Techie Words From Back Then vs Now
By Sunshine625
Have you ever thought about the tech words that are used today vs the way they were used back then? I have and I think the similarities are kinda funny! The words still have the same meaning, they just have more responsibility now. They even have more of a purpose. We have become accustomed to using these words in our new age techie world. Back then, they were more simple.
Surfing was done at the beach, now it's done on the Internet where you remain dry.
Macintosh was an apple we used for pies, now it's a computer!
Traffic was sitting in a car waiting to get somewhere, now it's visiting a website and you save on gas!
A mouse was something we caught in a trap, now with a click of a mouse we are trapped in cyberspace.
An icon was someone we had on a pedestal, now it's a shortcut on our screen!
A browser was a person who shopped, now it's the Internet mall where you can shop until you drop!
Keys were used to start a car, open a door etc ... now they are used to type on our keyboard!
A web was a spider's hard work, now it's the World Wide Web!
Facebook was when we saw the reflection of our face in a book, now it's a website used by millions of people to keep in touch or just to see each other's face!
A wall held up houses and buildings, now we use it to communicate with our friends on facebook!
A screensaver was a person who came to your home to save your screens, now it's a picture of something that makes you smile while your computer is at rest.
Tweets were sang by birds, now they are messages we send on Twitter.
Characters were people we were leery of, now they are how many spaces we are allowed while tweeting on Twitter.
Homepage was when your mom paged you home for dinner, if you didn't respond the first time the page got LOUDER!
Apple was a fruit you gave to your favorite teacher, now it's a billion dollar technology company!
Profile was looking in the mirror and admiring your appearance, now it's information that's required when you join a website!
Serial Number was given to convicts when arrested, now you have one on every piece of tech equipment you purchase just in case a con tries to steal it!
Wallpaper was the sticky, pretty paper you applied to walls, now you apply it to your computer background.
A community was an area you lived in, now it's part of a web group you are involved in.
Specs were glasses used for seeing, now they are how we see inside the computer.
Status was your standing in your community, now it's sharing what you had for lunch with your friends on facebook!
Trend was what was popular and hot, now it's the latest news on Twitter such as who or what is trending?!
Laptop was when you placed something on top of your lap, now it's a convenient computer that travels with you!
A poke was when you poked your friend and they poked you back, now you can poke the heck out of each other on Facebook and no fear of it turning into a fistfight!
MySpace was when you wanted "my space" now it's a part of internet history and was replaced by Facebook and Google+.
A link was a piece of jewelry, now it's your connection to get to a website.
A blackberry was a fruit, now it's caused an epidemic among crackheads who enjoy their crackberry phones.
Motherboard was when your mother was in the car with you, now it's the printed circuit board and without it no one is happy.
Memory was something we all never wanted to lose, now it's what we want our computers to never lose!!
Smartphone was when we had to do all the work for our rotary phones, now they are phones who know it all!
Copy & paste was when we made a copy of a picture and pasted it on paper, now we click a mouse and it's all done for us!
Download & Upload were the words commonly used on laundry day, now they are used when retrieving data from cyberspace!
Menu was used to select a meal at a restaurant, now it's what we use to select our next website to visit!
Application was what we filled out to apply for a job ... now it's an application we add to our iPhones!
A password was needed to win childhood games, now it's needed to play Internet games!
A Monitor was the nice, elderly lunchroom lady who we feared, now it's a box we stare at for hours at a time!
Network was a station to watch TV, now it's a place to socialize online!
Windows were panes of glass that we looked through to see the world, now without Windows we couldn't see the Internet world.
Who would have thought these tech words could have so many similarities? I didn't until now! Feel free to add your own words in the comment section. I'm curious to know how more words we could add to this list. See y'all in cyberspace!
Ain't that the truth....
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Comments
It's amazing all the terms we've come to accept as part of our everyday vocabularies that used to mean something completely different! Love the hub! Thanks for sharing!
Great Hub. It is interesting how our words have changed. I also used to think of tweets with my dear Tweety Bird as a kid.
Wow! Very creative! you thought of a lot of computer terms that had totally different meanings back in the day. I still remember the day when you announced to the family that we were getting a computer. Oh how we have progressed from that slow 90s machine!
Hi Victoria! I'm guessing you found no typos...I'm happy you got some chuckles:)
Hi Stephanie! I guarantee I missed a few words. Thanks!
Alecia, tweets are a beautiful sound:)
Stokermm, I'll NEVER miss the sound of dial-up! We have come a long way! :))
An amazing list and how meanings change over a period of time and context. Great read. very interesting
Thanks...
