For a talk I’m doing, I’m trying to compile a list of words which are commonly used and understood in IT which were appropriated from elsewhere. Examples are “memory” (originally one’s ability to recall, now a computer component) and “packet” (originally a physical parcel, now a grouping of ones and zeroes). You get the idea.
The list I’ve come up with is as follows - any more are very welcome, as I’m sure there are lots I have forgotten…
There’s also the term “computer” itself, which used to mean a person who computes, and now means a calculating machine. I think an exhaustive list on this topic would be difficult to get to, because any term that isn’t a complete neologism (like “selfie” or “byte”) is going to have had a meaning before the IT industry was created, and therefore could potentially e on your list.
For example:
anchor (in HTML)
buffer
class
avatar
bit
copy
paste
dodge
burn
backbone
bus
blade
bridge
zip
firewall
de-militarised zone
Not to mention a whole lot of brand names:
Apple
Windows
Orange
Agreed. It would be easier to take a glossary of computer industry terms and just remove things that were made up specifically for use. But that’s not unique to computers, you could say the same for pretty much any modern industry.
To boot or reboot comes from bootstrap load which comes from the saying, “to lift yourself by your own bootstraps,” referencing back in the day when you’d pull your boots on by pulling the straps sewn into the lining on either side.
As **Telemark **says, this is a fool’s errand. If it’s not a neologism it’s a repurposed word.
Window as a GUI component, not a brand name.
Architect
Developer
Designer
Release
Package
Service
Application
Execute
Compile
Link
Library
Import
Export
Wireless
Bug
Hardware
Drag
Drop
Wrap
The unique word list will be much smaller. This list will go on forever, words are being borrowed faster than we can name them. Below are words taken from the just the first 4 paragraphs from a page of documentation.
Service
Object
Class
Property
Method
Consume
Process
Context
Request
Response
Diagram
Studio
Scope
Throw
Fault
“Mainframe” came from the telephone industry. It was the term used to describe the physical racks the Telco’s switching electronics were installed in. In fact some of the very early research computers were built using kit-bashed telco hardware as a base.
So it’s another example of a slightly-repurposed word, not a new coinage.
Bandwidth - Term from radio. Literally, it’s the width (highest frequency-lowest frequency) of your transmission. The more width you have, your transmissions can be either more reliable or more information-heavy.
Bug - I believe this was also taken from the radio world, who had appropriated it from mythology.
Dial (as in “dialing” a VPN) - from telephones, via the dial-up modems that used to be common.
Bit - Common, ordinary word meaning a small amount.
Shift (on keyboards) - Comes from typewriters where hitting “shift” physically shifted the print assembly to expose a different character set (e.g. caps).
Yep… sorry - should have been clearer. I’m not looking for a definitive list of ALL such words, just enough that I can throw a slide up in the background with a big list to show how our language is changing as technology adopts existing words.
I keep thinking of new ones every now and again - I just went down the rabbit hole of programming terms: function, variable, loop, method, class etc… it’s never-ending!
Thanks everyone for all the suggestions, I think I have plenty now.
