Terms that are only ever heard in certain sub-cultures

In My Humble Opinion
41

Interesting, “circle of confusion” is used in observational astronomy, too, and I’d wager with the same meaning as it has in photography. Most of those others, I can make a pretty good guess as to what they mean (though the chemical ones like “acid fix” are no longer relevant for astronomy, which has been using CCDs since decades before they were cool).

In physics, the worst jargon offenders are the ones that are commonly heard outside of physics, but with different meanings. “Work”, “power”, “energy”, “force”, “stress”, “strain”, and “pressure” all have very specific meanings in physics, which may sometimes correspond to their common usages, but not always.

42

:cool:
Yeah, a basic optics term that should be taught in any photography course. I am also an amateur astronomer (since the early 1970s) and astrophotographer.

Another related term that has gained a lot in popularity is bokeh.

I was posting just a few of the terms that a long term photo enthusiast would know as they relate to photography.

I would wager that a thinking person could probably get pretty close to what many of the terms posted throughout this thread might mean if aware of the specific context being referenced. ymmv

43

I know all those but “can and kilo”, FYB and skeeterpee.

44

[related to my post above]

Of course, some things would require some Google use. :wink:

45

Railfans are sometimes called “foamers” as they supposedly foam at the mouth when seeing a train, especially one they want to photograph.

Same with railfans who specialize in electric railroads, trolleys, light rail and subways, except the proper term for these is “sparkies”.

46

I spent some time shooting interview video for the Union Pacific railroad. They had their own jargon term for railfans - FTN, or “Fucking Train Nut”.

47

Stab jacket, octopus, muppet, stroke, geezer gas, trimix, back gas, caustic cocktail, donkey dick, off-gassing, and reverse squeeze are all terms from the scuba diving world.

48

That’s because in the military it’s not just work jargon because its not just work. It’s a way of life. For someone homebrewing or working as an EMT there is no need to use jargon outside of that context. When you are in the army it’s your life 24 hours a day. You work there. You live there. You are surrounded by other soldiers. It really does become another language.

49

Among Jazz musicians:

Apple = good gig.

Downbeat = starting time of a gig

Inside = playing based mostly on the notes of the key signature or the basic scale of each chord.

Big ears = can follow changes, especially substitutions, and transposed keys easily by ear, and on the fly.

Head = the main melody of the tune.

Chorus = the entire song form that gets repeated for solos, minus the codas or endings.

Blowing = improvising.

Ax = any instrument.

In the pocket = swinging with the pulse of the beat in the most musical way.

Rhythm and Blues player = can only play well on “I’ve Got Rhythm” changes or “Blues” changes

Blues = 12 bar song form based on three four bar sections that each resolve partially or fully.

Bird Blues= song form popularised by Charlie Parker, basically a Blues form full of substitute and passing chords.

Edge = start of the song.

50

Mathematicians have a habit of using ordinary words with precise mathematical meanings. E.g. set, group, ring, field, space, lattice, sheaf, cycle, annihilator, Lie group, Lie algebra, Killing form. Sophus Lie was a 19th century Norwegian mathematician and Wilhelm Killing, a 19th century German. Proxmire* once freaked over an NSF grant to study Lie algebras, thinking it meant lie algebras. A friend of mine was discussing annihilators with someone else in an airport and some woman called the TSA, accusing them of planning a terrorist attack. It took some quick talking to avoid missing their flight. Imagine if they had been talking about Killing forms!

*Senator William Proxmire, D, WI, the guy who replaced Joe McCarthy and was (in)famous for giving out the “Golden Fleece” awards to research grants that he, in his ignorance, thought especially risible. Utter asshole. But not as bad as who he replaced.

51

Reminding me of one of my favorite questions: What’s the opposite of a BOY test?

52

It’s not too rare. You’ll see it here and there on lib blogs, or opponents making fun of said libs. “Check your privilege, cis-scum!” is practically a meme by now.

53

hmmm racist stereotype and no sales, nup not seeing the connection…

54

Took my gyp out today on pairs. Sent her on a go bye to get in front and she grouped real pretty. There was a single she missed and I had to call a lookback but she got him turned with a head grip and rated him well all the way to the bunch.

This would be a guy rounding up cows and calves using a female dog.

55

Me too, which is why it makes sense in the context of waiting tables. If you’re in the weeds, you’re struggling to catch up, and the service you’re giving (and your tip) is almost certainly going to suffer, just like your golf score will almost certainly suffer.

