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.
