This reminds me of an event many years ago. I was digging through a box of junk I had stored and pulled an old phone out. My child looked at the dial on the front and said "Oh! That's why we say we 'dial' a phone number!"

It hadn't occurred to me that was a mystery term until then.

online had a different colloquium in that age.

it meant ready for use, no unpacking, compiling, or decrypting.

posted yesterday https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45365450

Online, as in ready to use right there on your screen, as opposed to having a printed book to search through.