Royal Palm Beach, FL
Quoted from RonSS:I'm hungry, who wants to get a sheet of pizza? Or do you call it a pie?
Who would ever want "sheet" on their pizza? 
(Topic ID: 192690)
In the UK- a lift can be what Americans would call an elevator; a free ride in someone else's car, bike, vehicle;
a boost in confidence; the actual act of lifting
Quoted from RonSS:Or do you call it a pie?
A pie has pastry surrounding the filling. It's a slice of pizza
Quoted from chuckwurt:Or soccer players calling cleats, boots
Firstly - it's football not soccer. What you wear on your feet are football boots.
Below is a cleat
As for the original question: it makes not a jot of difference
To me, you use "table" to refer to a game's unique design, layout, playfield features.
As in: "that's a great table!"
But the whole physical package is a machine or game.
Quoted from TKDalumni:I can't stand the term table, but Stern calls them that...
I'm trying to look at it from a pinball engineer's perspective, a pinball blueprint draftsman's perspective. If you were in an engineering meeting talking about various components needed to produce a pinball machine, what terms would be used to describe those components?
What do we have in raw material inventory to produce the next pin? (Nothing has been assembled, yet): Legs and levelers. Spools of wiring. Back glasses and play field glass (table glass maybe?). Pop bumpers, drop targets, and slingshot hardware. Flippers and flipper buttons. Ball guide wiring and bracing. Plywood for cabinets and back boxes, or a stock of supplier built cabs and back boxes. And play fields?
The play field has not been built yet. So, what does a pinball engineer call a slab of plywood that is not yet a play field?
I could see the engineer and the buyer and the supplier discussing play field plywood in the terms of tables as an agreed form of component parts reference.
Quoted from EricHadley:I think calling a pinball machine a "table" is about the dumbest thing I have ever heard. About the only thing it even remotely resembles a table is that it has 4 legs. Other than that there is nothing about it that makes it a "table".
Well saying that's the dumbest thing you ever heard is the dumbest thing I ever heard.
They do have four legs, yes. They also have a large rectangular approximately horizontal surface that things get set on all the time. That it has a slight slope is irrelevant. Now if the slope was such that things slid right off, then it would be dumb to call it a table. Most of all, people have been calling it a table forever, and not paying attention doesn't give one the right to declare something dumb. English is a rich tableau.
Quoted from DanQverymuch:English is a rich tableau.
Machine
I always try to refer to them as "machines" or "games" when referring to real machines, but when I talk about video game pinball games I find I tend to use "table" more often. I guess it's because if I use "game", it might become confusing whether I'm referring to a single pinball table in a game (Whitewater or Funhouse), or a an entire pinball game (The Pinball Arcade or Zen Pinball). I don't use machine because they're virtual, and usually not much of the engineering that goes into designing real machines goes into them. Yes, table is kind of dumb, but there don't seem to be any other options in common use yet.
Quoted from FlippyD:For some it's pop, for others soda, and for a few others it's cola.
This.
"Table" has always sounded weird to me, but whatever. I somehow find a way to go on with my life.
...also, it's soda. 
The term 'Table' as applied to pinball probably goes way back to when 'Bagatelle Table' evolved from 'Billiard Table'.
I now call them 'pinball beds', because of the last couple I just bought, that's what I've been forced to sleep on lately. Any more, and I'll have to call them 'coffins'.
Quoted from FlippyD:For some it's pop, for others soda, and for a few others it's cola.
In some places they refer to all soft drinks as a "coke"!
My favorite term for it is "Soda Pop"! Irritates some more than "pinball table" ever could! (Even better: "sody pop"!)
There is a term for being prone to go off when something isn't as you've always thought it should be.
That term is "narrow mindedness."
I can't find much in the extended definitions of "deck" to justify that one. A pin is flat like a deck? It's addicting like a packet of narcotics, maybe?
Still can't say it bothers me...
Quoted from TheLaw:People have been placing things on pinball machines for 60+ years. Drinks, smokes, dip cups, gin rags or whatever the hell old people used.
Where's o-din with some pics of the machines that had shelves on them?
Sydney, Oz
’Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself though, not a Montague.
What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O! be some other name:
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name;
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.
Quoted from Toads:homepin , please don't read this thread
just spat my drink every where when I read this, CLASSIC
Quoted from snyper2099:Yes, reminds me of the meaning of "a lift" in England is the elevator vs. in the States it means "a ride".
It is pretty funny actually. Many things have different meanings (even between English speaking countries) for example:
In Australia you wear a thong on your feet. In the US you call them flip flops.
Another example, in Australia a fanny referres to a woman's genitals, where in the US your fanny is referring to ones butt...lol. An old university friend from the US was walking down the street here with her mum and baby sister. Her mum shouted to her young sister, "come here now or I'll smack your fanny." Everyone in the street stopped and starred in shock.
Terminology can be tricky.
Quoted from PinSinner:In Australia you wear a thong on your feet. In the US you call them flip flops.
In the US, a thong is something that barely covers a woman's fanny.
Quoted from PinSinner:It is pretty funny actually. Many things have different meanings (even between English speaking countries) for example:
In Australia you wear a thong on your feet. In the US you call them flip flops.
Another example, in Australia a fanny referres to a woman's genitals, where in the US your fanny is referring to ones butt...lol. An old university friend from the US was walking down the street here with her mum and baby sister. Her mum shouted to her young sister, "come here now or I'll smack your fanny." Everyone in the street stopped and starred in shock.
