Interweb

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Interweb (sometimes intarweb(s)) is an ironic term used to indicate inexperience by intentionally and incorrectly merging the terms 'Internet' and 'World Wide Web'. The joke is that many inexperienced users access content on the World Wide Web (or "Web") via the "Internet" without knowing what either is. ^[1]

The term interweb originated as the hacker culture response 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] Etymology

Writers of the television show Babylon 5 referred to "the interweb" in a 1994 episode titled "Eyes." Ironic use of the term caught on in discussion groups related to the show and subsequently spread. Actual erroneous use of the term appears to have been rare; it referred instead to several internet service providers and other business ventures during the dot-com boom. The term entered wider usage following its use on The Simpsons episode "The Bart Wants What it Wants" in 2002.^[1]

[edit] See also

• Information highway
• Internets
• Internet slang
• Series of tubes
• Tinternet

[edit] References