I'm trying to remember a word that means "something that has no function in its modern day use, but kept for form." Like rivets in jeans.

5/3/2012 6:19:22 PM

vestigial?
aesthetic?

[Edited on May 3, 2012 at 6:20 PM. Reason : or]

5/3/2012 6:19:47 PM

legacy
anachronism
throwback
homage
perfunctory
retro

[Edited on May 3, 2012 at 6:39 PM. Reason : ]

5/3/2012 6:37:42 PM

hipster

5/3/2012 6:39:53 PM

archaic?

Quote :

"vestigial?"

I think this is your closest bet so far given your definition.

[Edited on May 3, 2012 at 6:43 PM. Reason : .]

5/3/2012 6:42:01 PM

Vestigial

5/3/2012 6:43:44 PM

Yeah. I saw it on a list of "words you didn't know existed" alongside "ferrule" and "tines" but Google didn't help.

Thanks, T-Dubbers.

Skack for the fucking win!

Found it! Skeuomorph!

5/3/2012 6:44:24 PM

vestigial?
aesthetic?
Skeuomorph?


[Edited on May 3, 2012 at 8:06 PM. Reason : or]

5/3/2012 8:04:12 PM

Madonna

5/3/2012 8:05:20 PM

This list?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/25-everyday-things-you-never-knew-had-names

5/3/2012 8:18:01 PM

NASCAR?

5/3/2012 8:18:51 PM

you must not have remembered your evolutionary biology

"vestigial" crops up on the regular

5/3/2012 8:19:04 PM

Quote :

"skeuomorph"

ding ding ding

5/3/2012 8:22:18 PM

Quote :

"This list? http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/25-everyday-things-you-never-knew-had-names"

Yes!

Quote :

"you must not have remembered your evolutionary biology "vestigial" crops up on the regular"

Ah, yes. I believe it was also in an episode of "Family Guy". A slight at Meg's expense, most assuredly.

5/4/2012 2:39:19 PM

I'm surprised, however, that the evo-bio term "atavism" (reversion to an earlier type) hasn't gained more currency; as an example in humans, the coccyx is a vestigial collection of bones derived from the tails of ancestral primates, but the rare human with a visible, functioning tail exhibits an atavism.

I personally use "atavism" more commonly to refer to the retention of social conservatism despite the Enlightenment and subsequent advancement of human knowledge; this is the sociological sense of the term.

5/4/2012 3:33:11 PM