Recently we shared ten words that have evolved in meaning as technology has advanced, here are ten more: refresh Refresh is the verb used to describe the act of reloading the data on a webpage (usually to see if any new information has been added). We refreshed the page to check the score. spam Spam refers to unwanted email or messages. Have you checked your spam folder? stream A stream is a continuous flow of video or audio information that is transmitted over the internet. The word is also used as a verb to describe the act of watching or listening to something in this way. We streamed the show on Netflix. ...
It would be interesting to ask different people what their first association with the word stream is. For me, the first thing that comes to mind is Netflix. Others, I’m sure, will think of small narrow rivers, or associate the word with the flow of people or air or smoke. Literary friends might think of stream of consciousness. In Old English, stream referred to a ‘course of water’ and in the twelfth century, the word started being used to describe ‘anything issuing from a source and flowing continuously’. Stream isn’t the only water-related word that has been borrowed in reference to technology – in the early days of the internet, ...
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