What a great list... that is just too funny how we have taken all these words and completely switched there meaning. I wonder if someone were to say I am going surfing on Saturday if people would assume the beach or assume they are spending the day in front of the computer! LOL
hey sunshine how did you manage to come up with this as a topic for your hub!! It is absolutely brilliant!! and the list is great!! loved it and voted up!!
carrie
Boy this brings back memories! I remember the day my boss brought a big box into my office and told me it was a computer. I said, "how does it work?" He shrugged his shoulders and said "read the directions inside the box." That was my introduction to technology. Now the terms I struggled to understand have become intuitive to little children. This Hub reminds me of the journey. Up and awsome.
Hi Barber! It was a fun hub to write...Thanks for your comment!
Hi Carrie! Facebook was the seed and the hub blossomed, it was a challenge :)
Hi Frannie! That was my introduction to technology also and what a journey it's been!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
Very clever, Sunshine. How about these:
cloud - I remember when cloud only described those white fluffy cottony thnings floating in the sky, not a place to store data.
And nerd was the guy who wore a white pen protector in his shirt pocket, not a guy who is a computer whiz.
And Barney Google was an old, old comic, not a search engine.
And "search engine" was looking for your car in the parking lot, not Google.
Fantastic words drbj! I didn't know about Barney Google and I really wanted to use Google so Thank You! :))
hey GF, you make me lmao & BTW I'll ttyl. Still @ son & DIL's in GA. how bout a hub on all the texting lingo? you're an expert! efferjay!
Well done fpherj!!! Your lingo impresses me :-))
Follow: Used to be someone tracing anothers steps...now its the act of getting ones email of their posts...
Circles: A sphere...now it's the name of a group you're in on Google+...lol
I can't say we've come a long way,but I can say we are verbally interchangeable.;)
Fantastic additions Bryan! We've come a long way with computers from dial-up to wireless...such a huge difference and so, so nice! Thanks for sharing! :)
A fascinating hub. I really enjoyed reading all the terms and seeing how their meanings have changed over the years. I am trying to think of some more but between your excellent hub and your excellent comments I can only come up with one.....Network....in my youth Network was ABC, CBS and NBC...that was it....now you say Network....and it can mean your phone or how your computers talk to other computers. Voted up and awesome.
Hi sunshine, what a fun hub and what a great list of words, you've thought of so many!
Thanks for sharing.
Well aren't you clever, young lady! If only I could take a peek around that awesome brain of yours LOL. I enjoyed reading your hub thoroughly - I have never before thought about how these ordinary words have evolved so much into techy terms.
Hey, how about this one (you've kicked my brain into gear now): A "server" used to be thought of as a person or thing that provides a service and and now a "server" is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs.
Voting up and across the board!!
Traffic, sadly, is still well cemented to the concept of cars just sitting with the engines on and knowing that you are going to be late...
I'm happy to say that at least half of these words the original meaning still comes to mind first.
Awesome hub!!!! When I want one of my boys to throw the clothes from the washer to the dryer I say to them Could you please flip my load :)
Amazing list of words! I am impressed that you came up with so many:) All these words are used as a natural part of the Swedish language too and the habit to mix English words into our own language is increasing every year!
Awesome hub!
Tina
Sunshine! You never cease to amaze me. Clever you are certainly! This hub is so cool and so true! Fantastic!
Sunshine,
Terrific Hub! This is a great display of how the past and present is brought together with the creative use of words! Bravo!
Voted Up and Awesome!
Thank you cogerson for joining in on the fun! Network is a fab word but it has been used, would you happen to have another word? ;)
Cloverleaf your sweetness will get you everywhere :)) Server is a superb word!!! Thank you for playing along!
MM ... Thank you :)
Flora ... I detest traffic so I just sing along to the music to pass the time.
Susan, FLIP MY LOAD! Hahaha! Love it!
Thank you Dex, Thoughtforce and Staypos for dropping by! You are always welcome, don't be a stranger!!! :-)
A really fun hub sunshine.
How about a cell, once a place where prisoners were held now its a phone. And to re-boot would have been to put your boots back on now it means to restart your computer.
Rosemay those are excellent words! Thank you for participating in the fun! :)
I had a great teacher!!
fpherj ... it takes one to know one! :)
I have a new word ... Java was a cup of coffee, now it's computer software!
Wow....my friend, you have done a great research here. I find many new terms here. Thanks for share with us and I learn much from you. Vote up and useful. Have a nice weekend!
Prasetio
Sunshine, this was such a Fun as well as Educational read. It's certainly a Hub to be Bookmarked. I imagine as time goes, this list will grow and grow! I VOTED Up my Friend.
Thank you Malin! This hub was fun to write and I'm still thinking of words to add :)
Sunshine625,
Greetings from MAKUSR. Very nice hub about comparing the things now and then. But I am happy that most of us had playgrounds to play and not play-stations.
Lots of Love,
MAKUSR
Hello MAKUSR, A very good word from you! Thank you for playing the game! :)
Hi Sunshine - what about the word BYTE? How many bytes do you have?
