Tech Neologisms
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 3:12 pm
As Perry Lassiter has brought up the subject, I've finally decided to actually get around to posting this from the Beeb: Why do tech neologisms make people angry?.
Good article. And amusing at points. It occurs to me that the geek lingo spills over as we all use electronics, thus putting us where geekdom was several years ago. Doc reported on "dongle," which I had never heard before. But since it was a handy word, I began using it, since there are dongles everywhere now. My wife reminds me constantly, as she hates wires.
Similar reactions come when we relate to adjacent cultures, such as adults to teens. My daughter may have invented "dork" as a teen, but I've been known to use it, and most of society now uses "dude," it's the overlap.
We see cultural overlap in South Louisiana as Cajuns share other things with us Anglo besides worderful food. The same happens at the interface (word from computerese) of Texas and Mexico. Even the Mexican lingo becomes Tex-Mex.
Every profession develops specialized use of language to its own purposes. Philip Hudson teaches English as a second language and comes from an engineering background. Two different vocabularies are involved. Many of you will find highly specialized language in your professional fields, influenced by and influencing adjacent fields and your personal life.
Language is complicated.