'Yes, we could have called the Internet "Network-of-connected-computers" but coining a word for it made it somehow more concrete, and real.' Using a new words

'Yes, we could have called the Internet "Network-of-connected-computers" but coining a word for it made it somehow more concrete, and real.' Using a new words makes it less concrete, in the sense of not being tied to one specific definition. Our notion of what makes the Internet "The Internet" is broader than the hardware + protocol specs. Much like the word 'hacker'. Were it coupled to, say, "person who uses computers for unintended purposes", we would have a hard time referring to gene-splicers or culture jammers as hackers. Even if you disagree that the current word should be applied in those cases, you at least easily pick up what the speaker intended to communicate, whereas a word that was literally its own rigid definition would fail.