On 21 Sep 2003 19:46:58 -0700, (Thad Floryan) ...reflected:

snip

The original "Net" news was called, surprisingly, "netnews" before the change
to Usenet.

How is it surprising, as it's most descriptive, and to the point of my further
asking, why the change to "Usenet" in the first place?

snip

Alan...a Usenet denizen since 1996