The (Pre) Fix Is In (30 Jul 2004)

Usability Views Article Details

The (Pre) Fix Is In (30 Jul 2004)
As we saw with e- and cyber- and the other older tech prefixes, backlashes form when word parts are used too promiscuously. The same will likely happen with the newer prefixes. It's already happening with nano-: with hundreds of products and dozens of company names jumping on the nanotech bandwagon, many people are starting to wonder if perhaps this prefix has had its day. Pico- (one-trillionth) appears poised to jump in as the new new thing in "very small" prefixes (witness, for example, the piconet, a small ad hoc network created when two or more Bluetooth-compatible devices recognize each other and communicate). If you want to stay ahead of this itsy-bitsy curve, I suggest going with femto-, which means "one-quadrillionth." Now, that is small.

Article URL: http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/resource/aug04/0804tech.html

Read 58 more articles from IEEE Spectrum sorted by date, popularity, or title.

Next Article: The Creative Engineer

Some of the people who make up the Userati group

This site is a labour of love built by Chris McEvoy