What I don't get...

[XanBcoo]

I really don't get why commercials keep telling me to "log on" to a website.

I have never "logged on" to anything. I "log in" to certain websites where I'm a member. I "sign in" to my instant messengers. Is that what they mean? Usually these websites are ones that don't require you to "log" in, on, or around anything, so it's just a meaningless term.

Advertisements seem to just use it to mean "go to" or "visit" a website, so I don't know why they just don't say that. It's as if they're stuck in the mid-90s and are still clamoring about this "internet craze," using buzzwords that make no sense at all.

[Buffalobiian]

I really don't get why commercials keep telling me to "log on" to a website.

I have never "logged on" to anything. I "log in" to certain websites where I'm a member. I "sign in" to my instant messengers. Is that what they mean? Usually these websites are ones that don't require you to "log" in, on, or around anything, so it's just a meaningless term.

Advertisements seem to just use it to mean "go to" or "visit" a website, so I don't know why they just don't say that. It's as if they're stuck in the mid-90s and are still clamoring about this "internet craze," using buzzwords that make no sense at all.

At first I would have blamed the whole "buzzword" thing, as well as people trying to say simple things (visit, go to) in a different, often wrong (log on) way in an attempt to make it sound less "simple", more sophisticated and less boring.

One example my teacher used to point out was the use of "in this day and age", whereas "now" or "nowadays" would have sufficed.

However, the fact that you brought up "mid-90s" reminds me of something. Back when broadband was still a relatively privileged technology, people did quite literally have to log in to the web, only to be disconnected when the phone rang.