Dear AIR (and CMC-SLING), Does anyone know of a good reference on the origin of terms like "Netspeak," "webspeak," or "chatspeak"? I'm not looking for information on when/where/how Netspeak itself came from, or what its definition is, but rather when/where/how the term came into currency. It seems that David Crystal sort of popularized the term/concept "Netspeak" amongst academics and the public in his book Language and the Internet (2001), but I also know that it's documented as being in use several years prior to that (and I unfortunately don't have the book on-hand to check whether he gives a history or not). I'm wondering whether particular online communities or sites began using the term and when that may have happened. Any pointers - whether to articles that discuss the history of such terms, archived websites that include them, or just personal impressions of when they may have started gaining speed - would be greatly appreciated. You can reply on or offlist, depending on whether you think it's an interesting discussion to continue list-wide (I can't really judge how many people will care about such things!). Best, Lauren -- lauren m. squires lx: http://polyglotconspiracy.net cmc: http://sociocmc.blogspot.com