Reply
Sun 23 Oct, 2011 11:26 pm
The users who subscribe magazines and newspapers are usually called subscribers.
But when a cellphone user is called cellphone subscriber, does it still sound comfortable in your ears?
Context:
In what is described as the largest study on the subject to date, Danish researchers found no evidence that the risk of brain tumours was raised among 358,403 mobile phone subscribers over an 18-year period.
The number of people using mobile phones is constantly rising with more than five billion subscriptions worldwide in 2010. This has led to concerns about potential adverse health effects, particularly tumours of the central nervous system.
Quote:The users who subscribe magazines and newspapers
who subscribe
to magazines and newspapers
A subscriber is merely someone who has joined a list of users and paid, or agreed to pay, for a regular or ongoing service, which could be a telephone line or mobile service, cable or satellite TV, internet, a newsletter, share offer, etc.
Where I live, Subscriber would not be as common as saying the customer, at least in this instance. However, if anyone here read the sentence they would understand it with no question.
Because English is spoken world wide, frequently as a second language, some terms become more commonly used in one area and not in another.
For example, in Canada when we go to a movie we line up. In England, they stand in queues. If I said that term here, my friends and family would think I'm trying to sound above myself. They would all understand what I've just said, but it's not how we usually say things.
A subscriber here would be what you've mentioned above. However, that being said, since the study was done over a long period of time, it would make sense that they tracked stable, long time subscribers for the study, as opposed to people who had used several companies or phone plans.
Selected Answer
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace