Whoever wrote “The Book of Love” neglected to include the handy emoticon
In this week’s episode: Just how far back could you go and still understand the English people were speaking? We crank up our trusty time machine to find out. Hint: You’d probably have a tough time getting around in the eighth century, when English...
It started as a typo for “own,” now it’s entrenched in online slang. A Kentucky caller is curious about pwn. It rhymes with “own” and means “to defeat” or “to triumph over.” Our hosts talk about a special meaning of “own” in the computer-gaming...
playtron
n.— «I love to “people-watch,” be they participants or just playtrons and patrons who show up in bizzare attire.» —“Re: What do you value?” by AuroraeB (Tracy) Usenet: alt.fairs.renaissance Aug. 19, 1998. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
mpreg n.— «I don’t know when or where I first heard of something called “mpreg,” although I know it was online. I didn’t know what it was, and oh, how I long for those innocent days of yesteryear. “What do you mean?” I bleated to the friend who...
finger trouble n.— «Sure we have all had disk problems, but what percentage of these were not associated with writing/deleting/finger-trouble/bad-handling—extremely small!» —“Re: software protection – dongles & other gizmos” by Raymond D...