Newbie

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NewbieTemplate:Efn is a slang term for a novice, newcomer, or somebody inexperienced in a given profession or activity. In particular, it may refer to a new user of computers, and often concerns Internet activity, such as online gaming<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> or Linux use.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The origin of this term is uncertain. Earliest uses probably date to late twentieth century United States Armed Forces jargon, though possible precursor terms date much earlier. The related term noob (often stylized as n00b) is frequently used in online gaming.

HistoryEdit

The etymology of the term is uncertain. It may derive from "newie", which is attested in U.S. and Australian sources of the 1850s, meaning a neophyte in a place or situation; alternatively, it may derive from the British public school slang "new boy" or "new blood", which is attributed to the same era and was applied to a schoolboy in his first term.<ref name="oed">"newbie Template:Webarchive" The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989, OED Online, Oxford University Press, (subscription needed) March 8, 2010.</ref>

In the 1960s and 1970s, the term "newbie" had a limited usage among U.S. troops in the Vietnam War as a slang term for a new man in a unit.<ref>Entry for newbie in John Robert Elting, Ernest L. Deal, and Dan Cragg, A Dictionary of Soldier Talk, New York: Scribner, 1984, p. 209. Template:ISBN</ref>

Another use of the term newbie was the moniker given to new U.S. Navy recruit students attending Basic Electricity and Electronics school by more senior students, a requisite course prior to enrollment in the A-school course at Naval Air Technical Training Center, Millington, Tennessee.Template:Citation needed

The earliest appearance of the term on the Internet may have been on the Usenet newsgroup talk.bizarre.<ref name="esr">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> By 1988, it had already entered online usage.<ref>Template:Cite newsgroup</ref>

Coming from an oral tradition, the term has various spellings. Among alternative forms are "newby", "nubie", and "newbee" (e.g. Los Angeles Times of August 1985: "It had to do with newbees. I could be wrong on the spelling, but newbies are the rookies among the Blue Angels.").<ref name="oed"/>

In 2000, Electronic Arts released The Sims. The game featured a tutorial house with a family called The Newbies.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Connotations of variantsEdit

Different spellings can have quite different connotations; so in some contexts a "newb" refers to a beginner who is willing to learn,<ref name=forbes/> while a "noob" refers disparagingly to an inexperienced or under-talented hacker or gamer who lacks the determination to learn.<ref name=forbes>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The origin of "nub" means "non-usable body" in the context of military submarines. It referred to crew that were too new to contribute, while wasting precious oxygen.

Similar terms in other languagesEdit

In Korean, the equivalent term is chobo or hasu, the opposite of gosu, meaning "highly skilled".Template:Citation needed
In Chinese, cainiao (Template:Lang-zh). It either originated from Hong Kong<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation