# When I hear Java, the first thing I think of is... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 20, 2011, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407 "2011-08-20T04:04:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407/21 "2011-08-21T01:51:13Z")
I never call coffee “Java”, nor do I ever hear it called that; I only know it’s a term for coffee because of a song “[Java Jive](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP6IUqrFHjw)” (“I love coffee, I love tea…”) which I heard performed quite well by an _a cappella_ band in high school, and subsequently in innumerable crossword puzzle clues. I know it’s a geographic place but I don’t think about it much, unless I happen to be marveling about the amazing and still mostly speculated history of the spread of the Polynesian people over the Pacific, which I occasionally do. The computer language, on the other hand, I deal with (if not personally code in) on a near daily basis at work. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407/22 "2011-08-21T02:20:41Z")
Yeah, a big cuppa Java. Sure, grampops – we all grew up in the great one when you were alive. It’s a gay-ass name for a pooter language invented by nerds. ETA I grew up in a whole-bean coffee shop owned by my parents, so I knew what Java was, or rather, where it was, since the time I could read, which was three). ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407/23 "2011-08-21T02:21:09Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > Since I was just embroiled in a imbroglio amongst folk who should know better over how confusing ETA vs ETA vs ETA is, I’m not going to answer, and simply comment that context is everything. SEEING the word identifies it immediately; hearing it, not so much. > > I can’t answer without context, because there is ALWAYS context, even if it’s just who is saying it. But the island comes first to mind right now, simply because you capitalized it. I’ll give you that. Sure. But I’m wondering what the most immediate association is with that term. I was sitting around in the music department at school a while back, and I forget big swaths of the conversation, but someone said, “it would work better _inaudible grumble_ JAVA!” We were talking about gamelan music, so I assumed from the context that he was talking about the island. Someone else thought he wanted to make a music applet for a computer. It turns out he wanted to go for a coffee. We all had a laugh at our triple misunderstanding, which prompted this thread many months later. So, trying to adjust for context as much as possible, I was wondering what your first guess would be! ---
**Author:** ![gladtobeblazed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@gladtobeblazed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gladtobeblazed)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407/24 "2011-08-21T02:25:54Z")
First thing I think of is java.exe, that shitty process that eats up my cpu every time an application runs on it. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407/25 "2011-08-21T03:03:57Z")
Coffee. Definitely coffee. I only think “Java = programming language” when a popup prompts me to update. I ignore it, and it goes away; and once again “java” means “coffee” in my world. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407/26 "2011-08-21T03:10:12Z")
[Java Man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Man) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407/27 "2011-08-21T06:42:32Z")
I never hear just ‘java’ without something to clue me into which Java they are talking about. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407/28 "2011-08-21T06:58:08Z")
I think coffee. When I here Java in context with anything computer related I think ‘that coffee based computer programing’ ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407/29 "2011-08-21T07:09:38Z")
I live on Java, so of course the Indonesian island is the first thing I think of. But I am used to the fact that most often when I see the word on the internet, it is referring to a programming language. ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407/30 "2011-08-21T09:12:57Z")
What? 28 responses in and no one mentioned the Javas from Star Wars? That’s actually the first thing that comes to my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407/31 "2011-08-21T09:13:51Z")
> [@Pitchmeister](#): > > What? 28 responses in and no one mentioned the Javas from Star Wars? That’s actually the first thing that comes to my mind. I think those are Ja **w** as. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407/32 "2011-08-21T14:42:49Z")
> [@Jaledin](#): > > . . . name for a pooter language invented by nerds. . . Is there a computer language invented by non-nerds? I’d really like to hear about these mythical creatures! Do they code in between football games? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407/33 "2011-08-21T17:39:28Z")
> [@Pitchmeister](#): > > What? 28 responses in and no one mentioned the Javas from Star Wars? That’s actually the first thing that comes to my mind. > [@Jragon](#): > > I think those are Ja **w** as. Although selling coffee beverages instead of droids, across the infinite deserts of Tatooine, might make for a far better business model. Then Uncle Owen could trade some of his water for coffee, and get the whole family off that nasty blue milk. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407/34 "2011-08-22T00:58:34Z")
Krakatoa, East of Java (the movie). I know that Krakatoa is actually _west_ of Java. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407/35 "2011-08-22T01:29:11Z")
Just wondering: for those who said “coffee” was their first association with the word “java” - is that actually common usage for you, and if so, where are you? As I mentioned earlier, I literally cannot recall ever hearing the word “java” for coffee except in a very old song from the 1940s (“Java Jive”) and in word puzzles. I’ve never seen it listed on a menu either. Pretty much people just say “coffee”, in my experience, unless it’s something even more specific that they want, like a “soy latte macchiatto” or some such. Occasionally, I’ll hear or give a jaunty request for “a cup o’ joe”. But never “java”. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407/36 "2011-08-22T01:33:53Z")
I think of [a classic Muppet skit](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r395r7V7hjo). ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407/37 "2011-08-22T01:38:56Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Depends on context. Without context, probably coffee. > > There’s also [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r395r7V7hjo). 😃 Ditto on the context thing, and I almost went with “other” to mention Al Hirt. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407/38 "2011-08-22T01:41:43Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > [Java Man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Man) I’m honestly ashamed that I didn’t think of this until your post. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407/39 "2011-08-22T01:50:59Z")
I think computer language first and foremost, then remember it was named after coffee, from an island… ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407/40 "2011-08-22T02:09:17Z")
First thought is usually this [- YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eovIVF8IgE4) (or what\*\* runner pat\*\* and a few others have mentioned), then coffee. Like others, I only think of the computer language as that @#$% thing that pops up on my 'puter pretty often wanting me to update it. The Indonesian island only in the proper context. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-hear-java-the-first-thing-i-think-of-is/593407.md?page=3)