Computer Terms: Ever Google Someone?

mouse.   A computer mouse is not a small animal that lives in buildings and open fields.  It is a small device that you move around on a flat surface in front of a computer.  The mouse moves the pointer, or cursor, on the computer screen.

hackers.  A hacker is usually a person who writes software programs in a special computer language.  But the word hacker is also used to describe a person who tries to steal information from computer systems.        

Google, spelled g-o-o-g-l-e.  It is the name of a popular search engine for the Internet.  People use the search engine to find information about almost any subject on the Internet.  The people who started the company named it Google because in mathematics, googol, spelled g-o-o-g-o-l, is an extremely large number.  It is the number one followed by one hundred zeros.

blog.  A blog is the shortened name for a Web log.  A blog is a personal Web page.  It may contain stories, comments, pictures and links to other Web sites. Some people add information to their blogs every day. People who have blogs are called bloggers.

spam.  Spam is unwanted sales messages sent to your electronic mailbox.  The name is based on a funny joke many years ago on a British television show, Monty Python's Flying Circus.  Some friends are at an eating place that only serves a processed meat product from the United States called SPAM. Every time the friends try to speak, another group of people starts singing the word SPAM very loudly.  This interferes with the friends' discussion -- just as unwanted sales messages interfere with communication over the Internet.