Etymology of "ping"

According to Wikipedia ping, the IP network utility, was named after the sonar "ping", which is apparently onomatopoeic.

However, "ping" is now used in the vernacular in the sense of "pinging" someone via (usually) electronic communication to request acknowledgement of a message. Does the usage of "ping" in this latter sense directly derive from the network utility ping, or does it predate it? And how common is usage of the word "ping" like this by people without technical backgrounds or who are otherwise familiar with the ping utility?

Also, assuming the vernacular usage does derive from the ping utility, are there examples other technical jargon that have entered the common vernacular and become (mostly) dissociated with their technical origins? (Computer jargon terms like "bits" and "bytes" that are commonly known but commonly understood as computer jargon do not count...obviously this hinges on what is considered common knowledge so cannot be answered precisely, but I'm looking for things generally in this category.)

Solution 1:

The network utility dates from 1983. I first heard the IM use sometime within the last five or so years.

The IM meaning can be found on Urban Dictionary from September 10, 2005, in this second highest voted definition:

a virtual "poke" (email, instant message, etc.) usually sent for reminder purposes.

feel free to ping me if i haven't gotten back to you by friday morning!

A slightly earlier definition is from March 11, 2005:

To send an electronic message on any device.

Ping me tomorrow and let me know when to pick you up.

An earlier example can be found on the American Dialect Society mailing list from March 1, 2000:

A computer science person that I work with fairly frequently used this term [ping (on)] twice within a couple of minutes today, to mean "get in touch with" or "send a reminder to" a person.

"I'll go ping on him right now to see if we can etc."

And a reply:

Note that the usage "ping on" is unusual. Saying "I'll go ping him right now" (without the "on") sounds better.

The IM use is very similar to the utility, it's a short signal to test or rather announce online availability, as in "ping me when you're in the office".

When the ping utility was created, the sonar ping wasn't the only one. The OED says the sonar ping comes from the sound the equipment makes, from WWII. Ping as "a short, resonant, high-pitched (usually metallic) sound, as that made by the firing of a bullet, the ringing of a small bell, etc." is 19th century and still current. This may also influence the modern "ping me".

Solution 2:

I was in the submarine force in the late 1960s. Ping was the universally used term for active sonar pulses. "Ping" is about as close as you can get orally to the sound the sonar operators heard. I believe quite a few military and ex-military people were involved in early development that led up to the internet. The analogy of the ping internet utility to the sonar ping is just about perfect. I'd have been surprised if the utility had been named anything else! At least in the submarine force, but probably in the surface Navy as well, the term also was used to denote repeated requests/demands for something, as in "the XO is really pinging on me to turn in that report." As I recall, it was always used with "on" for this purpose.