Coolest Jargon in Your Area of Geekery?

[WordMan]

So? The thread title pretty much sums it up: what phrases, number codes or other shorthands exist in your area of geekery that you think are cool / interesting and that an outsider might have no clue about? An example sentence for usage would help.

As usual, I will use my guitar obsession as a starting point - some silly sample jargon includes:

- Diming, or To Dime: To turn the knob to 10. "Dude, when it was time for my lead, I dimed my Strat to get that screaming tone." And no, there is no need to invoke "but this one goes to eleven" from Spinal Tap...

- Hairiness, Getting Hair: turning your tube amplifier to that point where the tubes are just starting to NOT be able to process all the signal being pushed at them. They start to break up and the tone starts to get distorted. Finding that sweet spot is great because if you play softly you can stay clean-sounding but if you whack the strings, you push the tone so it sounds crunchy and cool. "Dude, I had my Blackface Deluxe Reverb* just getting hair when I set its volume to 7 - total Keef** tone."
*A vintage Fender amp known for a black front panel
** Keith Richards, known for using BFDR's and getting hair in his tone...

- 335: A very well-known guitar, the Gibson ES-335 (link to photo at an online store). You know - the kind BB King, Chuck Berry and countless others play (actually most are playing other-numbered variations, but they all started with the 335 and are part of that "family"). Clapton used one for his solo on Crossroads with Cream, and Keef is holding one in those new Vuitton ads that feature him - see here . Known for being super versatile with extensive use in rock, jazz, etc. "Dude, I needed that open, woody tone that a Les Paul can't bring, so I whipped out my 335 and was totally there."

- G.A.S.; to Be GASsing: Guitar (or Gear) Acquisition Syndrome. To always want the next cool guitar or gear. "Dude, I am *so* GASsing for a 335 - the hair they get when you dime them through a BFDR is just ridiculous."

And no, we guitar types don't start every sentence with "Dude" - but when we don't, we kind of mentally insert it at the front of the sentence anyway...

So - what'cha got in your area?

[StGermain]

Dude! Actually, I just had to say that. My sister started working for Fender this week. Apparently she gets an incredible employee discount, plus free guitar lessons. She doesn't play, but I think it's neat that they offer.

StG

[RealityChuck]

The Turkey City Lexicon is filled with great jargon used in critiquing science fiction. I especially like Squid in the Mouth; You Can't Fire Me -- I Quit; Jar of Tang Story, "As You Know, Bob," and the ever-popular I Suffered for My Art; Now It's Your Turn..

I often use these in critiquing, and "Squid in the Mouth" is useful to describe real-world situtations.

[Phlosphr]

"So are you a Locavore or not?"

[OtakuLoki]

It's a 50/50/90/10 situation. If you give certain persons a fifty-fifty proposition, they'll over think it so much that they'll get it wrong ninety percent of the time. (All brains and no common sense is a corollary.)

Radcon math. i.e. 2+2~5; 2³~10, 2⁵~100 etc...

[Student Driver]

Originally Posted by WordMan

So? The thread title pretty much sums it up: what phrases, number codes or other shorthands exist in your area of geekery that you think are cool / interesting and that an outsider might have no clue about? An example sentence for usage would help.

Not sure if it's necessarily cool or not, but I have found interesting some of the lingo generated in the classic video game collecting hobby, pre-NES era. Since the Atari 2600 dominates the pre-NES collecting field, most of the lingo arises from and for that system...

"Coxed" carts-- cartridges that have had something (usually an owner's name) written in big, bold indelible letters over the label. This arose on the USENET newsgroup rec.games.video.classic years ago, from someone's (otherwise decent) haul of 2600 carts that had the name Carol Cox defacing every label. Thrift stores often Cox carts with prices, but Coxed carts usually come from collections that saw heavy trade/swapping among school kids in the 80s.

