# why is there no pop-culture wordlet for "www."? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 25, 2002, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661 "2002-04-25T23:35:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2002, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661/41 "2002-04-26T15:27:32Z")
Well, what a w? Two "u"s, right? So www is six "u"s, right. What indicates six… sexta? How about just saying “sex u”? If somebody asked me to go to [sexu.allnight.com](http://sexu.allnight.com), I’d probably consider it. It would at least make me smile or _get my day off_ to a good start. Wouldn’t you like to hear other folks say “sexu” several times a day? ---
**Author:** ![pestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e5b9ba/32.png) [@pestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pestie)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2002, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661/42 "2002-04-26T15:53:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Max the Immortal \* > \*\*How about “web-dot”. At least it’s fast, and doesn’t sound very silly… \*\* Because then when I’m trying to explain to you that you need to go to web.mit.edu, you’re going to type www.mit.edu. A very similar situation happened to me once. I was trying to help someone download and install the free version of PGP, which is (was?) on web.mit.edu. This is all being done over the phone, mind you. I kept telling her to type “web.mit.edu” into her browser, and she kept telling me it was saying “server not found” or some such thing. I sent her to other web sites, which all worked. I finally gave up, figuring there was some weird routing issue at work or something, and I told her to go to another, fairly lengthy, address. Since it was a long and complicated URL, I started by saying, “www” and she replied, “yup, I already have that.” **BING!** That was it. She thought every address on the web started with www, so when I told her to go to “web.mit.edu” she was typing “www.web.mit.edu.” **DUH!** I had to explain to this woman that not all web addresses started with www. She had no idea. For what it’s worth, if I absolutely need to say “double you double you double you,” I usually abbreviate it as “wuh-wuh-wuh” (my best written approximation of making three W consonant sounds). ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2002, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661/43 "2002-04-26T15:59:50Z")
I’ve sometimes said “triple w” ---
**Author:** ![pestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e5b9ba/32.png) [@pestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pestie)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2002, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661/44 "2002-04-26T16:05:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by haardvark \* > \*\*I remember when the web was young I used to ponder the value of a prefix that appeared on EVERYTHING (i.e. if it’s everyplace, isn’t that semantically equivalent to not using it at all?) I’m sure there is a good historical NCSA cyber-geekoid reason why it was originally like that, but I don’t know what it is. \*\* The reason is that it’s an extension of a scheme for naming servers that was quite common (still is, actually - it’s just less visible now). Back in the day, many sites had different machines (or at least different IP addresses) for the servers that handled various functions. The servers got named like this: [ftp.whatever.com](http://ftp.whatever.com) [smtp.whatever.com](http://smtp.whatever.com) (or [mail.whatever.com](http://mail.whatever.com)) [gopher.whatever.com](http://gopher.whatever.com) [wais.whatever.com](http://wais.whatever.com) (haven’t seen one of those in a while) So, [www.whatever.com](http://www.whatever.com) was the obvious choice for a web server. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2002, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661/45 "2002-04-26T17:19:21Z")
Yeah, a lot of people think that the Web _is_ the Internet, but it’s really just the most visible part. I remember when the Web was text only, and mostly dealt with obscure science. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2002, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661/46 "2002-04-26T20:24:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mesopotamis \* > Rush Limbaugh has allways said “triple dub” when pointing people to his website. I once heard him say how he got emails from people say his website wasn’t working. They were typing in “triple dub” not “www”. :rolleyes: That’s probably why “www”-shorthands haven’t caught on, for fear of confusing the folks who think your shorthand is the real McCoy. > [@](#): > > Also, I’m a newbie. But I would guess most people on this forum dont listen to Rush much. The Straight Dope is for _fighting_ ignorance, not propagating it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rutabegger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de0a6/32.png) [@Rutabegger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rutabegger)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2002, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661/47 "2002-04-27T00:07:12Z")
You want the techie explanation? **pestie** already started the explanation, but since it’s been asked a couple of times here’s a bit more: The URL (and so as not to completely hijack - do you say U.R.L, or earl? I say U.R.L), anyway, the URL [www.straightdope.com](http://www.straightdope.com) is composed of three elements: www = the name of the machine straightdope = the name of the domain com = the type of the domain So “www” is just a machine name, as is “boards”, as is “www1”. When you type in a URL or click on a link a bunch of stuff happens. 1. Your machine connects to the Domain Name Server (DNS) listed in your network settings and asks “Where can I find this [www.straightdope.com](http://www.straightdope.com) machine?” 2. The DNS converts the name to an address (65.201.198.8) and gives that address to you. 3. Your browser connects to 65.201.198.8 and says “I have a http message for 65.201.198.8.” 4. The router at 65.201.198.8 translates that address to a local address within the firewall (something like 10.101.53.6) and sends the message through. This answers the question about whether there’s any technical reason why [www.something.com](http://www.something.com) is better than just [something.com](http://something.com). No, since the request gets routed anyway, it’s just another line in the routers address list. (On the other hand, there is definitely a techie reason why [http://www.something.com/](http://www.something.com/) is better than [http://www.something.com](http://www.something.com) - in the second example the web server has to verify that you are requesting the default page in a directory, rather than a specific file. In the first example, with the trailing /, no interpretation is necessary - it’s clearly a directory name. On the other hand it probably takes you longer to type the / than it does for the server to figure it out.) 5. Because the message is identified as an http message it is routed to port 80 on the www machine. Port 80 is the default port for http if you don’t say otherwise. ( [http://www.stuff.com](http://www.stuff.com): **8080** / says otherwise) The web server listing to port 80 picks up the message and reads it. 6. The web server sends you back the file you requested (if it can find it.) 7. Your browser reads the file, converting any html as it does so. If it finds links to additional files (such as images) it starts over with step 1 again. I’m all worn out from fighting ignorance. Can I go home now? ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2002, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661/48 "2002-04-27T00:32:09Z")
