Why are slides called foils

Learn more. When making a presentation, do I use "slides" or "foils"? Ask Question. Asked 8 years, 9 months ago.

Active 4 years ago. Viewed 9k times. Improve this question. A simple 'next' is entirely adequate. Learning the tech's name and saying 'Might I have the next one, Joe? You're right about the U. I almost always hear slides here. US English, though, so maybe them folks across the pond are even stranger than I thought.

Martha Foil used to be the dominant form here in the States. Probably before your time, though. Show 2 more comments. Active Oldest Votes. In British English, I've never heard the term foils , although I have heard the term Overheads meaning transparent sheets for showing on an overhead projector and Acetates named after the clear plastic used in the overhead sheets.

British English speakers so far as I'm aware don't use the word foils in this context. Improve this answer. I think you missed some part of the explanation? Foil is a standard name for well transparent foil. OJFord on Jan 19, root parent next [—].

It's from French feuille, for 'leaf', so it's used for all these thin film things that are leaf-thin. Demanded an answer to his question and didn't even say thank you. The best candidate I found for the etymology is Ozalid Viewfoil, which I can't find an image, but it sounds like the transparencies came with a photosensitive coating that would fixed to the transparency during a development step. The more recent powerdot class is designed as a replacement for prosper and HA-prosper , co-authored by the author of HA-prosper.

Beamer is a relatively easy-to-learn, yet powerful, class that as its name implies was designed for use with projection displays. Beamer has reasonable facilities for producing printed copies of slides.