Maybe the term went from golf –> waiting tables –> other uses? It would be interesting to know how the usage developed.

Not exactly. This might be a bad time to admit to being a lifelong Who fanatic, but I have no idea what any of those mean. Maybe because I just listen to the music and don’t participate in discussions?

Anyway, if you would be so kind as to tell me what they stand for, I’d be most grateful.

56

It took me awhile but I could identify all but the first two.

57

Oh, they’re songs! I figured they must be something more esoteric to warrant enough discussion to bother with acronyms.

MG - My Generation
TKAA - The Kids ARe Alright
BOR - Baba O’Riley
ICSFM - I Can See For Miles
WGFA - Won’t Get Fooled Again
SMFM - See Me, Feel Me
YBYB - You Better, You Bet (is there really that much to say about this song?)

58

Oh, let’s see here…

Squirt box - Radar simulator. Used to test the RWR

RWR (pronounced RAW, for some reason) - radar warning receiver

Donkey Dick - numerous cables, hoses, and probes. Basically, anything that is remotely dick-like

Snoopy - a locally manufactured tool that looked like a Snoopy profile. Used for hanging jamming pods on F4s

Jammer - a bomb lifter/bomb loader. Basically a flattened forklift, used to load bombs, fuel tanks and jamming pods

FWS - Fucking White Shit. White, silicon thermal paste (I only heard this used at one base)

Hat/RF Hat - the covers we placed over the transmit antennas of ECM pods

Block/Blocked/Block In/Block Out - When an aircraft has arrived at or left it’s intended parking spot.

NUB - Non Usable Body. Basically, a newb, someone who is assigned to a job but not yet qualified

Hammerhead - the wide area at the end of a taxi-way, usually right before the runway

Booger-hooker - crew chief

ROAD - Retired On Active Duty. That old NCO that has less than a year until retirement, and just doesn’t give a shit

Jam - to load or install something. On A-10s, we jammed pods, on B-52s we jammed RTs (receiver-transmitters) and chaff

Nonner - anyone that doesn’t work on the flight line

Tweaker - jewelers screwdriver

EWO - Electronic warfare officer

And one of the systems on which I worked had adorable names for the tests, such as ABINGA and ABAGOO.

59

I sure wish more of you were defining the terms you’re throwing out.

In the tea business, there are words for tea styles that any tea aficionado would know (e.g., oolong or pu-erh), and quite a few words that don’t mean quite the same thing to everyone else. A few off the top of my head:

[ul]
[li]Cupping: Tasting different teas and comparing them.[/li][li]Infusion: A drink produced by steeping leaves in water.[/li][li]Tisane: Any infusion that’s not made from the tea plant (Camellia sinensis).[/li][li]Dust: Tea leaves broken into tiny pieces, usually used in teabags.[/li][li]Fannings: Pieces slightly bigger than dust.[/li][li]CTC: Cut, tear, curl. The way machines process black tea leaves.[/li][li]Orthodox: Hand-rolled tea leaves, or leaves rolled by a machine that mimics hand-rolling.[/li][li]Fixing: Using heat to kill the enzymes that make tea leaves oxidize.[/li][/ul]

Then there are names of equipment used for drinking or preparing tea (and I’ll include yerba maté here even though it’s technically not tea):

[ul]
[li]Gaiwan: A vessel used for tasting, cupping, or “active drinking” of loose tea[/li][li]Bombilla: A metal straw with a filter on the end for drinking yerba maté from a gourd[/li][li]Tisane: Any infusion that’s not made from the tea plant (Camellia sinensis).[/li][li]Chawan: The bowl used for matcha tea in a Japanese tea ceremony.[/li][li]Chasen: The whisk used for matcha.[/li][/ul]

There are also tea words that almost everybody outside the industry gets wrong:

[ul]
[li]Fermenting: Black tea is not fermented. It’s oxidized. Pu-erh tea is fermented.[/li][li]Orange Pekoe: This is not a type of tea. It’s a grade of tea. And there’s no orange involved. If anyone’s interested, I wrote out a description of this grading system here.[/li][/ul]

Software engineering seems to have picked up a surprising number of acronyms from the military. One counter-intuitive example:

FUBAR (F***ed Up Beyond All Repair/Recognition) has turned into the two common signal or variable names “FOO” and “FOOBAR” (the opposite of FOO).

SNAFU (Situation Normal: All F***ed Up) is used just about everywhere now.