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Tech Terms 1: Gods, Parchments and Paintings

Many words that we find in technology originated in art, books, literature and religion.
Find out in this post where words such as SCROLL or AVATAR come from. And do you know how the word BLOG came into existence?


ART

• ICON

Tech: An on-screen picture or symbol; you klick on it to give the computer a command. An emoticon (or smiley) represents an emotion: 🙂  🙁  ^_^  o_O
Non-tech: A painting of Christ or a saint, usually on wood; typical in Orthodox churches.

BOOKS

• BLOG, VLOG

Tech: Short for weblog. A personal website for writing posts and sharing links. The video format of a blog is called a vlog.
Non-tech: A log, or logbook, is a book that is used to record the daily details of trips made by a ship or aircraft.

 • BOOKMARK

Tech: Also called favourites. A utility in internet browsers that allows users to store the linking information to any web pages they plan to visit again in the future.
Non-tech: A marker that is placed between the pages of a book to help the reader to come back to the last page they have read.

• EDIT

Tech: To enter, modifiy or delete data.
Non-tech: To prepare written material for publication by revising and correcting it.

• PRINTER

Tech: A device that transfers texts and graphics from the screen onto paper.
Non-tech: A person who prints books, newspapers etc.

• SCROLL

Tech: To move through a text that is larger than the screen by moving it up and down, with the lines appearing or disappearing at the top and bottom of it.
Non-tech: A long roll of paper, parchment or other material with official or religious writing on it.

• (WEB) PAGE

Tech: A web site consists of one or several (web) pages.
Non-tech: One of the sheets of paper in a book, newspaper or magazine.

LITERATURE

• TROJAN

Tech: A malicious program that is disguised as legitimate software.
Non-tech: The Odyssey tells the story of how the Greeks built a huge, hollow wooden horse and presented it to the Trojans. Inside the Greeks had hidden an army of warriors, who attacked the Trojans at night and defeated them.

RELIGION

• AVATAR

Tech: A symbol that represents you in video games, online forums, chat rooms etc.
Non-tech: In Hinduism, a manifestation on Earth of a deity.

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