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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010"Surfing the web"
When did this phrase first appear? And does anyone use it without irony nowadays? Daniele On Jan 12, 2:16 pm, real-not-anti-spam-addr...@apple-juice.co.uk (D.M. Procida) wrote: > When did this phrase first appear? And does anyone use it without irony > nowadays? I just heard it today, without irony, from a friend who's very knowledgeable about computers. -- Jerry Friedman D.M. wrote on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:16:58 +0000: > When did this phrase first appear? And does anyone use it > without irony nowadays? I don't think twice about using the phrase but the OED lists a first use: "1992 Re: Size Limits for Text Files? in alt.gopher (Usenet newsgroup) 25 Feb., There is a lot to be said for..surfing the internet with gopher from anywhere that you can find a phone jack" This sounds like the phrase was already in common use then.  SignatureJames Silverton Potomac, Maryland Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not D.M. Procida: >> When did this phrase ["Surfing the web"] first appear? And does >> anyone use it without irony nowadays? James Silverton: > I don't think twice about using the phrase but the OED lists a first > use: > > "1992 Re: Size Limits for Text Files? in alt.gopher (Usenet newsgroup) > 25 Feb., There is a lot to be said for..surfing the internet with gopher > from anywhere that you can find a phone jack" The word "web" does not appear in that sentence. SignatureMark Brader The World Wide Web: Toronto bringing you style over substance since 1993. msb@vex.net -- Steve Summit > When did this phrase first appear? Google Books finds it in several books from 1994 including "Operating System Concepts" by Abraham Silberschatz, Peter B. Galvin, Fourth Edition. That's the same year I first heard the expression when I first heard of the World Wide Web. (I don't *think* I had heard it used with gopher, Archie, etc. before that, but I didn't work with them much at the time, either.) M-W dates its predecessor "channel surfing" to 1988. I heard "couch surfing" with similar meaning about 5 years before that. ¬R >M-W dates its predecessor "channel surfing" to 1988. I heard "couch >surfing" with similar meaning about 5 years before that. I'm fairly certain it derives from that and when the Web was new people did surf -- just follow hypertext links from one site to another. SignatureSteve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk D.M. Procida skrev: > When did this phrase first appear? And does anyone use it without irony > nowadays? It's a normal phrase in Danish where we have imported the words ("surf" and "web"), though we now tend to say "the net". I do not think, however, that many people surf anymore. We target our searches (I do anyway), and I would not label such an activity as surf. SignatureBertel, Denmark >D.M. Procida skrev: > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >our searches (I do anyway), and I would not label such an >activity as surf. How about surfing YouTube? Quite often, when I follow a specific link to YouTube I find myself wandering around in YouTube following the links on the initial page and then the links on the next pages even though they are not related to the first link. That's pretty much what "surfing" connotates. SignatureTony Cooper - Orlando, Florida tony cooper filted: >>D.M. Procida skrev: >> [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] >though they are not related to the first link. That's pretty much >what "surfing" connotates. I do that as well...I also find myself doing something like that at the Internet Movie Database and Wikipedia....r SignatureA pessimist sees the glass as half empty. An optometrist asks whether you see the glass more full like this?...or like this? >tony cooper filted: >>How about surfing YouTube? Quite often, when I follow a specific link [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >I do that as well...I also find myself doing something like that at the Internet >Movie Database and Wikipedia....r Dare I mention that ultimate pop-culture time-sink, TV Tropes? -GAWollman SignatureGarrett A. Wollman | What intellectual phenomenon can be older, or more oft wollman@bimajority.org| repeated, than the story of a large research program Opinions not shared by| that impaled itself upon a false central assumption my employers. | accepted by all practitioners? - S.J. Gould, 1993 >>tony cooper filted: >>>How about surfing YouTube? Quite often, when I follow a specific link [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Dare I mention that ultimate pop-culture time-sink, TV Tropes? An initial glance suggests, forty-five minutes later, that no, you shouldn't have done that. SignatureRoland Hutchinson He calls himself "the Garden State's leading violist da gamba," ... comparable to being ruler of an exceptionally small duchy. --Newark (NJ) Star Ledger ( http://tinyurl.com/RolandIsNJ ) R H Draney skrev: > I do that as well...I also find myself doing something like that at the Internet > Movie Database and Wikipedia....r On IMDB I follow several links, but I still wouldn't call my activity surfing because I only follow links that expands what I was looking for - that is: going from a movie to the actors one by one and such. SignatureBertel, Denmark >R H Draney skrev: > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >was looking for - that is: going from a movie to the actors one >by one and such. I wonder how the word "surfing" came to