I don't think it has anything to do with the internet really. They've
been called prime lenses for as long as I can remember, and yes I do
pre-date the Internet ;-)

I certainly don't think it's some kind of fad. I suspect it would have
originated about the same time as zoom lenses. People needed a handy
term to distinguish their FFL lenses from the new zooms. FFL may be easy
and quick to write, but 'prime' is quicker to say. Also if we're going
to get pedantic about linguistics then why not take offence to the term
"zoom lens". Surely they should be called Variable Focal Length Lenses,
or VFL lenses. That's much better... Now we just have to re-educate all
the millions of poor ignorant fools using the incorrect terminology ;-)



It's pretty much established jargon in the photo industry. I've seen it
used in this sense since the mid-70s (when I started paying attention to
photo stuff). I hardly think it can be blamed solely on the internet.