The noun technosaur designates a person who shows no proficiency in the use of information technology.
However, this noun has occasionally been used in other senses—cf., below, quotations 1, 2, and perhaps 5.
The noun technosaur is from:
– the combining form techno- in technological and technology;
– the combining form -saur in dinosaur, used in the figurative sense of a person who is unable to adapt to change.
The earliest occurrences of the noun technosaur that I have found are as follows, in chronological order:
1-: From Perched on the edge, we’ll either fall off or fly really high, by Alex Strachan, Sun Home Technology Columnist, published in The Vancouver Sun (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) of Saturday 15th April 1995:
—Here, technosaur is probably used punningly in reference to “the Dinosaur World Tour”, and designates a person who is proficient in the use of information technology:
Shane Lunny is 42; a former reporter at CKVU (before it morphed into U.TV); the visionary behind Percy the Parrot‘s interactive kiosks at Expo 86’s United Nations Pavilion; one-time producer of MuchMusic’s Much West segments; CD-ROM publisher; computer animator; producer of Rockers, a “virtual-experience” submarine ride for a $40-million theme park on Rokko Island in Kobe, Japan; the technosaur behind the Dinosaur World Tour, with its 28 interactive films and videos; [&c.].
2-: From an article by Barb Wilkinson about Carnosaurs, a natural-history exhibition at the Provincial Museum of Alberta, in Edmonton, published in The Edmonton Journal (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) of Sunday 15th October 1995:
—Here, technosaur is probably used punningly in reference to Carnosaur, and designates an electronic machine:
The exhibit includes: Technosaurs (CD ROM learning stations), the T-Rex enclosure, the bone gallery, creature features (documentaries), a paleo pit (dig site), a feel-a-fossil wall, live reptiles and 13 creatures caged for your safety.
3-: From the column Workplace, by Mildred Culp, published in the Press and Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, New York, USA) of Monday 14th September 1998:
Survey finds CEOs not technosaurs
The next time you glance into the office of your chief executive officer, be very observant. You may have assumed that he or she is a technological dinosaur, sorely out of date as the century’s most revolutionary development passes by.
4-: From He Wants to Restart Work in a Higher-Paying Mode, by Susan Vaughn, published in the Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California, USA) of Sunday 21st November 1999:
In the turbo-driven field of information technology, one message to hotshot techies is clear: Fall behind in your skills, and you’re as attractive to employers as a 15-year-old Commodore computer.
Even though thousands of IT jobs are begging to be filled, human resources representatives and IT recruiters routinely toss out resumes of “technosaurs”—unlucky souls who’ve reached what some tech workers call the point of no return.
“That’s when an IT worker’s skills are so outdated, so dead, nobody wants to hire him,” said David Schnitt, executive vice president of IT services for Re:Sources Connection in Los Angeles.
5-: From Perfect holiday flick has a dancing boy instead of dancing toys, by Debbie Salomon, published in The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, Vermont, USA) of Saturday 25th November 2000:
—Here, what technosaur refers to is unclear:
In a way, I dread the over-hyped, under-substanced holiday movies. Film distributors know we’re panting at the multiplex gates, like in July, when people put up with Armageddon, or technosaurs, or creepy coeds lost in the woods just for the air conditioning.
6-: From ‘Have Nots’ Say It Out Loud: They’re Cellphoneless, And They’re Proud, by Greg Morago, Courant Staff Writer, published in the Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut, USA) of Sunday 9th November 2003:
Like most things in life, the wireless world can be split between the haves and the have nots. The haves are the cellphone toters, who can be reached anywhere or call at any time with the simple touch of a button.
The have nots are the more curious bunch: a shrinking chunk of the populace that steadfastly refuses to buy into the mobile-phone phenomenon.
Are we to scorn them or respect them? Are they admirable Luddites or the clueless call-less? Brave new worlders or technosaurs?
7-: From Some days just exist to remind us our age, by Jeff Jardine, published in The Modesto Bee (Modesto, California, USA) of Tuesday 22nd March 2005:
Aging days, I call them. They’re happening with greater frequency—those little reminders that the world is an ever-changing place, and technosaurs like me can only hang on for the ride.
These are days when events shock you into realizing that time is, indeed, flying by and you’re getting, well, a bit longer in the tooth.
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