Oxford dictionary joins the cyber age

The latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was published both on paper and, in a new move, online last week, and in keeping with its entrance into the wired age it also contains many new computer and Internet terms.

Applet, bloatware, cypherpunk, digerati, geek, palmtop, snail mail and wired are all now officially recognised, while Bill Gates merits a mention as: "Gates - Bill (b.1955), American computer entrepreneur; full name William Henry Gates. He confounded the computer software company, Microsoft, and became the youngest multibillionaire in American history."

Spam, defined as "irrelevant or inappropriate messages sent on the Internet to a large number of news groups or users", originates from the Monty Python sketch where every item on a cafe menu included spam, the dictionary says.

Sideways smiley characters such as :-) which denote humour in email messages are defined as emoticons, while to hunt and peck means to type with one or two fingers.

However, the new edition does not accept all popular Internet conventions: the popular spellings of website and email are omitted in favour of web site and e-mail.