In, Thousand Made-Up Lovers' defense, he's probably younger. He's probably never bought a physical single in his life.
And while in 2011, physical singles (whatever format) are rare or unknown, the term "B-side" persists even though you'd be hard pressed to go into a retail store right now and show somebody what a B-side is.
For younger people, 'B-side' probably represents "song that's not on the album" but even THAT concept is fading as we speak. The concept of "album." If someone under the age of 20 has Radiohead on their ipod, most probably don't have the full collection of songs that make up ANY Radiohead "album" as the band intended. They just have the popular songs. You know, the ones with verses and choruses. Not that later sub-Pink Floyd crap.
Brian
Brian, yes. I have bought a few singles. I bought the Jeremy single for Footsteps and Yellow Ledbetter, Dissident single for the live Atlanta 4-3-94 tracks on it and I also bought the B&S 3..6..9 Seconds of Light EP. But that's it. Needless to say, I bought the Jeremy single nine years ago and the B&S single in 2006. Obviously, the EP is not "b-sides".
I admit, I don't subscribe to the actual definition of a b-side as you older peeps do. As you said, I consider b-sides as "not on the actual album."