Heavy sixer/light sixer/Darth Vader: various iterations of the Atari 2600 console.
-The earlier "sixer" consoles have all six primary console switches on the front panel (power, color/B&W, left difficulty, right difficulty, select, reset), while later variations moved the difficulty switches to the rear of the console next to the joystick ports (4-switch). Some games utilize the difficulty switches, and it's generally desirable to have easier access to them, so "sixers" are generally preferred.
-Heavy and light refer to the relative weight of the systems; RF shielding was made of thick steel in early sixer systems, while being quite thin in later revisions. Likewise, early sixers were made of thicker plastic, later models of thinner plastic. A heavy sixer is one of the earliest models, having both the heavier case and heavier shielding.
-Darth Vader is a 4-switch 2600 model that dates from the era that Atari stopped calling the system the "Video Computer System" in favor of "Atari 2600," and they stopped ornamenting the front of the console with faux woodgrain. Instead, the system was all-black and shiny, like Darth Vader.

Frying: the act of rapidly turning a system on and off in order to glitch the game, sometimes causing errors favorable to the player (infinite lives, games starting at later levels). A good fryer has a light, rapid touch on the power switch-- you have to be able to do it fast enough to throw the system into confusion, but be able to stop rapidly flicking the switch the instant something odd pops up on screen, so you can try the game and see what the glitch is. "I was frying Battlezone yesterday, and my tank came up without its turret. When I started, I had infinite lives!"

Actiplaque: A cartridge label stain that looks like grease and/or tar stains, probably caused by adhesive problems; it's believed that improper storage and environmental factors can speed the process, and some people think it can be contagious. Light cases of Actiplaue look like a bit of cooking oil spatter, severe cases look like motor oil and tar soaking the label (and often causing the label to fall off). Notorious on (and named for) the labels used by Activision, but it can strike any manufacturer, and can also occur on diskette labels. "I finally found a copy of Cosmic Commuter, but the label has so much Actiplaque, you can barely read the name."

Cooper Black: starting to fade out in favor of "Zellers carts" or "Taiwan pirates," Cooper Blacks are pirated 2600 games manufactured in Taiwan, many of which were sold in Zellers department stores in Canada. Early 2600 data compilers in the US kept finding these cartridges in their finds, and, not knowing that the majority were from a Canadian store, named them after the typeface used on their labels. "Yeah, that Cooper Black I got at the garage sale was just a hacked Enduro."

"Finding ... in the wild": describing the act of purchasing classic gaming stuff from a thrift store, flea market, garage sale, estate auction, or some other location that indicates a serendipitous (and probably inexpensive) bit of luck on the part of the purchaser. For many in the hobby, classic gaming started as an inexpensive pursuit (often because the gamer didn't want to get involved in the expensive current-era game consoles), and there has been resentment about the fact that the hobby has become more commercial, complete with price guides and certain hobby segments where only the deep-pocketed can afford to play. A "find in the wild" is often a badge of pride, indicating that the games found have been found in a pure state, rather than just bid for on eBay or bought off of a dealer; many times this is shared by the purchaser to encourage others to go out and hit their thrifts/fleas/etc.

[tdn]

So many areas of geekery, so little time. Let's go with painting.

Engage the format -- Dark value shapes that go to the edge.

Eye stopper -- Shape that prevents your eye from skidding off the page.

Steelyard -- A particular compositional layout.

Scumbling -- Dragging a dense or opaque color across another color creating a rough texture.

Body Color -- Opaque paint.

Saving the Whites -- Not painting over everything.

Wet-in-Wet -- Not as dirty as what you're probably thinking right now.

[gotpasswords]

Info security can start to sound a little dangerous at times.

We kill processes on servers.
When someone no longer needs administrative access on the mainframe, they get dead. (de-admin)

[Silver Tyger]

A few from kimono collecting:

Iki - invoking a sense of nostalgia. Mae West is iki for American culture.

Shibui - a typically Japanese feeling. Basically the ultimate compliment for a gaijin wearing kimono.

Shibori - Japanese tie dye that usually involves tiny little dots. It's faked often, but true shibori has the coolest texture.

Taisho - an era (1912-1926) with very bold and bright patterns and colors and a western influence.

Hime - (named after a magazine) a modern style that includes lots of western influences and playing with kimono tradition

[NajaNivea]

Dude! I love the language and jargon of falconry. One of the neatest things about it, for me anyway, is participating in an activity that has a documented history going back around four thousand years. The language, along with the skills and equipment used, are very nearly the same today as in the earliest existing references. The names for parts of the bird and the equipment are some of the best.