be used for this sort of behaviour. Surfing, riding a wave on a board, does not seem to involve moving from wave to wave. A surfer selects a suitable wave and then rides it as far as possible. The surfer then goes back out to sea and waits for another suitable wave. "Web surfing" is more like the action of a butterfly feeding on nectar from a flower, moving to another flower, and then another and another. SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) > I wonder how the word "surfing" came to be used for this sort of > behaviour. Surfing, riding a wave on a board, does not seem to involve [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > "Web surfing" is more like the action of a butterfly feeding on nectar > from a flower, moving to another flower, and then another and another. I looked to see if the Jargon File shed any light on this. Both its 1999 and 2003 versions say: :surf: v. [from the `surf' idiom for rapidly flipping TV channels] To traverse the Internet in search of interesting stuff, used esp. if one is doing so with a World Wide Web browser. It is also common to speak of surfing in to a particular resource. Hackers adopted this term early, but many have stopped using it since it went completely mainstream around 1995. The passive, couch-potato connotations that go with TV channel surfing were never pleasant, and hearing non-hackers wax enthusiastic about "surfing the net" tends to make hackers feel a bit as though their home is being overrun by ignorami. Cassell's Dictionary of Slang (1998) only says that "surf, to browse the Internet" was Standard English, not slang. This appears in an entry for "surfoholic." Google Books is giving me frustratingly erroneous results. So far I'm only certain that John Updike used "channel-surfing" twice (once with explanation) in his novel of 1990, "Rabbit at rest." There might be something about the word's history that would answer your question. More research needed. SignatureBest -- Donna Richoux Peter Duncanson (BrE) skrev: > I wonder how the word "surfing" came to be used for this sort of > behaviour. Surfing, riding a wave on a board, does not seem to involve > moving from wave to wave. A surfer selects a suitable wave and then > rides it as far as possible. The surfer then goes back out to sea and > waits for another suitable wave. The netsurfer rides a certain page and follows where it leads (links), and when the page (or interest) peters out, he finds another page to ride. The watersurfer may turn in this or that direction. He has not planned where he will land. SignatureBertel, Denmark > Peter Duncanson (BrE) skrev: > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > The watersurfer may turn in this or that direction. He has not > planned where he will land. Which reminds me that the Water Surfer is preoccupied with the sensations and joy of Doing It, seeking the "Endless Summer"; not entirely aimless, but except in rare instances, not part of a greater plan. Process v. result, again. tony cooper skrev: > How about surfing YouTube? Quite often, when I follow a specific link > to YouTube I find myself wandering around in YouTube following the > links on the initial page and then the links on the next pages even > though they are not related to the first link. That's pretty much > what "surfing" connotates. That's precisely how I use the word. I admit that I tend to surf if I start using YouTube. SignatureBertel, Denmark D.M. Procida: > When did this phrase first appear? Not about "surfing the web", but maybe still of interest: http://www.netmom.com/about-net-mom/23-who-invented-surfing-the-internet.html SignatureJohn > D.M. Procida: > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > http://www.netmom.com/about-net-mom/23-who-invented-surfing-the-internet.html John, that's terrific, an article from a librarian who says she remembers coining the phrase! And links to her original articles, such as the one that begins Surfing the Internet 1.0 March 17, 1992 _Article for Wilson Library Bulletin's June 1992 issue Surfing the INTERNET: an Introduction Jean Armour Polly _Assistant Director, Public Services _Liverpool Public Library _310 Tulip St. _ Liverpool, NY 13088 _(315) 457-0310 _INTERNET: polly@ LPL.ORG I don't see why you express any doubt -- the fact that it is "surfing the Internet" instead of "surfing the web" is irrelevant. Since the WWW itself was not rolled out to the public until around 1993-1994, she even pre-dates it! Take a look at the resources she recommends -- LISTSERVs, FTP, e-mail addresses -- no "http://www"s. Her story *might* not hold up. Does it match other dates? Was there enough publicity for her use to spread? As she says, the newsletter itself was destroyed before publication for another reason, and she only uses the phrase in the title and in one other place -- "internet surfers," in reviewing a site: An irreverent compendium of tidbits, resources, and net factoids that is a must for true internet surfers Nonetheless, very interesting. I wish every coiner of a word or phrase gave us such tidy summaries. In particular, she doesn't mention "channel-surfing" at all. SignatureBest -- Donna Richoux El Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:16:58 +0000, D.M. Procida escribió: > When did this phrase first appear? And does anyone use it without irony > nowadays? Tish tosh. One surfs the net or browses the web. At least back in the eighties when it all kicked off (cue boring "I was using ARPANET in 1936" post from a crumbly). SignaturePablo |
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