Internet-related prefixes include "e-", "i-", "cyber-", "info-","i-", "techno-", "net-", and "virtual", that are prefixed to a wide range of existing words to form new, Internet-related, flavours of existing concepts. [1][2]
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Use and meanings
"e-", "cyber-", and "virtual" are most often used in names coined for "electronic" or computer-related counterparts of a pre-existing product or service. "e-", standing for the word "electronic" is used in the names of e-mail ("electronic mail"), e-commerce ("electronic commerce"), e-business ("electronic business"), e-banking ("electronic banking"), and e-book ("electronic book"). "virtual" is used in virtual reality and others. "cyber-", derived from "cybernetic", is used in the names of cybersex, cyberspace, cyberpunk, cyberhomes and cyberhate, but has been largely surpassed by "e-".[1][3] These prefixes are productive. In Straubhaar's and LaRose's words, they are "added to almost everything nowadays". Quinion notes that most of these formations are nonce words, that will never be seen again. He observes that coinages such as "e-health" are unneeded, given that it is simply a coinage used to express the application of telecommunications to medicine, for which the name "telemedicine" already exists. He similarly points out the redundancy of "e-tail" with "e-commerce" and "e-business". Martin likewise characterizes many of these words as "fad words", and opines that many of them may disappear once the technology that resulted in their coinage has become better accepted and understood. As an example, he opines that "when using computers becomes the standard way to do business, there will be no need to call it 'e-business' — it may be just 'business'".[3][4] There is some confusion over whether these prefixes should be hyphenated or in upper case. Quinion notes that "e-mail" was originally hyphenated and lowercase, and attributes the later forms "email", "E-mail", and "Email" to uncertainty on the parts of newer Internet users who came across "e-mail" in the 1990s and were uncertain about whether the initial letter was an abbreviation or a prefix. Smith prescribes that the prefix "e-" should always be lowercase and hyphenated.[3][5]
History
Trappl credits William Gibson and his novel Neuromancer with triggering a "cyber- prefix flood" in the 1980s, however the use of the Cyber- prefix started well before this. In 1966, Dr Kit Peddler and Gerry Davis created the Cyberman for the UK television sci-fi series Doctor Who. In 1968 another fictional character Doctor Cyber appeared in DC Comics Wonder Woman. By the 1970's, the Control Data Corporation (CDC) sold the Cyber range of cupercomputers, establishing the word Cyber as synonymous with computing. McFedries observes that a backlash against the use of "e-" and "cyber-" can be traced to the late 1990s, quoting Hale and Scanlon requesting writers in 1999 to "resist the urge to use this vowel-as-cliché" when it comes to "e-" and calling "cyber-" "terminally overused".[6][2][7] "i" is not a generic prefix used to describe a type of service or product; rather, it is used in the branding of individual products. Where as e-mail refers to electronic mail in general, iMail, if it existed, would probably refer to an individual e-mail service. The i prefix is especially connected to Apple Inc., who first popularized it with the iMac and iBook[8] and now keeps a long line of products starting with i, including iPod, iTunes, iPhone, iLife and others. Apple initially said the "i" stood for "internet";[9]. Despite its close association with Apple, the i prefix has been used by other companies as well, such as Google (iGoogle[10]). It has also been used extensively by shareware and freeware developers in the branding of their products, probably on purpose to be associated with Apple's i-products. While a lower-case i followed by a capital letter would generally be considered a blatant error to the rules of English grammar, in these cases it becomes the only correct way to write it since it is usually a product name. Hence, unlike e-mail, a word such as iPod should never be hyphenated or capitalized in any other way, even in the beginning of a sentence.
References
- ^ a b Joseph Straubhaar and Robert LaRose. Media Now: Understanding Media, Culture, and Technology. Thomson Learning, 6. ISBN 7302095760.
- ^ a b Paul McFedries. "The (Pre) Fix Is In", IEEE Spectrum, 2004-07-30.
- ^ a b c Michael Quinion (1999-01-16). THE E- PREFIX. World Wide Words.
- ^ Rodney Martin (2004). Young Writers Guide. Era Publications, 150. ISBN 1741200407.
- ^ Ronald D. Smith (2003). Becoming a Public Relations Writer: A Writing Process Workbook for the Profession. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 402. ISBN 0805842608.
- ^ Robert Trappl (February 1998). "Preface". 14th European Meeting on Cybernetics and Systems Research (EMCSR'98), April 14 — 17, 1998 at the University of Vienna, Austrian Society for Cybernetic Studies. ISBN 3 85206 139 3.
- ^ Constance Hale and Jessie Scanlon (1999). Wired Style: Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age. New York: Broadway Books.
- ^ Vaughn, Paul, "The Mac Guy: Potential buyer wants big sound, and he can have it," April 21, 2007 at mysanantonio.com
- ^ Manjoo, Farhad, "Grads Want to Study on EMacs, Too," April 30, 2002, wired.com
- ^ Liedtke, Michael, "Google dubs personal home page 'iGoogle'," April 30, 2007, Associated Press, as available on msnbc.msn.com
Further reading
- Deborah Schaffer (2001). "The story of e-". English Today 17: 22 – 26. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/S0266078401004035. — Schaffer discusses "e-", "i-", and several others.
- Geoffrey Nunberg (2001). "How The Web Was Won", The Way We Talk Now: Commentaries on Language and Culture. Houghton Mifflin Reference Books, 187 – 188. ISBN 0618116036.
