# Words imposed on us which we do not need **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 3, 2024, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707 "2024-09-03T23:25:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/121 "2024-09-16T16:44:24Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > It surely can’t be difficult to infer that “reboot” and “restart” are (almost) the same thing, or at least they’re used interchangeably so often that they may as well mean the same thing. I tend not to “infer” things when it comes to computers, because what is intuitive to me so often seems at odds with what the designers consider obvious. Just because something sounds/looks similar, is not sufficient basis for me to press buttons willy nilly. I “restart” my computer at the end of every day, and I “shut down” when traveling between my home and the office. On the much more infrequent occasions that I’m told to reboot, I want to be sure I am doing exactly what I am being instructed, rather than relying on an inference - which could easily be wrong. Just another chapter in my ongoing rant about how computer manufacturers fail to design their products for the least sophisticated users. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/122 "2024-09-16T16:50:01Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I “restart” my computer at the end of every day, Why do you do that? You turn it off and then back on again when you are done with it? How is the word “restart” at all difficult to comprehend? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/123 "2024-09-16T17:00:08Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Just another chapter in my ongoing rant about how computer manufacturers fail to design their products for the least sophisticated users. I’ll gently suggest that their expectation is that their least sophisticated users are assumed to be able to learn, and even about topics they’re not greatly motivated to know more about. Learning happens automatically and sub-consciously, albeit in fits and starts and often with minor misconceptions baked in. Such that even though there is nothing “intuitive” the fist time you touch a keyboard or mouse, soon enough you (any you) pick up the basics due to them supplying a reasonable amount of consistency of behavior and design across various tasks. FYI, to about 99% fidelity, turning the computer completely off and back on results in the same “booting” process as does choosing [restart]. From the Windows OS and user software POV they are 100% identical. If there are any differences, they reside down in the hardware of attached accessories or peripherals like networking devices, video devices, etc. Each of which components themselves are little bitty computers on their own. And which only receive a “restart from absolutely positively scratch” when the electricity is physically interrupted. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/124 "2024-09-16T18:27:17Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Computers reboot, movies and TV shows do not. Reboot [ReBoot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReBoot)! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/125 "2024-09-16T18:49:31Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Not much to add to what I already said. Moving “bookmark” into the web-browsing context and making it a verb is a useful extension to the language because it’s a very apt analogy. Have you ever heard me complaining about it? No, which to me makes me sound like it’s very arbitrary. “To bookmark” something sounds just as odd as “to favorite” something. I don’t see any qualitative difference. It sounds like if it’s something you grew up with and are used to, you’re fine with the neologism, but if it isn’t, it irks you. Similarly, of course movies and TV shows can be rebooted. Studios reboot classic franchises all the time. Once again, it’s a perfectly cromulent, useful, and understood term that facilitates communication (in my opinion) with succinctness. It’s an apt analogy, just like bookmarking is. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/126 "2024-09-16T18:53:01Z")
This is probably of no particular relevance, but the first time I heard the verb “bootstrap” was in a computer science class around 1975, where it referred not to starting a computer, but to the process of writing a compiler for a language in the language itself. I’ve rarely heard that usage since then. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/127 "2024-09-16T19:11:21Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Here’s one I just encountered - “reboot”. You just, in 2024, encountered the word “reboot” _first time_? That’s genuinely astounding. It’s been a standard part of English vernacular for nearly fifty years. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/128 "2024-09-16T19:16:28Z")
Just as in, just this morning, recently after I had read this thread. But, of course you knew that. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/129 "2024-09-16T19:18:41Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > but to the process of writing a compiler for a language in the language itself. I’ve rarely heard that usage since then. That’s slightly different from the usage I understand. It’s one thing to write a self-hosted language. That’s commonplace and the usual approach is to write the language (maybe a simplified version) in some common language like C, and then once you have a compiler you rewrite it in the target language. Then the language compiles itself and you can throw away the prototype. I guess that’s a bootstrap but I don’t recall hearing it called such. There’s a related thing though that I do know of as bootstrapping. And that is to bring up a compiler system totally from scratch without the use of any external software. And, ideally, in a way that humans can understand. The difficulty is that the starting point has to be a binary blob, since you can’t depend on an assembler, or even a hex decoder, but binary blobs are hard to understand. So the very first stage in the process is to have an absolutely minimal blob that can at least be wholly understood, and which implements some more complex piece. And then keep increasing the complexity while using higher-level constructs to keep it understandable. The motivation for all this is for reproducible software, for security reasons. It should be possible to inspect every piece of software in a stack and be sure it’ll produce a deterministic output. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/130 "2024-09-16T19:26:24Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Just as in, just this morning, recently after I had read this thread. But, of course you knew that. Sorry, I don’t know what you’re accusing me of already knowing. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/131 "2024-09-16T19:32:12Z")
