Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 10:34:55 ZET From: Jon Grepstad Subject: Brick reality and language in cyberspace I am writing an article for a Norwegian publication on "The Norwegian Language in Cyberspace". Since the "global village" has a certain impact on smaller language communities, like our two Norwegian languages, the article will also have a few references to American "cyberspeak". The introduction of "e-mail" had given us "snail mail" as a contrast in informal contexts. The other day I came across "brick reality" more or less as a contrast to "virtual reality" or "virtual communities": "... in Real Life aka 'brick reality'...". The writer, however, was not a native American or British speaker. (a) To what extent is this usage of "brick reality" an established usage? (b) Is the expression "brick reality" used outside of "cyberspace". (c) Do you know of any studies of the American language on the Net? I apologize that these questions may be somewhat outside the scope of this list, and I apologize if the answers are too obvious to native speakers. Jon Grepstad Informasjonskonsulent/Information Officer Norsk sprakrad/The Norwegian Language Council Tlf/Tel (+ 47) 22 42 40 20 - Faks/Fax (+47) 22 42 76 76