Or, VIRUS. You gave me a virus. Upload / download
Sunshine625, thanks for the chuckles. You sure did come up with quite a list. Loved this hub!
Voted up and funny.
GREAT word missolive! Bite of food or megaBYTE or gigaBYTE! Thanks!!
How clever! I really enjoyed this!
PhotoShop used to be where you took film to be developed, now it's software that lets you do fun things to pix from a digital camera or your cell (phone).
And Adobe used to mean the gooey stuff used to cover the outside of a house! ;D
Awesome Gama!!! Thanks for joining in :)
Loved the hub however, felt quite old since; knew the actual terminology and the techie ones...LOL
It has been voted up and interesting Sunshine :) Your profile name is so appropriate since; it sure does put sunshine on our day with such interesting hubs :)
Hi Ruchira! No such thing as feeling old...age is just a number! :))
Well said indeed sunshine :)
this hub is just funny! thanks for sharing the insight.
This one was such a good, cute, funny, interesting hub. Oh don;t let me forget awesome. Words have more meaning... I smiled when I read that, and it was a good intro to what you were getting ready to share.
Very funny Hub. Surfing at the beach was probably better for your health, and we need specs because we stare at a screen for too many hours a day.
Hello rai ... homestead ... doodlebugs! Thank you for stopping by and joining in on the fun! I'm still hoping for more words to add to the list! :)
Well, you asked for it - tee hee! What a cute idea! How about these:
Back then - back when -
a 'disk' was that big golden light in the sky;
a 'highlight' was a bright light in one's eye;
a 'thread' was used in mending a shirt;
getting 'hits' was something that usually hurt;
'cut and paste' was what kids did in art class;
one did a quick 'scan' to get the gist and to pass;
at a tool store, you got 'hardware', such as hammers;
to 'submit' was to give in to someone with more power;
incarcerated criminals hoped to 'escape' from the slammers
by not being seen from the tower;
'return' meant to come back to a place to be heard;
a 'smiley' went around with a silly grin on his kisser;
'sharing' was giving some candy to your sister;
to 'enter' one did with a welcoming word;
and ‘guestbooks’ were signed by wedding guests
to keep out crasher-type pests;
'timing out' meant no more time on the meter;
a 'bluetooth' showed blueberry chewing
without teeth-brushing doing;
a 'hard drive' was out on the freeway at five.
a 'virus' you got when strange gals you had kissed
and 'java' was something you drank upon rising;
a ‘ram’ was a male sheep
who pastured on hills;
‘real time' was when you lived ‘real life’, - of course.
We didn’t have a need to ‘outsource’!
We managed somehow with less frills and less pills
and never even knew what we had missed!
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
10-26-11
Sunshine, votes up. This is a classic hub and should be for ever. Very well done. It really makes you think! :) A fun article. Very good work.
Nellieanna...outstanding!!!! :)
hehe.. . thanks
Good Job - You always make me smile
Rated up, awesome, and interesting. This is fantastic and a lot of fun. You obviously put a lot of work into this, and it sure shows. Great hub! :)
Awesome stuff Sunshine,I'm just proud that I understood,not like the texting stuff now that you can't decipher.
Voted up and beautifully interesting!
Blessings!
Awesome hub sunshine very clever as always :) ge
Thank you Manthy - Faceless - Rasta and Gloria for you comments and votes. This hub was fun to create! :))
WOW, so creative as I have come to expect from you Sunshine!
Sunshine.
Nice to see how words change meaning.
And let us not forget when WiFi was a record player with a built-in wireless, the Operating System was something that needed to overthrown, a pen drive was something you did by tracing Route 66 on a map, a hub was something that fell off on ROute 66, and floppy just meant 'mens problems'.
Stay radiant.
V
Thank you V! Those are excellent words for the collection:) much appreciated!
Awesome hub,loved it. Nice play on words and a superb conclusion with the cartoon from joyoftech.com
Thank you kindly Alladream. This hub was fun and interesting to create:)
Hah-hah, great reminder of how technology transforms words. Voting this Up and Interesting.
It was fun to put this hub together alocsin! Thanks for your votes:)
What a great Hub! I really enjoyed reading this.
Great topic for a hub, Linda! Well worth the read.
Thank you kindly for your random creative comment Rose:))
Great hub! Interesting to see the impact of technology on our vocabulary.
Thank you Daisy and Kayha for reading and commenting!!:)
Haha! What a delightful read and a wonderful idea for a hub. Loved it and sharing it!
Princesswithapen
Hi Princess! Thank you for your comment and for sharing!:)
Victoria Lynn 7 months ago
Great hub, sunshine. It's amazing how many words you came up with! Voted up, useful, interesting, awesome, and funny. I really enjoyed reading this. You're always good at bringing out a smile--or chuckle in this case--in people!