The ASIC to Z of new tech

You say otaku and I say mouse potato

By Internet Correspondent Chris Nuttall
The New Oxford Dictionary of English (NODE), published on Thursday, recognises the influence of e-mail on reshaping the English language.

There are still no emoticons, :-{ , but there is a description of the term: "A representation of a facial expression such as a smile or frown, formed by various combinations of keyboard characters and used in electronic communications to convey the writer's feelings or intended tone." LOL, the abbreviation for laughing out loud does get in, along with a slew of Internet and computer terms.

Many words enter the dictionary after being written down from the spoken word and then being published: phwoah - "appreciation of the opposite sex by the inarticulate" being the most obvious new example. But it is hard to imagine e-mail abbreviations being used outside their particular environment.

The dictionary, which was compiled by 90 editors and cost £3m to assemble, will be available online to AOL subscribers. The classic Oxford English Dictionary with its long citations of examples of usage is also online in a prototype form.

Some of the techie terms explained in the new dictionary include:

• API - Application Planning Interface (sic. a number of correspondents have pointed out this should be Application Programming Interface)

• ASIC - Application of Specific Integrated Circuit (sic, again it has been pointed out that this should be Application-Specific Integrated Circuit)

• bloatware - software whose usefulness is reduced because of the excessive amount of memory it requires

• burn-in - damage to computer screen caused by being left on too long

• cancelbot - searches for and deletes specified Internet mailings

• decompress - expand compressed data so that it can be read by computer

• digerati - people with expertise in IT

• flying mouse - that can be lifted from desk and used in three dimensions

• force feedback - allowing user to interact directly, using touch, in virtual reality

• immersive - generating three-dimensional image that seems to surround the user

• infobahn - high speed computer network

• internaut - Internet user

• LSB - bit in binary number of lowest numerical value (from 'least significant bit')

• knowbot - network program that has reasoning capabilities

• LOL - e-mail abbreviation for laughing out loud

• mouse potato - computing equivalent of couch potato

• MSB - bit in binary number of greatest numerical value - ('most significant bit')

• MUD - virtual reality game (from 'multi-user dungeon/dimension')

• nagware - software which is free for trial period, and thereafter frequently reminds user that payment is due

• otaku - young people obsessed with computers

• phreaking - hacking into telecommunications systems to make free calls

• spam -irrelevant internet messages sent to large number of people

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Tell us what you think about these changes to the English language. Do they signal a worrying deterioration or an exciting development?

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