Alula- Three small, stiff feathers that control the flow of air over the wing in flight. Coverts, crines, crural, mail, pendant, primaries, principals, secondaries, sarcel, remiges, beam, retrix/retrices, train, and deck are also names for specific feathers or feather-areas.

Austringer- A falconer who specifically flies shortwings, forest accipiters. Eagle hawkers sometimes call themselves eagle austringers.

Bowse- To drink.

feak- striking the beak back and forth to clean and polish it. A sign of a happy bird.

hallux- The "thumb", the killing talon for broadwing hawks.

Snite- To sneeze

Yarak- a state of extreme, sharp readiness for the hunt, denoted by posture and attitude. Not aggression, exactly, but hyper-alert, ready for the sky, and looking for something to kill. If your bird is "in yarak", life is good.

Some equipment or parts of equipment: jesses, halsband, bal-chatri, knurl, gauntlet, mangalah, varvel. You don't open or close a hood, you strike or draw it.

In terms of describing a bird's physical actions, you may see your bird bate, bind, bowse, cast, crab, feak, man, mantle, mute, put over, slice, stoop, strike, throw up (not what you think), wait on, or warble. Two of those are names just for particular ways they stretch their wings when relaxing.

Here's a nice hawking story out of the California Apprentice Guide:
I slipped my intermewed tiercel eyass gos at a flush. He pursued, checked, then struck, binding hard. He carried it over the ridge, so deep I couldn't eyeball him. I pulled out the yagi and got a bearing, then made in on my hands and knees, baiting with a tidbit to transfer to the glove. Drawing the hood has never felt so good!

[StGermain]

Originally Posted by NajaNivea

Dude! I love the language and jargon of falconry. One of the neatest things about it, for me anyway, is participating in an activity that has a documented history going back around four thousand years. The language, along with the skills and equipment used, are very nearly the same today as in the earliest existing references. The names for parts of the bird and the equipment are some of the best.

Alula- Three small, stiff feathers that control the flow of air over the wing in flight. Coverts, crines, crural, mail, pendant, primaries, principals, secondaries, sarcel, remiges, beam, retrix/retrices, train, and deck are also names for specific feathers or feather-areas.

Austringer- A falconer who specifically flies shortwings, forest accipiters. Eagle hawkers sometimes call themselves eagle austringers.

Bowse- To drink.

feak- striking the beak back and forth to clean and polish it. A sign of a happy bird.

hallux- The "thumb", the killing talon for broadwing hawks.

Snite- To sneeze

Yarak- a state of extreme, sharp readiness for the hunt, denoted by posture and attitude. Not aggression, exactly, but hyper-alert, ready for the sky, and looking for something to kill. If your bird is "in yarak", life is good.

Some equipment or parts of equipment: jesses, halsband, bal-chatri, knurl, gauntlet, mangalah, varvel. You don't open or close a hood, you strike or draw it.

In terms of describing a bird's physical actions, you may see your bird bate, bind, bowse, cast, crab, feak, man, mantle, mute, put over, slice, stoop, strike, throw up (not what you think), wait on, or warble. Two of those are names just for particular ways they stretch their wings when relaxing.

Here's a nice hawking story out of the California Apprentice Guide:
I slipped my intermewed tiercel eyass gos at a flush. He pursued, checked, then struck, binding hard. He carried it over the ridge, so deep I couldn't eyeball him. I pulled out the yagi and got a bearing, then made in on my hands and knees, baiting with a tidbit to transfer to the glove. Drawing the hood has never felt so good!

NajaNivea - How geeky am I that I've never flown a bird but could still easily read that paragraph. I've studied falconry for years but I've never apprenticed because I don't think I have the guts to deal with killing things.

StG

[NajaNivea]

Originally Posted by StGermain

NajaNivea - How geeky am I that I've never flown a bird but could still easily read that paragraph. I've studied falconry for years but I've never apprenticed because I don't think I have the guts to deal with killing things.

StG

That's okay, I've studied hosses my entire life, can name every point from foretop to fetlock and I haven't had the opportunity to ride in almost ten years

[robardin]

Even though I am a computer programmer, my favorite jargon terms all come from playing Bridge (the card game).

