That abbreviation is for URLs and other written purposes, but I see your point and agree it's ironic-- if you envision a world where people refer to the internet (3 syllables) as the "dubya-dubya-dubya." That sounds too much like a Bush genealogy and gives off dynastic vibes that I'm sure make many people uncomfortable. People don't simply use "web," which would be wonderfully efficient-- but it's a little sinister-sounding, don't you think? The Wicked Web we Weave, and all that. It brings out the arachnophobe in people.



So I guess we're stuck with "the internet" as a default spoken-language term. I wish we'd go back to "freeway" instead of "the Interstate"-- I get the inter right, but waffle between net and state, no matter which highway, literal or informational, I'm talking about. Or trying to.



Acronyms irk me sometimes, especially shoptalk or industry-specific ones that aren't used in the mainstream-- and I grew up in the military, so you'd think I'd be enured to them.



Analogously, almost all euphemisms have many more syllables than the blunt terms they seek to displace, of course. In the U.S. we talk unselfconsciously of white people, but a cabal of do-gooders with nothing better to do decided we ought to mince around with the word black and use the A-A word instead. It has only one syllable less than "Bosnia-Herzegovinian," which to me has ominous implications.

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