Terminology can be tricky.
We used to call flip-flops thongs back in the 60's. At least here in the Midwest.
Not this again. It's a slang, comes from the history of pinball: bagatelle...a group of parlor games that were referred to as "table games". IMO - It's probably mostly the youngsters of the hobby that can't relate to that (the ones who consider early solid state as very old pinball machines!)
Quoted from cottonm4:OK. We have about worn out the "tables" debate. Next up: Are the bumpers pop bumpers, jet bumpers , or thumper bumpers? Where I am from we called them jet bumpers.
From the IPDB: Active bumpers have been given various names. According to the book All About Pinball, Williams called them thumper bumpers on their 1948 game Saratoga but eventually decided to use the shorter term jet bumpers. Gottlieb first used the term percussion bumpers on their 1949 "Bowling Champ" game but eventually changed to the term pop bumpers. Genco called them power bumpers. Bally called them thumper bumpers.
Quoted from TheLaw:Thought Data East was Jet Bumpers?
I think they called them Turbo Bumpers.
I think table is appropriate for pins released prior to 1985. We would all use those as tables if we had them in our homes.
Flame on!
People on Facebook call pinball machines pinnies. Why the hell is that about? Never once heard that here.
Quoted from cottonm4:Are the bumpers pop bumpers, jet bumpers , or thumper bumpers?
I prefer simply "pops."
Don't call them "sodas" though!
See what I did there? I slay me.
Whatever you do, don't call them "bumbers"!!!!!!!!1!
Quoted from PinSinner:Another example, in Australia a fanny referres to a woman's genitals, where in the US your fanny is referring to ones butt...lol. An old university friend from the US was walking down the street here with her mum and baby sister. Her mum shouted to her young sister, "come here now or I'll smack your fanny." Everyone in the street stopped and starred in shock.
As a kid I used to giggle at the opening sequence to The Nanny when they booted her out the door and she landed on her fanny.
Quoted from chuckwurt:People on Facebook call pinball machines pinnies. Why the hell is that about? Never once heard that here.
Quoted from wayout440:That originated from Australian slang for a pinball machine.
Yep. The basic idea seems to be to shorten everything and add an I, an O or an A sound. Pinball Machine becomes Pinny, Afternoon becomes Arvo, McDonald's becomes Macca's. For some reason, if it's already short, make it longer. eg Tom becomes Tommo though that only seems to really happen with names. Other nickname should be ironic if possible eg Bluey for the red headed kid or have some weird connection eg. Nathan Lyons is obviously Garry. Then there's rhyming slang like Harrold Hold for Bolt (Do the Harrold Holt - run away - funny since the former PM went missing without a trace when swimming - they named a memorial swimming pool for him too), Dead Horse for Sauce (pass the dead horse thanks). As that's not confusing enough, occasionally, rhyming slang gets corrupted and shortened too. eg. Yank becomes Septic Tank becomes Seppo which weirdly isn't seen as derogatory (though can be with the right tone).
Clear as mud?
Quoted from DanQverymuch:I prefer simply "pops."
Don't call them "sodas" though!
See what I did there? I slay me.
Whatever you do, don't call them "bumbers"!!!!!!!!1!
you also call a water fountain a 'bubbler' there in Wisconsin.
Quoted from ajfclark:As a kid I used to giggle at the opening sequence to The Nanny when they booted her out the door and she landed on her fanny.
Yep. The basic idea seems to be to shorten everything and add an I, an O or an A sound. Pinball Machine becomes Pinny, Afternoon becomes Arvo, McDonald's becomes Macca's. For some reason, if it's already short, make it longer. eg Tom becomes Tommo though that only seems to really happen with names. Other nickname should be ironic if possible eg Bluey for the red headed kid or have some weird connection eg. Nathan Lyons is obviously Garry. Then there's rhyming slang like Harrold Hold for Bolt (Do the Harrold Holt - run away - funny since the former PM went missing without a trace when swimming - they named a memorial swimming pool for him too), Dead Horse for Sauce (pass the dead horse thanks). As that's not confusing enough, occasionally, rhyming slang gets corrupted and shortened too. eg. Yank becomes Septic Tank becomes Seppo which weirdly isn't seen as derogatory (though can be with the right tone).
Clear as mud?
Yes. Clear. It illustrates why comedy is so contextual and cultural. A lot of my American brothers loved British Monte Python. I did not know WTF was going on and could not understand the humor.
Quoted from Dooskie:you also call a water fountain a 'bubbler' there in Wisconsin.
Not exactly...
https://www.google.com/search?q=water+fountain+images&newwindow=1&tbm=isch
Specifically, a drinking fountain.
https://www.google.com/search?q=drinking+fountain+images&newwindow=1&tbm=isch
Some people map that stuff. The third map on this page is about (drinking) taps, bubblers, water fountains and bubble taps (WTF?): https://lingroadshow.com/resources/englishes-in-australia/vocabulary/mapping-words-around-australia/
Also covers the endless debate about potato scallops vs potato cakes. It is interesting that some of these show clear splits along state lines, and others don't and also that some of the state splits are different for different words.
I wonder if we mapped the machines vs tables thing if there's a pattern.
Quoted from Dooskie:you also call a water fountain a 'bubbler' there in Wisconsin.
yes, it's a bubbler. calling anything else is just stupid 
Quoted from CaptainNeo:yes, it's a bubbler. calling anything else is just stupid
In Ca. we have drinking fountains as bubbler has it's own meaning entirely.
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