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enunciator

enunciator
 n.— «I am all too familiar with the 34th Street-8th Avenue Station. Do I go to the downtown local track and hope that a C comes first? Or do I cast my lot with the A express option? It’s maddening. I wonder if they could have some “enunciator” device in the mezzanine below that would indicate whether a local or express was coming.» —“Answers About Mass Transit, Part 3″ New York Times: City Room June 12, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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  • This is clearly a misprint of “annunciator”. Originally, these were simple electromechanical devices which would indicate that an event had occurred and would remain indicating until reset. The word was certainly being used to refer to the large, electromechanical boards indicating train details at stations when I lived in Philadelphia in the eighties.

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