Interweb
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Interweb (sometimes deliberately misspelled intarweb(s) or intraweb) is a slang term referring to the Internet, sometimes more specifically referring to the World Wide Web. The term is often used as a joke or sarcastically, to indicate inexperience using the Internet; for example, "You broke teh Interweb". The joke is that the correct casual name for the World Wide Web is "the Web," which is part of "the Internet," and content found on the Web can be said to be either "on the Web" or "on the Internet." "Interweb" implies a naive confusion of these two terms.
The term interweb originated as the hacker culture responded to the ever-increasing influx of inexperienced users to the Internet's forums and chat rooms. Whereas the Internet had previously been the exclusive domain of the tech-savvy, it was now attracting millions of newcomers (newbies) who were now participating in it (often with poor netiquette). Referring to the Internet as the interweb mocks the inexperience and ignorance of these newcomers, whose lack of understanding of the workings of the 'net would often amuse or annoy the more experienced.
[edit] Usage history
- In the episode of Babylon 5 entitled "Eyes" first aired on July 13, 1994, the character Michael Garibaldi makes reference to "searching the Interweb" in quite possibly the first occurrence of the term.
- In the 1997 PC game Fallout the player can waste time "surfing the interweb" when accessing Vault 13's computer network.
- Maine trendsetter and linguist Keith M Gibson has also been attributed as an early purveyor of using the term dating back to 1991 [1].
- The comedy group Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie also used the phrase in their sketch "Keep your parents off the internet". The anti-hero of the story is trying to persuade his computer-illiterate father not to go online, to which the latter responds: "Your old man is going to be on the interweb!"
- Fellow Canadian comic actor and writer, Brent Butt, promotes his CTV television sitcom, Corner Gas, at the conclusion of Season 1 (2004) episodes by stating, "We're on the Interweb at cornergas.com".
- During her tenure at Saturday Night Live the comedian Ana Gasteyer played in a sketch depicting an infomercial spokeswoman who sells her dolls on TV as opposed to the "interweb".
- In the BBC programme Top Gear, two of the presenters use this word frequently when mentioning their website. Similarly, the pair further the sentiment by referring to the iPod as "ipp-odd".
- The word even made it into a legitimate commercial for American communications company Verizon's DSL service, in which an elderly man asked his grandson, "Are we on the interweb?" while watching a video clip on a laptop computer.
- Stephen Colbert routinely refers to the interweb on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. Colbert has also employed the plural "Internets", which is itself an infamous Bushism. link
- Webcomic author Jeff Rowland frequently makes references to the interweb in his comic strip Overcompensating.
- Season 2 episodes 8 and 20 of House had Hugh Laurie's character, Gregory House sarcastically using the phrase.*
- The phrase "interweb" is also used ironically in the song "Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too" by the band Say Anything with the quote "I'd be chatting on the interweb."
- In the Campchaos.com parody cartoon "Napster Bad: Metallicops", the term "Interweb" is used by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich.
- Leo Laporte, former host of TechTV's The Screen Savers used the phrase often on the air.
- In the Venture Bros, in the episode titled "Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean", Dean uses the word "interweb" at the end.
- The game developing company Bungie Studios uses the term "interwebs" frequently in their "Weekly Updates" while addressing rumors about their upcoming game titles.
- BT Ireland own a trademark on the term Interweb [2] for use for "communications services".
- The South African comedy duo, Corne and Twakkie in their live performances and on their television shows (both called "The Most Amazing Show") often use the term "interweb." They often invite viewers to "write for us on the interweb" which is also written in the credits. On their website they say "Hi special guys, ladies and ladyguys and welcome to our very own incredible and amazing Most Amazing Show InterWebsite. Yes, that’s totally flippen right this is the amazing cyber-home of your most favourite , famous guys – us." The website also has "Interweb Lienks".[3]
- On the show Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Keith Olbermann repeatedly refers to the internet as the interweb or the internets.
[edit] Notes
- A company called Glens Falls Interweb, Inc. is located in South Glens Falls, NY. In this case, "web" refers to the continuous web process of paper or nonwovens manufacturing. The company is focused on the design, specification, and manufacture of custom equipment for the pulp and paper and nonwovens industries.
