was a 25-pin serial dongle with pass-through on a PC-XT or maybe a 286. The company I work at uses USB dongles for licensing.

But dongle is a long standing tech term for a physical security/licensing device, not an Apple adapter or cable. Which is how everyone is suddenly and simultaneously using the term now.
Click to expand...
Because it's "cool"...or is that "kewl" these days?
 
AustinIllini said:
There were basically two parallel definitions. The first is like you said, for licensing, but the other is for wireless connectivity. I believe the second definition is where the current usage comes from. Early adapters/dongles for the MacBook Pro enabled ethernet connectivity, so it makes sense why that would morph into what a dongle is considered today.
Click to expand...

Oh, you're right. I completely forgot about the wireless definition. But yes, that's really common too.

Dongle as I see it used today for Apple adapters is very frequently in a negative context.
 
First time I ever heard the word "dongle" - or saw one - it was a small piece of hardware that you plugged into your computer, typically via Serial port, that kept you from using a piece of pirated software. The program would check the port to see if the dongle is in place, and would refuse to run if it wasn't.

Now I see and hear people use "dongle" to mean "anything small and wireless that plugs into a computer." Makes no sense to me.
 
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