Proof that Rutabegger has tmtohh. (or does that acronym just prove the same about me?) ---
**Author:** ![Nenya\_Elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@Nenya\_Elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nenya_Elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2002, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661/49 "2002-04-27T03:27:16Z")
Aha, \*\* Rutabegger\*\*, so _that’s_ what all those progress bars and references to DNS servers and “sending request” and all that mean. I watch Opera and Explorer do that dozens of times a day and I always wonder what exactly they’re up to… All this talk of the Net in 1993 makes me feel so yoooung!! ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2002, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661/50 "2002-04-27T17:26:52Z")
Like **Rutabegger** said… When you type in a website as [business.com](http://business.com) instead of [www.business.com](http://www.business.com), your browser is generally assuming that the prefix is www, and that’s typically the name of the machine the site is located on. There are still a few websites that you can’t omit the www on, though it isn’t really obvious until you try it and it doesn’t work. I run into them occassionally. It’s similar to my full URL: [http://www.jinwicked.com/index.html](http://www.jinwicked.com/index.html) , where you can put [jinwicked.com](http://jinwicked.com) into the browser toolbar and go to the same page. The browser assumes the [http://www](http://www)., and my server loads index.html as the default page. This is all good because it’s easier to remember that way. When I upload files to my server, I use [ftp.jinwicked.com](http://ftp.jinwicked.com) in my FTP program; when I’m downloading mail, it comes from [mail.jinwicked.com](http://mail.jinwicked.com). As for why there’s no “word” for www, I assume it’s for the reason that someone else mentioned – it’s very seldom necessary anymore. I’ve heard triple-dub and dub-dub-dub, but I thought both of them sounded rather silly. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2002, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661/51 "2002-04-27T18:54:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jinwicked \* > **It’s similar to my full URL: [http://www.jinwicked.com/index.html](http://www.jinwicked.com/index.html) , where you can put [jinwicked.com](http://jinwicked.com) into the browser toolbar and go to the same page. The browser assumes the [http://www](http://www)., and my server loads index.html as the default page.** Nope. Your browser assumes the **http://** (the data transfer protocol), but it’s the web server assuming the **www.** (machine name) and **/index.html** (file path and name) parts. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2002, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661/52 "2002-04-27T19:15:03Z")
I always figured that there was no slang for the ‘www’ part, because we already have ‘Dot-com’ when we refer to web addresses. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2002, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661/53 "2002-04-27T19:54:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dragonblink \* > **Sometimes I’ll say “wuh wuh wuh dot …” but that’s mainly because I’m lazy.** Mark Schneider, the incredibly annoying host of CTV’s now-defunct [Digital Desk](http://www.digitaldesk.com/), consistently pronounced www as “woo woo woo”. You have no idea how hard it was to resist throwing heavy objects at the television set whenever I heard that. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661/54 "2002-04-28T06:23:26Z")
Whenever I need to say an address aloud, I usually say “doubleyous dot com.” ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661/55 "2002-04-28T12:22:41Z")
I say, “weinerschnitzel dot com.” No, I don’t. I’m like every other normal person on the planet and just omit the “www” altogether. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661/56 "2002-04-28T15:34:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jack Batty \* > \*\*I’m like every other normal person on the planet and just omit the “www” altogether. \*\* One of these days, then, you’re going to give someone an incorrect address. The “www” part is not optional; if the system administrators at a certian domain [xyz.com](http://xyz.com) have redirected requests to [http://example.com/](http://example.com/) to [http://www.example.com/](http://www.example.com/), then they’re doing you a favour. If you don’t believe me, try the following links: [http://www.rosi.toronto.edu/](http://www.rosi.toronto.edu/) [http://rosi.toronto.edu/](http://rosi.toronto.edu/) Note that leaving off the “www.” doesn’t work for this particular site. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661/57 "2002-04-28T16:46:57Z")
My Illuminati Overlords will remedy that situation soon enough! ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661/58 "2002-04-28T16:50:48Z")
Here’s the thing … a great majority of sites begin with “www”, especially mainstream, non-technical, grandmother-friendly type sites. So in general conversation, if I’m pointing somebody somewhere, I omit the “www”. If it is an exception, I will note it. It’s like saying, “I live over on Elm … Boulevard, not Street.” Dig? ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661/59 "2002-04-29T06:40:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by psychonaut \* > \*\* > > Nope. Your browser assumes the **http://** (the data transfer protocol), but it’s the web server assuming the **www.** (machine name) and **/index.html** (file path and name) parts. \*\* My mistake… thank you for the correction. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jayhonk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/db5fbb/32.png) [@jayhonk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayhonk)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661/60 "2002-05-03T15:25:07Z")
Best abbreviation that never caught on: “trip dub”. I heard this once, but only once. If I say it, I say “Dubya, dubya”. But I try not to. I just say, “whatever dot com”. Many sites DO still require the www, it slows me down all the time. Why would anyone NOT set up their server this way. Contrary to Psychonauts claim, they are doing themselves a favor to allow this, not me. Why should simplicity, speed, and usability not have priority over some stupid historically determined default setting in Apache?!? Come on, now. Netscape used to fill in http, www, AND .com, after the user keying apple/L, type in just the meat. It will take you there. It worked for everything but [www.news.com](http://www.news.com). Unfortunately I am no longer using Mac, or Netscape so current status of this shortcut unknown. Please post if you know of similar Win/IE shortcut!! Pet peeve is people who still give addresses starting “http colon…” Give me a break please, what century did you just walk in from. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-pop-culture-wordlet-for-www/105661.md?page=4)