"The obvious retronym dealing with numismatics is "ancient numismatics", since much of the early study was on ancient coinage, whereas ancient numismatics is only a fraction of the field today. Perhaps a better term is "classical numismatics".

Similarly, all the serious sciences are -ologies, and their practitioners are -ologists. There is a perfectly good word for the science of numismatics, numismatology, with the scientist being a numismatologist. Does anyone know why/when these words fell into disuse? I, for one, would like to again use them, in this case to handle an area where retronyms have failed to keep pace with rapid changes in numismatics.

As our life becomes more complex through new technology, a rise in the number of retronyms is perhaps inevitable. Looking back only a few years, many growing up today would be surprised that the Watergate files were not on a computer, but in file drawers or boxes.

Should the term photograph or photo be reserved for things which are photographed, with a camera and film? Or are coin images created by scanning a coin with a scanner acceptably called photos? How about digital cameras with CCD arrays and no film? I can see the term "photographic photo" coming into use to distinguish from a digital photo.

I also recently had an e-mail discussion with Fred Lake about whether or not I needed a hard copy (like paper, not stone tablets) of his next catalog, or if an electronic (soft?) copy was sufficient."