DCLnews Special Report
Potterisms & Cyberisms
Harry Potter speak and Internet slang have become ingrained in the English language - at least for the time being...

MUGGLES, DEMENTORS, Invisibility Capes, and Platform Nine-and-three-quarters - the magical world of Harry Potter has become part of our culture (at least for the time being). But it isn't just kids who've taken on-board the terminology. The characters and all things "Hogwartian" are now standard fare at corporations around the world.

At a Siemens development board meeting in the UK last year, a project for hi-tech rail development was branded "one for the Dementors" - the scary guards of a prison for errant wizards - because of the frightening costs involved. At Microsoft in the U.S., those who don't have the vision to go for daring new concepts at development meetings are reportedly branded Muggles - the Potterism for humans without magical powers.

Advertising agencies use Potterisms on a wide scale, says Rupert Hentzler, a business trends consultant in Cologne. "They particularly like to use them in presentations because it gets across the message to clients in a non-threatening, non-pushy way that they are hip and tuned in."

According to Hentzler phrases like "This is a real Quidditch match" - a reference to the magical game played on high-speed broomsticks - denotes excitement and danger. While "This one's an Invisibility Cloak" denotes that it is an idea whose message is not immediately perceived but is, nevertheless, one they think is a sure-fire winner.

Global Language
Popular culture regularly injects new words and phrases into the language. But the Harry Potter books (and film) have had an unprecedented impact. "The spread of Potterisms is astonishing," comments Karl-Heinz Graebner, a business analyst in Berlin. "Adults have adopted the sayings and phrases of a magical world to apply them to the very mundane one in which they work. So many adults have read the books, it has become a global language, enjoying the kind of success that Esperanto never did."

Cyber Slang
But it isn't just popular culture that injects slang into the language, technology does too - particularly the Internet, where slang terms, jokes, and ideas, as well as less savory items, whizz around the globe in a matter or hours. But where slang has traditionally been passed around by the spoken word, on the Internet it is passed via the written-word - hence you get a lot of word-play that has to be seen to be understood. For example, unless it is in context "byte" has to be seen to differentiate it from "bite".

Despite this, much Internet slang has made the jump from the monitor screen to the street. Think of all the real-world words that have been claimed or appended by cyber slang - "cookie", "surf", "flame", and "spam", to name but a few. And what product, or noun for that matter, hasn't yet been hitched at one time or another to either "cyber" or "virtual"?

Everywhere you look, cyberisms have become part of the language. A couple of years ago people regularly bemoaned the "dot-commodification" of the stock market, for example. And computer enthusiasts (I hesitate to use the term "nerd" for fear of slipping into slang) are often described as "mouse potatoes".

Snail Mail
Another ubiquitous term that has come out of cyberisms is "snail mail", which was first coined a decade ago (although no-one knows who first said it) and is an affectionate way of highlighting the fact that letter mail is slower than e-mail. Websites, magazines, newspapers, television and radio all use the term. It's so ingrained now that you wonder whether the Post Office will start using it - especially now they're developing faster services and retaining "snail mail" for items that can wait a day or two.

On the whole, the slang that has come out of the Web is humorous or at least affectionate. But like most slang, it dates very quickly. So when media people use terms like "snail mail" or "mouse potato", not only do they perpetuate cliches, they also run the risk of their work appearing out of date in a year or so. Using "letter mail" or "computer enthusiast" as alternatives is probably the wiser choice. However, anyone using terms from the Harry Potter books is beyond hope - that has to be a passing fad that will date within months, not years. Or will it? Like with all slang, only time will tell...

DCLnews Editorial
12/3/2001

Comments and Correspondence to dclnews@dclab.com

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