# The modem and the Interweb **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 26, 2003, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-modem-and-the-interweb/221159 "2003-12-26T20:45:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2003, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-modem-and-the-interweb/221159/1 "2003-12-26T20:45:29Z")
1. Why do so many people call a computer, or at least the computer case and all the parts located inside – a modem? 2. When folks make fun of those with a Confederate cultural orientation going online, they’ll often quite the imaginary “R word” person as saying “Well, I went on that there Interweb” or “I saw on this Interweb site that …” Has anyone ever heard someone call the Internet the “Interweb” in all seriousness? ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-modem-and-the-interweb/221159/2 "2003-12-26T21:06:14Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. Why do so many people call a computer, or at least the computer case and all the parts located inside – a modem? - - - Well… -in the instance of a Winmodem, since much of the computer’s normal facilities are required for a Winmodem’s functioning, it could be argued that the whole computer _is_ the modem. Does your computer have a modem or a Winmodem?.. > [@](#): > > 1. When folks make fun of those with a Confederate cultural orientation going online, they’ll often quite the imaginary “R word” person as saying “Well, I went on that there Interweb” or “I saw on this Interweb site that …” Has anyone ever heard someone call the Internet the “Interweb” in all seriousness? - It’s a conjunction of two words used for convenience, caused by anal people inisting on pointing out that the “Web” and the “Internet” aren’t the same things. ~ ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-modem-and-the-interweb/221159/3 "2003-12-26T22:54:50Z")
How is stating basic facts being anal? ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2003, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-modem-and-the-interweb/221159/4 "2003-12-26T23:10:36Z")
I have never heard anyone use the word “intarweb” other than in pure gest. However my mother and all her friends call internet access “the email”. Now my mother is not clueless, she helped the neighbour buy a computer, fix an isp and set up “the email” on her computer. However, she warned me that my cousin couldn’t look at the pics I had put out on the net as she didn’t have “the email” yet… My favourite miss-saying _ever_ is however "[Mothermodem](http://www.susning.nu/Modermodemet) " from a wonderfully illwritten text box to a photo in a Swedish newspaper a few years back. The text can be translated as “Andreas Hedlund has gone through all the possible software problems. He has now established that the Mothermodem, the actual heart of the harddisk, isn’t working”. Classic… ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-modem-and-the-interweb/221159/5 "2003-12-28T03:21:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DougC \* > \*\*Well… -in the instance of a Winmodem, since much of the computer’s normal facilities are required for a Winmodem’s functioning, it could be argued that the whole computer _is_ the modem. \*\* Maybe, but the people I hear calling a computer a “modem” usually aren’t tech savvy-enough to know the difference between a conventional modem and a Winmodem. If it means anything, I’venever heard a man call a computer a modem. Just women. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-modem-and-the-interweb/221159/6 "2003-12-28T03:51:01Z")
I have taught a wide range of Computer Science courses including (shudder) Computer “Literacy”. The folks at that level don’t know anything about anything technical. Basically because: a. They just don’t care. b. Think they know “enough” already. People with those two flaws are completely unteachable. Good grief, there are people who think AOL is the Internet! Saying something like “Interweb” would be a step _up_ for most of these folk. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-modem-and-the-interweb/221159/7 "2003-12-29T14:15:32Z")
I used to work for an office supply store in the computer/electronics department. I was exposed to all sorts of idiocy when I worked there. One time a guy came in looking for a “processor”. I thought he meant a CPU upgrade, which we didn’t carry. “Then what do you call these?” he said rudely as he pointed to the computers on display. I was so tempted to be a smartass and tell him, “we call those _computers_, sir.” He got mad at me, as if I were supposed to know what the hell he was really talking about. :rolleyes: I got a few people who thought the entire computer was the “modem”. The ones who were really lost would call it the “hard drive”. When they came in to look at “hard drives” I’d naturally take them to this section, only for them to curse at me for wasting their time and showing them the wrong thing when it was their fault. :rolleyes: These, among other reasons, are why I am so glad to no longer be working in retail.