Technology

The last sixty years has had major strides in the arena of technological advances, most specifically the computer. Computers have vastly changed society. How we communicate, express ourselves, learn, shop, entertain ourselves, speak, and even date have all been changed in some way by technology and the computer. While this is such an enormously broad subject to cover, here is just a little taste of some technological terms.

Bandwidth was originally started in 1952 to refer to the range of frequency in regards to the radio.

Attachment originally started showing up in the 1810s but rather as a noun meaning the attachment someone has to another person. It wasn't until 1998 when if first showed up in COHA referring to something being attached to an email.

Bookmark, while originally literally meant to make a book, took on the meaning to mark an internet page to quickly go back to in 1992.

Re-boot first appeared in 1998 in COHA but showing up in 1971 in the OED.

Browser shows up throughout COHA but refers more to one who browses something. In 1992 it finally referred to a web browser. It most likely took on this name because of people “browsing” an internet webpage via a program.

Cache said to someone in the 1960s even would have probably been thought to have been mistaken for cash or a place or thing in the wild meaning a hiding place for goods. Now, cache is a commonly used tech word for something quite similar: a place to store frequently used files or data.

Chat Room was first used in the news in 1993. Most of us have probably used a chat room at least once in our lifetime, although they are no longer very popular as they were most popular in the 1990s and 2000s. If this were to have been talked about before the internet was popular, it would just sound like a special room where people went to talk to each other. Chat rooms greatly changed the way people met and communicated with each other. It even changed the way people dated.

Chips might have once only referred to little round pieces that you could bet with and trade in for money until about 1988 when it began referring to parts of a computer designed to hold information.

Download appears to show up in 1989 in COHA but it first shows up in 1977 as a noun in the OED and in 1976 as a verb.

Email has several various forms as it is transformed and used differently. The first usage of it in COHA is electronic mail in 1980, and email as well as e-mail in 1990. Email was so exciting there were even emails based around the famous line, "You've got mail!"

Mouse started in 1987 to refer to, well, a computer mouse but according to the OED first showed up in 1965. This term has posed quite the problem for people because there is one question that still stands: what is the plural for a computer mouse? If you're just dying to know, there's no specific answer. Both mice and mouses are acceptable.

Virus first appears in COHA in 1972 to refer to a program that is inserted onto a computer that makes it more or less “sick” and essentially destroys the computer.

Spam, not the combination of fake, packed meats, started showing up in COHA in 1998 referring to junk that wound up in emails but shows up in 1991 as a verb meaning to flood email or a forum, etc., with unsolicited postings or information.

ScreenSaver shows up in 1994 as a “wonderfully entertaining program [that] put[s] changing images on your PC’s screen” although the OED lists it as first appearing in 1982. Sadly, none of us are probably old enough to actually remember a time when a computer did not have a screen saver!