Re: CHAT: postcodes

Tristan writes:
 > Why is it that Americans (and non-English speakers who've learnt American
 > English) call mobile phones 'cell phones'? What's the 'cell' in question?
 >

Short for "cellular phone" (which is in turn short for "cellular
telephone", just to point out the obvious, but I don't believe I've
ever seen that form used).  The "cellular" part refers not to the
phone itself, but to the system of transmitters and receivers.  The
New Oxford gives the following definition:

|cellular (adjective) 2 denoting or relating to a mobile telephone
|system that uses a number of short-range radio stations to cover the
|area that it serves, the signal being automatically switched from one
|station to another as the user travels about.

a "cell", then, is the area served by a single station.

I don't think of it as a particularly American usage, myself -
certainly it's well understood in the UK (although people may be
unaware of the etymology).