Word Origins

When we talk about digital cameras, we can’t avoid talking about pixels. Ever wonder about where the word ‘’pixel’’ comes from? At the communications exhibit at Liberty Science Center, I was so intrigued to learn that the word is actually a shortening of the original term ‘’picture element.’’ Word origins are fascinating. Most of the original computer terminology was based on the physical nature of the item. A floppy disk was literally a 5” square flexible disk. The hard drive was metal and impermeable, and a mouse looked somewhat like a small rodent with the wire as its tail.