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.
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.
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)
Dude,
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?
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?
We call them leverites (as in “Leave 'er right” there).
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…
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
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.
My mother uses all of these terms. But with respect to her needlepoint, not knitting.
Of there’s a variation on ‘Frogging it.’ It’s called, sometimes, a Frog Stitch.
From my Civil War reenacting days:
Ironclads - Enemy troops who just won’t lay down and “die,” no matter how much you shoot at them
Farb - The term’s origin is lost in the mists of time, but it means a reenactor who is so historically inaccurate as to be annoying, pitiful or infuriating
Hardcore - The exact opposite; someone who’s totally gung ho and committed to accuracy
Hardee - Tall, Pilgrim-style Union infantry hat
Secesh - Southern troops or civilians (from “Secessionists”)
Brogans - Leather lace-up infantry boots
Contraband - Escaped slave
Sibley - Large, quasi-teepee-style tent
Housewife - Small sewing kit
Doing the bloat - Pretending to be a putrefying corpse on the battlefield
First person - Pretending to be an actual individual during the Civil War, ideally after having researched that person, rather than a generic soldier
Shoulder straps - Officer’s rank insignia
Stripes - Sergeant’s or corporal’s sleeve rank insignia
Galvanize - To wear the other side’s uniform and accoutrements, such as when, in a reenactment south of the Mason-Dixon Line, there aren’t nearly enough Union troops to make it a semi-fair fight
Tactical - A series of simulated encounters or skirmishes, away from the public eye, intended to give a “full immersion” experience
Meet and greet - An encampment at which the public is welcomed
Jonah - Unlucky or klutzy soldier
Spooning - Nestling with other soldiers on very cold nights
Rear Rank Number Two - The coveted spot in any formation, as that soldier doesn’t have to do anything complicated
See the elephant - Take part in your first battle
Or tink (from “knit” backward), where you carefully unravel it stitch by stitch, keeping the un-knit stitches on the needle (when you only need to go a little way back).
My Dear Sublight.
I just wanted to thank you for sharing that anecdote with us a few years ago. Not only did I remember it, but it has been very useful to me in negotiating situations, including the last application for provincial funding for our autistic son’s therapy. After explaining what a “helicopter” was, I had the school include a requirement for more speech pathology hours in the application, even though **trusquirt ** was effectively age-appropriate for speech. The bureaucrats promptly chopped it to still more than we needed, left psychology and everyday therapy alone, and felt they had done their part to defend the public purse. We made token noises of regret, and planned for another year of therapy with all we needed funded.
Betcha didn’t think your little story would have such a big effect in a kid’s life! And now that you posted it again, I know who to thank.
Domo arigato gozaimas, Sublight-san.
Tactical tupperware: what aficionados of all-steel guns call Glocks and other guns that have polymer frames.
Mall Ninja: highly derogatory term for a wannabe who buys a lot of “tacticool” gear, talks like he’s done two rotations with the SEALs, deltaforce, and an exchange with the SAS, but is usually a mall security guard. Can sometimes be identified by the balaclava worn at the range. See “shotgun pattern” below.
**KB, or KaBoom: **when a gun blows up in your hand. I seem to recall it started with the controversy over .40 Glocks exploding when using reloaded ammo instead of factory new.
shotgun pattern: widely scattered pattern of holes in a target produced by someone shooting a rifle or pistol with poor technique, resulting in loose grouping of shots.
tactical reload: inserting a full mag (for semi-auto pistols) even if the current one is not empty during a lul in the firing or while walking between firing positions in a competition.
New-York reload: pulling out a second gun when the first one is empty.
**going to slide-lock: ** firing until all the rounds in the mag are empty and the slide is locked back, often under the effect of adrenaline.
gun dancers: people who shoot from weird or unusual positions at the range, like lying on the ground, kneeling, standing on their heads, etc. Can often be identified by their kneepads. A source of annoyance to other shooters if they frequently sweep others at the range.
sweeping: momentarily pointing your gun’s muzzle at someone while moving it; a source of irritation at gun stores, and practically unavoidable at gun shows.
How about one from retail cellular management.
My favorite : ARPU (our pooh) average revenue per user
Wow, thank you for sharing that. I’m very glad to know it had such a positive effect.
“Bongo-bongo” — it’s an inside joke of sorts among anthropologists and their groupies (at least in my university’s department). Basically, whenever someone makes a blanket statement about human societies, some other anthropologist will always submit an example from the fictional ‘Bongo-Bongo people’ that completely contradicts the supposed universal. An example:
“All human societies do _____.”
“Ah, but among the Bongo-Bongo people…”
We anthropologists are a fun lot.
I’m not exactly a chess geek (you’ll have to turn to glee for that), but I can still appreciate a fine Black Knights’ Tango, Hippopotamus Defence, Frankenstein-Dracula Variation, or Monkey’s Bum.
When Apache acts up you may have to kill the zombie children. You may also have to sniff the packets.