Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 5 · column 2 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
surfboard.
The “cyber” prefix apparently emerged from the “cybernetics” of Norbert Wiener in 1948. He combined the Greek word for helmsman or governor with the Greek and Latin suffix-etic, and behold: Computerese was born. About 1963 the English language absorbed “to cybernate,” meaning to control by computer. Somewhere out there is cyberspace.
Random House lists cyberphobia, defined as “an abnormal fear of computers.” How do the lexicographers know what is an “abnormal” fear of computers? My own fear of computers is perfectly normal. I just stand back and marvel.
Ten years ago Verbatim, the language quarterly, awarded its annual prize to an essay on new words. The author asserted that contemporary American English “is probably the most prolific ^word-producing machine that has existed since language first appeared on this planet.” I’ll drink to that!
The cyberneticians aren’t the only expanders of vocabulary. Frazier Moore of The Associated Press came up with an absolutely gorgeous word a year ago. He was writing about ice skater Nancy Kerrigan, whose “pristine and ingenuish image has been punctured.” Ingenuish! I love it! The adjective neatly combines ingenue,
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