Date:  Tue, 16 Jan 1996 11:27:07 +0000

From:  "C.M.Thomas" <EGP95CMT[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]SHEFFIELD.AC.UK>

Subject: Bank machines



Bill King writes:



> Ca. 1986 we were asked what we called ATMs in the US. At the time we

> just called them "bank machines," not having anything better. ATM

> was not current usage in NYC, where we lived, at that time. The person

> asking us, who was working on a national textbook for English, was

> quite stressed.

> So, when did "automatic teller" come into use? This certainly sounds like

> a contrivance on the part of the bank coined in an effort to personalize

> something that many customers were unsure of. Apparently they still are.

> A current poll shows that 55% (? -- but it was very high) of the banking

> public has not used an ATM.





In England (I know this is the American dialect society, but what

the hell) I have never heard anyone refer to bank machines as "ATM"s,

although I understood the abbreviation when I read it. They are most

commonly, in my experience, referred to as "cash machines" or "cash

points", or as the "hole in the wall". I think this latter term may be

dialectal (Lancashire), although I am not entirely sure, and people

from my area would pronounce it "'ole i' t'wall". ( I hope you

understand my attempt to represent it phonetically without an IPAfont at

hand!) Are any of these terms (especially the latter) used in America

(or other parts of England, if there's any other British

subscribers)?



Charlotte Thomas       EGP95CMT[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]Sheffield.ac.uk

Snail mail:

CECTAL

Dept. of English Language and Linguistics

University of Sheffield

Sheffield

UK