My tournament convention card listing some of the common bidding treatments my partner and I play include terms such as: Splinter bids, Snapdragon doubles, "Texas Transfers", "Grand Slam Force", "Flannery Defense", "Michaels Cue Bid", "Unusual vs. Unusual No-Trumps", and "1430 Roman Key Card Blackwood".

Then on the card-play side of things, I can try to pull off plays called a Trump Coup, an Endplay, a Loser-on-Loser play, or best of all, a Squeeze play (which has sub-variants called a Simple Squeeze, a Positional Squeeze, a Strip Squeeze, a Squeeze Without The Count, Double or Triple Squeezes), even try to force a player to squeeze his partner (a Suicide Squeeze).

[zenith]

Gotta be Net Positive Suction Head!

[rbroome]

Originally Posted by WordMan

So? The thread title pretty much sums it up: what phrases, number codes or other shorthands exist in your area of geekery that you think are cool / interesting and that an outsider might have no clue about? An example sentence for usage would help.

As usual, I will use my guitar obsession as a starting point - some silly sample jargon includes:

- Diming, or To Dime: To turn the knob to 10. "Dude, when it was time for my lead, I dimed my Strat to get that screaming tone." And no, there is no need to invoke "but this one goes to eleven" from Spinal Tap...

- Hairiness, Getting Hair: turning your tube amplifier to that point where the tubes are just starting to NOT be able to process all the signal being pushed at them. They start to break up and the tone starts to get distorted. Finding that sweet spot is great because if you play softly you can stay clean-sounding but if you whack the strings, you push the tone so it sounds crunchy and cool. "Dude, I had my Blackface Deluxe Reverb* just getting hair when I set its volume to 7 - total Keef** tone."
*A vintage Fender amp known for a black front panel
** Keith Richards, known for using BFDR's and getting hair in his tone...

- 335: A very well-known guitar, the Gibson ES-335 (link to photo at an online store). You know - the kind BB King, Chuck Berry and countless others play (actually most are playing other-numbered variations, but they all started with the 335 and are part of that "family"). Clapton used one for his solo on Crossroads with Cream, and Keef is holding one in those new Vuitton ads that feature him - see here . Known for being super versatile with extensive use in rock, jazz, etc. "Dude, I needed that open, woody tone that a Les Paul can't bring, so I whipped out my 335 and was totally there."

- G.A.S.; to Be GASsing: Guitar (or Gear) Acquisition Syndrome. To always want the next cool guitar or gear. "Dude, I am *so* GASsing for a 335 - the hair they get when you dime them through a BFDR is just ridiculous."

And no, we guitar types don't start every sentence with "Dude" - but when we don't, we kind of mentally insert it at the front of the sentence anyway...

So - what'cha got in your area?

Got to be one of the best threads in a long time. so much better than computer jargon.

[Capt. Ridley's Shooting Party]

I work in an area called automated reasoning, a branch of computer science and logic, trying to automate the process of "doing" mathematics. Researchers here are all involved in an arms race, trying to out-do each other with the names for their techniques.

The resolution method gave way to hyperresolution, paramodulation, lush resolution etc. etc.

[drewbert]

In planetariums that use slide projectors, you sometimes encounter a problem where you're trying to put a picture of a planet on the dome, but the black on the slide around the planet isn't quite dark enough. Light from the projector shines through the black part of the slide and the effect is easy to see on the dome when the room is dark. The same thing happens when you try to use a typical LCD video projector - the blacks aren't really completely black.

In either case, you get the dreaded GRIS: Grey Rectangle in Space.

_{There are eight ways to put a slide in a slide projector. Seven of them are wrong.}

[dalej42]

The brokerage industry.

A bull call spread. I've always loved that name.

You buy an option contract at a lower strike price and sell an option contract at a higher strike price. You think the stock is going to go up.

bull call spread

[WordMan]

Originally Posted by rbroome

Got to be one of the best threads in a long time. so much better than computer jargon.

You're just saying that because I started all my sample sentences with "Dude."



Good stuff so far.

[Qadgop the Mercotan]

Hey, whatever jargon I use is the coolest.

I set the standard, man.

_{in the area of Tolkien-related recovering addict/alcoholic maximum security prison medicine & surgery}

[Wile E]

We're fond of acronyms in vet medicine.

