Date: Mon, 14 Jul 1997 03:20:18 -0400 From: Gareth Branwyn Subject: Re: email virus In a message dated 7/14/97 6:08:43 AM, gpulliam[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]charlie.cns.iit.edu (Greg Pulliam) wrote: >I've never heard this "email virus" term before, at least not as applied to >this sort of thing--a forwarded and reforwarded and reforwarded item. How >long has this term/use been around? "Email virus" has been used to describe those virus hoax messages that float through the Net every few months (e.g. the "Good Times" virus). A message about an alleged virus becomes the virus itself. The Good Times virus message was around for months. This "lingo" message also appears to have taken on a life of its own. >Gareth--sorry if I misappropriated your defs--I'd have included the >attribution if my source had given it. No harm done. It is frustrating when the list appears in print, but I don't mind it circulating through email. Proper attribution would have been nice, but it's far too late for that particular list. Now the question is, how long will it continue to circulate and how many of the words are experiencing wider usage as a result? Gareth -------------------------------------------- Gareth Branwyn garethb2[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]aol.com, http://home.earthlink.net/~garethb2/ Contributing editor, Wired Co-author of the _Happy Mutant Handbook_ and _Internet Power Toolkit_ Author of _Jargon Watch: A Pocket Dictionary for the Jitterati_ (HardWired)