| sc94597 said: Something can be a toy at one point and otherwise at a different point. Do there exist telephones or cellular phones that do not have additional recreational value? As for the Blu-Ray player, yes it is a toy. The sole use of the device is entertainment. You don't use the house to throw parties, the parties are thrown in the house. One can throw a party without a house. For some people an F1 fighter jet, is indeed a toy, they even describe it as such -"look at my new toy to play with." The previous statement is often used in reference to cars, as well. A pen can be a toy as well. "Toy" is not intrinsic to the object, it is determined by the use of the object. There is no trait that we can measure that says, yep this is a toy, other than the assessment of whether or not it is a tool used for recreational activities. Here's the etymology of the word toy. c.1300, "amorous playing, sport," later "piece of fun or entertainment" (c.1500), "thing of little value, trifle" (1520s), and "thing for a child to play with" (1580s). Of uncertain origin, and there may be more than one word here. Compare Middle Dutch toy, Dutch tuig "tools, apparatus; stuff, trash," in speeltuig "play-toy, plaything;" German Zeug "stuff, matter, tools," Spielzeug "plaything, toy;" Danish tøi, Swedish tyg "stuff, gear." Applied as an adjective to things of diminutive size, especially dogs, from 1806. Toy-boy is from 1981. Even for the more strict words in other languages, "play thing" that would qualify video games, as they are indeed play things. |
I could, then, make the argument, that you don't use a phone to play Angry Birds, Angry Birds is played on the phone. One can play Angry Birds without a phone (there's a browser version, for example, just as parties can be thrown in apartments, your work office, etc).
But if we go by the definition of something being a toy at one point and otherwise in another, and then also say a toy is anything that's used for entertainment, then we have to agree that a game console is, then, both a toy and not a toy. Because its sole purpose isn't just gaming/entertainment. Like I said, they can be used to develop games by people just like you and me, and for many people, that's a job. Sure, you may love the job and be entertained by it but I love my work as well, and I wouldn't call what I do a "play thing". They can web browse, PS3 helped cancer research, when PS3 had Linux it was used as PC, Kinect allows surgeons to access medical imagery, etc.
Sure, we aren't surgeons, so that example doesn't apply to us. But even still, we use consoles for purposes other than entertainment all the same.
So, can we agree on that, then? That gaming consoles are "a toy at one point and otherwise at a different point". I'm willing to concede that. I'm getting the impression from others in this thread that they are strictly toys.
