# Common / Generic error codes

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-generic-error-codes/557925>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 21, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-generic-error-codes/557925 "2010-10-21T20:16:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-generic-error-codes/557925/21 "2010-10-22T19:16:22Z")

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> [@Silver Tyger Girl](#):
>
> . Having been raised on Windows, ..

If you’re writing a story, who is your target audience?  
If they, like you and me and most of the people on Earth, have also been raised on Windows, then why insert language that they may not understand?

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-generic-error-codes/557925/22 "2010-10-22T19:41:10Z")

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Quoth **engineer\_comp\_geek** :

> [@](#):
>
> If something totally screws up, your geek may say “kernel panic”. That’s the linux equivalent of the windows blue screen of death.

Literally, yes, but not figuratively. A Windows kernel panic is what causes a Blue Screen of Death, so in that sense they’re equivalent, but on the systems where folks generally use the term “kernel panic”, they’re much rarer, and thus regarded as more serious. Saying that a Linux kernel panic is equivalent to a Windows blue screen of death is sort of like saying that two inches of snow in Atlanta is equivalent to two inches of snow in Chicago.

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**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-generic-error-codes/557925/23 "2010-10-22T22:06:07Z")

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> [@chappachula](#):
>
> If you’re writing a story, who is your target audience?  
> If they, like you and me and most of the people on Earth, have also been raised on Windows, then why insert language that they may not understand?

People insert untranslated foreign languages in comics. That’s what Google is for. The target audience at this point is pretty much myself and I like crazy accuracy (except for when it gets in the way of the story.)

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**Author:** ![squidfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@squidfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squidfood)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-generic-error-codes/557925/24 "2010-10-22T22:18:07Z")

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> [@Derleth](#):
>
> …everyone knows God wrote the Universe in Lisp.

e. e. cummings disagrees: “And death i think is no parenthesis”

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**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-generic-error-codes/557925/25 "2010-10-22T22:23:09Z")

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> [@squidfood](#):
>
> e. e. cummings disagrees: “And death i think is no parenthesis”

[Well, actually…](http://www.xkcd.com/224/) 😉

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