Internet for Newbies

Approximately 30 million people world-wide use the Internet and on-line services daily. The Net is growing exponentially in all areas, and a rapidly increasing number of people are finding themselves working and playing on the Internet. The people on the Net are not all rocket scientists and computer programmers; they are graphic designers, teachers, students, artists, musicians, feminists, Rush Limbaugh-fans, and your next door neighbors. Even though the net is being used by diverse and different …

…This dynamic language reflects the very rapid development of new concepts and the need to communicate about these concepts. As linguists, tracking this language development is one interesting way of documenting the progression of the "Information Age," just as the language changes of Early America allow historical linguists to track the movements of our early ancestors. Perhaps one day our descendants will be using our "Netspeak" as commonly as we use the word "love" today.