Presenting conditions could be:
HBC - Hit by car
BD/LD - Big dog vs little dog
ADR - Ain't doin' right (but we can only say this or put it on cage cards, not medical records)

Um ... the only other ones I can think of right now are pretty morbid so I'll end this here.

[Bobotheoptimist]

We have flogi's and plogi's - Fabric Log In and Port Log In

Uh, you know what? I don't want to play. We're boring.

[Don't fight the hypothetical]

Originally Posted by Wile E

BD/LD - Big dog vs little dog

I like it. I can see this being used in many other places as well.

Originally Posted by Wile E

ADR - Ain't doin' right

Or as we say at work - whitey I dub (YDIW)

[TheLoadedDog]

Australian railway jargon:

PUT AWAY: To be "put away" is to be directed into a siding/loop for a more important train to pass.

SPAD (Signal Passed At Danger): Running a red light. You don't wanna do this, or you'll get a...

BUNG:

[TheLoadedDog]

Originally Posted by TheLoadedDog

Australian railway jargon:

PUT AWAY: To be "put away" is to be directed into a siding/loop for a more important train to pass.

SPAD (Signal Passed At Danger): Running a red light. You don't wanna do this, or you'll get a...

BUNG:

Odd. This posted itself.

BUNG: Official reprimand.

RING TOMATO (dates from before train toilets had holding tanks): A ubiquitous lineside tomato plant, the fruit of which was tasty due to passengers' undigested tomato seeds coming with their own liberal quantity of fertiliser.

[Shamozzle]

Not geeky, but where I work on the oil patch:

To get Skidded = fired.

To Shit the Bed = to perform poorly or fail to perform at all.

To Gross on someone = to yell at someone or come down heavy on him/her.

[even sven]

C-Clamp. Film speak for a clothespin.

[WordMan]

Originally Posted by NajaNivea

I love the language and jargon of falconry.

Alula, Austringer, Bowse, feak, hallux, Snite, Yarak

This is all well and good (actually fascinating - thanks!) - but next time you gotta use these in sentences that start with Dude!!

[NajaNivea]

Originally Posted by WordMan

This is all well and good (actually fascinating - thanks!) - but next time you gotta use these in sentences that start with Dude!!

Dude!! This bald eagle is diming his alula, gettin' hair on that landing. Incidentally, they're also called "bastard wings".

Dude, austringers are nuts. Dave's chamber eyass is a partial imprint so it's a screamer and now it won't even look at fur anyway; $1500 later, what a pain in the ass. I think I'm gonna go for a pere eyass take this season.

Dude!! My passage redtail struck his first quarry this morning!!!1 We ditched the creance last week. I had heard him snite in the chamber while I prepped my bag, so I was worried about his wind--but I struck the hood and he was in yarak, really sharp. I put him up a pole row by the tracks and was training him to wait on, when I kicked up a cotton tail. He'd missed two jack flushes earlier, long slips, but kicked this one up a close slip right underfoot and he dropped like a rock. I let him break in and gorge then transferred him with a tidbit. I thought he was going to bind, but he was so busy with the tiring he didn't even notice, and after he finished he feaked on the glove!!! We got back and I put him out to weather. He bowsed, bathed, and I coped his hallux--he'd almost footed himself. Dude, falconry rocks.

[WordMan]

Originally Posted by NajaNivea

Dude!! This bald eagle is diming his alula, gettin' hair on that landing. Incidentally, they're also called "bastard wings".

Dude, austringers are nuts. Dave's chamber eyass is a partial imprint so it's a screamer and now it won't even look at fur anyway; $1500 later, what a pain in the ass. I think I'm gonna go for a pere eyass take this season.

Dude!! My passage redtail struck his first quarry this morning!!!1 We ditched the creance last week. I had heard him snite in the chamber while I prepped my bag, so I was worried about his wind--but I struck the hood and he was in yarak, really sharp. I put him up a pole row by the tracks and was training him to wait on, when I kicked up a cotton tail. He'd missed two jack flushes earlier, long slips, but kicked this one up a close slip right underfoot and he dropped like a rock. I let him break in and gorge then transferred him with a tidbit. I thought he was going to bind, but he was so busy with the tiring he didn't even notice, and after he finished he feaked on the glove!!! We got back and I put him out to weather. He bowsed, bathed, and I coped his hallux--he'd almost footed himself. Dude, falconry rocks.

