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Tablet Is A Particularly Important Word, Since Tablets As A Product Category Are Poised To

Technology terms originate from various sources, including repurposed existing words, misspellings, and completely new creations. The word "bug" was first used in 1878 to describe problems with manufactured devices and referred to a moth found in an early computer. "Tablet" now refers to touchscreen computers, relating to its original meaning of a writing surface. Words can also have different meanings in technology than usual, like "scan" referring to digitizing objects rather than inspection. The history and evolving usages of terms like "byte" reflect the rapidly changing nature of the computer industry and engineers' desires to make technology relatable.

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39 views

Tablet Is A Particularly Important Word, Since Tablets As A Product Category Are Poised To

Technology terms originate from various sources, including repurposed existing words, misspellings, and completely new creations. The word "bug" was first used in 1878 to describe problems with manufactured devices and referred to a moth found in an early computer. "Tablet" now refers to touchscreen computers, relating to its original meaning of a writing surface. Words can also have different meanings in technology than usual, like "scan" referring to digitizing objects rather than inspection. The history and evolving usages of terms like "byte" reflect the rapidly changing nature of the computer industry and engineers' desires to make technology relatable.

Uploaded by

Darin Smith
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Technology defines us as a species.

The use of tools is one of the prime differentiators of


the human race, and the reason we have survived in a world full of much more biologically well
equipped species. And of course language is one of humanities other main traits, so it is natural that
the computer industry, perhaps the crowning example of our capacity for creating amazing tools, has its
own unique vocabulary or jargon. Many of the terms are merely repurposed words with new meanings,
while others have new spellings, and still others are completely new words. The repurposed terms are
perhaps the most intriguing, as they have history, and it can be useful to discover or think about why
someone would use an existing word for a completely different purpose.
Many technology terms are humorous, such as the word bug, which in the technology
industry refers to errors or problems in either software or physical devices, not insects.
According to Douglas Harper the use of the word bug (first spelled bugge) was originally to
describe scary, bad things, and of course later (around 1620) came to mean an insect.
It was in 1878 that, for the first recorded time, it was used to refer to unintentional problems with
manufactured devices. The first time it was known to have been used in the computer industry, as
stated by the Technology Dictionary was after an engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center
found and removed a dead moth in a relay in their early computer
system, that had been causing problems. This moth is now kept in the Smithsonian Museum.
Then there are words that have a relatively similar meaning to their non-technological
denotation, such as Tablet. Originally a French word for slab, again according to Etymology
Online, this word has come to mean a writing surface, and more recently, around the 19th
century, a sheaf of paper. To those in the computer industry, tablet refers to a touchscreen
computer, usually without a keyboard. Usually you can draw on tablets, as well. There are also
electronic writing surfaces for drawing and graphic design, such as those made by Wacom, that
are called tablets, and even look somewhat similar in appearance to a the traditional type of
tablet As you can see, there is a definite similarity to the original definition here.
Tablet is a particularly important word, since tablets as a product category are poised to
take over from traditional laptops as our primary portable computing device. Therefore it is
ironic, I believe, that these devices have a name that is not a new word, or even a substantially different
meaning of a word. Many important categories of devices do have unique names, such as smartphones,
televisions and of course laptops - none of those words have meanings outside of technology.
On the other hand, there are words that are established parts of our English vocabulary,
but in the computer industry have almost entirely different meanings. Weve already seen one,
bug, but heres another example Scan, which has several contradictory meanings, including: to
thoroughly and repeatedly inspect, or contrariwise to quickly examine. In technology,
meanwhile, scan alludes to the act of digitizing an object or document; Scanners are devices
that, in the words of Websters Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, examine successive small
portions of (as an object) with a sensing device (as a photometer or a beam of radiation)
This meaning of the word could also be applied to medical devices, as well as scanners like those
that are connected to computers, so these words can be applied to other related fields as well.
Sometimes words are intentionally misspelled to create new words. The word byte is a
prime example; Its a word that is unique to the technology industry, yet is simply a misspelled
normal English word, that again reveals the humor of many of the early computer pioneers. The

word now means eight bits, but early on in the history of computers it just meant a group of bits,
anything from two to sixty four. According to the Technology Dictionary, there are many theories
about how it was coined at IBM in 1956, including the rather hilarious idea that it was an
acronym for Binary Yoked Transfer Element, with Yoked making reference to a team of
oxen, since a byte is a team of bits.
"Byte" is also interesting for the reason that it has evolved within the short(relatively
speaking) history of the technology industry. As previously mentioned, it has gone from a
general term for a group of bits to an exact amount, namely eight. And, since it now has that
precise definition, it can be combined with other words to mean different precise amounts of bits.
A gigabyte, for example, is 1,073,741,824 bytes, or 1 billion, depending on whether you go
by the digital or analog value of the word But the interesting thing is the prefix: Giga actually
means giant, not billion or 9 (one billion is ten to the 9th power) or anything to do with the actual
number. Similarly, Mega, which is used for 1 million, means great, Tera, for 1 trillion again
has nothing to do with the number, but rather means monster. Yet the "kilo" in Kilobyte, which is a term
for 1000 bytes (or 1024), does actually mean 1000.
The terminology of the computer industry is in some ways indicative of the industry
itself. It is rapidly changing, so there are terms that have evolved in usage since they were coined
or were given their original technology-related connotation, like byte. And there are humorous words, in
the form of "bug" and again byte to name a few. Some other terms have
changed little from their normal English usage, such as tablet, revealing the desire of computer
engineers and marketers to make technology relatable to those who are not enmeshed in the
culture and industry. Yet other words are completely new, showing the drastic changes to our culture,
consciousness and even vocabulary stemming from technology, and the human predilection for
innovation.
Sources after the break.
Technology Dictionary. Art Branch Incorporated
Websters Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary. 9th ed. 1989.

Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper.


Huggins, James S. Where Did Kilo, Mega, Giga and All Those Other Prefixes Come From?
James S. Huggins Refrigerator Door.
Tech Terms. Tech Terms. 11 March, 2011. Web. 9 October, 2011.

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