Film critic Roger Ebert caused two Internet firestorms yesterday. One was when he expressed his distaste for Kick-Ass. The other was when he asked whether there was "any noun that does not accept the prefix 'cyber?'" And William Gibson responded.


According to Gibson, you can't put "cyber" and "computer" together. To which somebody else asked, what do the people in Second Life do their homework on? Gibson replied: "Those invisible keyboards they talk on?"



Other things you can't put "cyber" in front of, according to the Internet:

Ham

Analog

Banana

Amish

Ice Cream

Luddite

Onomatopoeia

Lice

Broccoli

Rock

Nachos

Beer

Gout

Miley

Nazi

Possum

Spork

Velocipede

Enbalmer

Lactation

Wainscoting

Poop

Honky

Giraffe

Hematophobia

Butt


And many, many more. It's interesting how many people thought "cyber-chocolate" and "cyber-ham" would be an abomination, in particular. I'm also somewhat amused by the person who insisted that there's no such thing as cybersex.

I hereby challenge you, our readers, to go forth and create the cyber-spork.

Cyber-Woman image via Trav28 on Flickr.