That was totally epic!* Seriously - I can't believe I understand some of that thanks to the definitions...


*Dude! Sorry - I gotta let that go. But getting your geek on and punctuating it with a well-placed Dude just seems correct somehow...

[Elendil's Heir]

Lawgeek jargon:

"Take it to the box" - To insist on a jury trial

FTA - Failed to appear

DWOP - Dismissed without prejudice

DOR - Defendant ordered returned [from jail]

Squat - When a defendant chooses not to present any testimony or evidence at the close of the prosecution's evidence, as in, "Smith felt so confident when the State rested its lame case, he squatted."

Team Ohio - The prosecution

Cape - To issue a capias (bench warrant)

CWS - Community work service

CCW - Carrying a concealed weapon

DUI - Driving under the influence

TPO - Temporary protection order

MSJ - Motion for summary judgment

Max 'em and stack 'em - To order a defendant to serve the maximum sentence, to run consecutively to any other sentence - the harshest possible sentence to impose.

Mr. Green - Money/attorneys fees, usually in the context of, "Mrs. Jones is withdrawing as counsel for the defendant, as Mr. Green has not yet made an appearance."

[ENugent]

In "standard" ballroom dancing (which means the non-latin dances of waltz, tango, viennese waltz, foxtrot, and quickstep):

Feathering - an action characteristic of the foxtrot, where both members of the couple stretch their left sides forward during the rise action at the middle of the measure

Promenade - both partners look and move in the direction of their joined hands (leader's left, follower's right)

Counterpromenade - both partners look and move away from the direction of their joined hands (much more difficult than promenade)

Heel turn - follower steps back and turns balanced on her heels, while leader steps forward and around her (characteristic of international foxtrot, but appears in waltz and quickstep, as well)

Natural - right turning

Reverse - left turning

Contra-body motion (CBM) - "twisting" action where body rotates against alignment of feet (e.g., right side moving forward while stepping back on right foot)

Contra-body motion position (CBMP) - a position sometimes (but not always) achieved during CBM, where the body and hips are rotated contrary to the foot position

Swing - action of the hips and feet producing a free, pendulum-type action of the body (not to be confused with the dance of the same name - the "swing dances" are waltz, foxtrot, quickstep, and viennese waltz, but not tango, which does not have any swing or sway)

Sway - inclination of the bodies away from the feet; should be produced by swinging action across the floor

Tipsy - quickstep figure where body sway changes "over" the feet instead of under to produce a wobbling action (also knows as metronome swing to distinguish it from the more common pendulum swing)

There are many, many more specialized vocabulary words and phrases, of course.

[Lust4Life]

I've always thought that one of the coolest statements ever was from the Apollo 13 astronauts when in a pretty unique situation,all alone,away from all that is familiar and there was a good liklihood that they were all going to die lonely deaths ..............."Houston we have a situation here "..........no geek jargon can ever match the courage behind that statement.

[peekercpa]

As a CPA I am constantly amused how non accountant types think that there is some science to what we do.

Me: Where in the world did you get that revenue number for the South division.

Controler: I just SWAGed it.

Me: Ok, that works.

SWAG = Sophisticated Wild Ass Guess

[OtakuLoki]

I was reminded today of some actual units used in nuclear physics.

The cross-section for absorbtion, more or less the target area a neutron must hit to interact with the nucleus of a given atom is measured as a two-dimensional area. The standard unit for this is defined as being 10^-24 centimeters squared. It's called a Barn. And, no, it's not named for someone - it's named for the livestock house. As in, "You can't hit the broad side of a barn from here."

Likewise, there's the Shake. 10 nanoseconds. From "Two shakes of a lamb's tail."

[Sublight]

I've mentioned this one before, but it's yet to catch on.

I work in advertising, where frequently the challenge is to get the client to agree to pay you as much money as possible, then go away. The problem is that some clients (particularly new ones) will absolutely refuse to let an estimate pass their desk without making some alteration, just to show that they're involved in the process. Now, if you go in with a carefully crafted ad campaign, where everything beautifully interlocks with everything else, then this moron blindly slashing away with his pen will inevitably cock it all up.