The stupid ~ishing variants that are supposed to distinguish varieties of phishing scams. i.e: Smishing (phishing where the initial contact is SMS messaging) Vishing (phishing where the initial contact is a voice call) Lame lame lame. It’s all just phishing. It really doesn’t need a new, stupid-sounding name just because the scammers used a different channel to deliver it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/132 "2024-09-16T19:44:19Z")
Huh. I haven’t heard of those yet. Are those common? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/133 "2024-09-16T19:53:10Z")
I’m genuinely confused, as well, as there is a thread earlier this year in which he used the word “reboot,” though probably not understanding fully its meaning. So it’s clearly not the first time the word has been encountered. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/134 "2024-09-16T20:00:23Z")
Moderating: > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > How is the word “restart” at all difficult to comprehend? This borders on a personal attack. Stop now. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/135 "2024-09-16T20:01:26Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Smishing (phishing where the initial contact is SMS messaging) > Vishing (phishing where the initial contact is a voice call) > > Lame lame lame. It’s all just phishing. I, too, have not (yet?) encountered these variants, and thoroughly approve of the above rant. Who cares _how_ the asshole attempted to scam? It’s scam; they’re scum; the end. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/136 "2024-09-16T20:15:54Z")
The latest one I heard is “quishing”, phishing initiated by QR codes in letters. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/137 "2024-09-16T20:57:33Z")
I don’t have a problem with the existence of “favo(u)rited” as a word. But I do see a problem here. **It doesn’t actually tell you what it means.** If you already know the meaning of “favorited” as Microsoft defines it, then you also already know what “Favourites” means in that context. If you’re going to provide an explanation, it should use a different word. * * * That’s my logical argument. But as a pet peeve, Microsoft’s usage of “favorite” has bugged me since it was coined. It is merely the term Microsoft used for bookmarks in Internet Explorer. Because Microsoft had to be different. It isn’t really marking it as one of your favorite websites/files/recipes/etc . It’s just marking something so that you can more easily find it later. You know, like the reason we use physical bookmarks. I much prefer when “favorite” in computer software actually means “favorite.” You know, when you’re marking something as one of your favorite songs, movies, videos, etc. When it actually is a list of things you enjoy. My electric bill website is not one of my favorite websites. Nitpicky, I know, but that’s why I said it’s a small pet peeve. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/138 "2024-09-16T21:24:26Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m genuinely confused, as well, as there is a thread earlier this year in which he used the word “reboot,” though probably not understanding fully its meaning. So it’s clearly not the first time the word has been encountered. I just: had a satisfying meal; spoke with my kid on the phone; saw a red car driving down the street; encountered a jerk on-line… You really think that the fact that these things all just happened, means that is the first and only time I’ve ever encountered them? If so, I’d imagine you might have considerably more difficulty navigating everyday life and conversations than I do wrangling with my computer… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/139 "2024-09-16T21:33:07Z")
_Shrug_ I’m completely befuddled by this line of conversation, so I’ll drop it. I don’t generally have any issues with day-to-day life and conversation. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/140 "2024-09-16T21:58:12Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > > [@wolfpup](#): > > > > Not much to add to what I already said. Moving “bookmark” into the web-browsing context and making it a verb is a useful extension to the language because it’s a very apt analogy. Have you ever heard me complaining about it? > > No, which to me makes me sound like it’s very arbitrary. “To bookmark” something sounds just as odd as “to favorite” something. I don’t see any qualitative difference. It sounds like if it’s something you grew up with and are used to, you’re fine with the neologism, but if it isn’t, it irks you. Maybe to some extent, since I’m an admitted conservative with regard to linguistic change. But mostly, no, I don’t think so. “Bookmark” carries the very clear connotation of marking something for future reference. As I said, I’ve been using internet browsers for a long time – since the days of Mosaic – and never had a problem with the term. Whereas “favourite” carries the connotation of “the thing I like better than others” and turning it into a verb is just befuddling. > [@markn\_1](#): > > This is probably of no particular relevance, but the first time I heard the verb “bootstrap” was in a computer science class around 1975, where it referred not to starting a computer, but to the process of writing a compiler for a language in the language itself. I’ve rarely heard that usage since then. This is exactly like one of the examples I gave, of a LISP compiler written in LISP compiling itself. Bootstrapping is central to computing technology, and doesn’t just involve the startup of a computer, but to directly leveraging existing technology to develop superior versions. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Similarly, of course movies and TV shows can be rebooted. Studios reboot classic franchises all the time. Once again, it’s a perfectly cromulent, useful, and understood term that facilitates communication (in my opinion) with succinctness. It’s an apt analogy, just like bookmarking is. Given my previous descriptions of what “boot” and “reboot” technically mean in their original context, how is this an apt analogy for movies and TV shows? How is it not just a silly substitute for “remake”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707.md?page=8)