The solution is to give him a helicopter. A helicopter is something glaringly, obviously wrong, deliberately thrown in to satisfy a busybody's need to "do something."

It comes from a video producer I once knew who would always include an actual helicopter (for aerial shots of the city) in the estimate every new proposal he made. The helicopter was always obviously far more expensive than anything else on the list, and the client would always immediately cross it off before approving the proposal. End result: the producer got to do the project as he wanted, the manager got to feel useful, and everyone was happy.

The rest of our jargon is either too boring to share, or too client-specific to share safely.

[NajaNivea]

Originally Posted by WordMan

Sorry - I gotta let that go. But getting your geek on and punctuating it with a well-placed Dude just seems correct somehow...

Dude! It's okay, embrace it. Embrace the dude.




wait...

[OtakuLoki]

Originally Posted by Sublight

The solution is to give him a helicopter. A helicopter is something glaringly, obviously wrong, deliberately thrown in to satisfy a busybody's need to "do something."

I've missed your description of this before - I will be adding it to my lexicon. Thank you!

[ENugent]

Originally Posted by Sublight

The solution is to give him a helicopter. A helicopter is something glaringly, obviously wrong, deliberately thrown in to satisfy a busybody's need to "do something."

Heinlein said this in Stranger in a Strange Land. I don't remember the exact quote (and I don't have it here to look up), but it was something like, "You have to give an editor something to fix. After he pees in it, he likes the flavor better, so he buys it."

[WordMan]

Originally Posted by ENugent

Heinlein said this in Stranger in a Strange Land. I don't remember the exact quote (and I don't have it here to look up), but it was something like, "You have to give an editor something to fix. After he pees in it, he likes the flavor better, so he buys it."

I call this a "Scorsese" after the director - I heard that in the movie Casino, he had some violent stuff he wanted to retain in the movie, so he put some even more violent stuff in so the MPAA would take the more extreme stuff out and leave the stuff Scorsese was worried about in the movie - which they did...

[Yllaria]

If acronyms are allowed, I've got a couple. My favorite is FONSI - Finding of No Significant Impact. It's one possible pre-project environmental report that could be done to satisfy NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act ) requiements.

We also used to have LUST - Leaking Underground Storage Tank. Now it's LUFT - Leaking Underground Fuel Tank. Not nearly as much fun. It shifted just before the feds established the LUFT cleanup reimbursement fund. For some reason.

[Rasa]

A couple from my archaeology days:

JAR: Just a Rock. Our PI would sometimes come over and go through what we were sifting in our screens, only to pick out and toss a bunch of things, saying "Ah, that's just a rock."

On the juice: Someone who had poison ivy so bad they were on the steroid Prednisone.

[Solfy]

In my line of work, like many, we routinely talk entirely in acronyms and letters
"Did you collect the NMR, DSC and TGA on the standard of NCMCNCA? We need them before the BSR after the process has been to D046."
It was pretty intimidating when I first started, between the chemistry short-hand and the corporate short-hand. I knew I fit in when I learned the acronyms.
However, the #1 phrase that I use regularly that sounds dirty but isn't would be stripping the mother liquor. (taking the leftover solvent from a crystallization and stripping it on a rotavap to see how much solids you've left behind)

[Carm6773]

Educational Jargon

[Unintentionally Blank]

Originally Posted by gotpasswords

Info security can start to sound a little dangerous at times.

We kill processes on servers.
When someone no longer needs administrative access on the mainframe, they get dead. (de-admin)

Dude,

Originally Posted by Cisco Networking Class

IP CEF Featured Fast Switching turbo vector

What the everlovin fuck is a CEF Featured Fast Switching turbo vector?

And when you improve on it, what do you call it?

IP CEF Featured Fast Switching turbo vector Pro?

[kdeus]

From the world of Military Justice, "Six, six and a kick" was (at the time) the maximum allowable sentence at a Special Court Martial: six months confinement, six months total forfeiture of pay & allowances, and a Bad Conduct Discharge (BCD, also called a Big Chicken Dinner).

My new favorite is from Federal Real Property Practice: Preliminary Opinion of Title: POOT. Which is funny enough, but its close cousin is, of course, the Final Opinion of Title: FOOT. Now think about how you pronounced those. Pewt and Fewt? Puht and Fuht? Tomb and Bomb?

[Ol'Gaffer]

Originally Posted by Rasa

A couple from my archaeology days:

JAR: Just a Rock. Our PI would sometimes come over and go through what we were sifting in our screens, only to pick out and toss a bunch of things, saying "Ah, that's just a rock."

We call them leverites (as in "Leave 'er right" there).

[2gigch1]

From the world of TV news videography -

VO (vee oh)- voice over: video without recorded sound. The anchor or reporter reads a story live as the tape rolls.

SOT (sot) - sound on tape: a taped interview or segment.

VOSOT (voh sot) - voiced over then an interview, cut back to anchor or reporter live.

VOSOTVO (voh sot voh) - video, sound then more video following the sound.

PKG (package) - a fully contained story with recorded audio tracks, interviews and a standup.

Standup - the part of a recorded pkg where a reporter is shown. It can be a lead in, a bridge or a tag (in the beginning, middle or end.)

Live Shot - live on the scene by microwave truck, satellite truck or fiber drop.

Dog Lick Live Shot - a live shot with no particular reason to exist other than a producer wants us live.

Microwave Truck - a live truck that uses terrestrial microwave to beam a signal back to the station. These are the trucks (usually Ford vans) with extendable pneumatic masts that go 50+ feet in the air.

Satellite truck - the trucks with the larger dishes that are affixed to the truck for sending stories much longer distances. Satellite time costs several dollars per minute.

Gang Bang - mass of media swarming a subject

Stringer - non affiliated private videographer who shoots spot news and sells to the highest bidder. Can be lucrative.

Spot News - news that is happening right now

Stringing cable - pulling the video, audio and power cables from the truck to the live position

Crashing - editing close to a deadline, might not make it

Floating - missed deadline but still might make air soon

Big Red - to take an edit without previewing the edit. Can make an edit quicker but can also cause disaster. Not so much of a problem with computer based nonlinear editing.

Lens Meat - reporter

VJ / OMB / BPJ - Videojournalist / One Man Band / Back Pack Journalist - the idea that one person can shoot, edit, write, track and report a story by himself. Slowly making it’s way up the cost cutting news food chain these days...

Shotgun Mic - the big microphone used to record Nat Sound

Nat Sound - natural sound, the sounds of whatever is going on, not necessarily talking (cars going by, etc...)

The Desk - the assignment desk - the folks who give us our marching orders.

etc....

[Autolycus]

Originally Posted by Sublight

The solution is to give him a helicopter. A helicopter is something glaringly, obviously wrong, deliberately thrown in to satisfy a busybody's need to "do something.

That's pretty cool, dude. Reminds me of framing in social psychology.

My jargon? Karate has some, but it's mainly in Japanese... doesn't quite count.

I guess there's the videogame Smash Brothers Brawl.

Smash Attack: A strong directional A-button attack

Meteor Smash: A smash attack that sends the target downards

Final Smash: An item that grants a powerful, special move

Edge-camping: Since only one player can grab a ledge, it's possible to prevent people from grabbing it by grabbing it yourself.

Item Whore: Somebody who wins through excessive use of items

[Shirley Ujest]

Knitting Jargon:


Stash : Your yarn collection

S.E.X.: Stash EXploration. To go yarn shopping.

SABLE: Stash Aquisition Beyond Life Expectancy. Your yarn habit is out of control.

Frog It : To rip it out. ( unravel something entirely or to where a mistake is made.)

FUG: Fugly .

UFO: Unfinished Object.

Hibernation: project you have lost interest in and is on the back burner.


KAL: Knit A Long. Internet or Real life knitting events much akin to a quilter's bee. Everyone is working on the same thing during a specific time frame.

KIP: Knit in Public.

EZ: Elizabeth Zimmerman. A Knitting Goddess.

Eunny: Eunny Jang. Editor of Interweave press. Amazingly talented knitter.

Sock Wars: a highly competitive death-by-knit-socks game of international assassin . There are various other death by knitted garment themes on the web. There are over 500 signed on for the third installment of this game. I am one of them. I will die in the first round. I am not proud.

Etsy: an online handmade that sponsors local talent ( worldwide and in your backyard). Awesome, awesome and awesome.