# 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:** 8
**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, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/141 "2024-09-16T22:06:27Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > How is it not just a silly substitute for “remake”? A remake generally keeps the old storyline, a reboot reimagines the storylines, plotlines, universe/setting, etc. At least that how I parse them. Those words are not synonymous to me. ---
**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, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/142 "2024-09-16T22:07:13Z")
I think the earliest examples of “bootstrap” played off the idea of impossibility, like the original “pull oneself up by one’s bootstraps”. It’s not intuitively obvious how a computer’s operating system can get running; in normal operation, the OS is responsible for loading programs, so how does the OS itself get loaded? Well, some other “loader” program loads it, but then how does that loader program get loaded? There seems to be an infinite regress. Modern uses like bootstrapping a TV show or a comic book have mostly lost that “impossibility” connotation. But so what? Language changes. The new use of “reboot” has been used since the 1990s and is firmly entrenched in English. Objecting to it is no more useful than yelling at clouds. I also agree that it’s not exactly synonymous with “remake”. ---
**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, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/143 "2024-09-16T22:21:34Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I think the earliest examples of “bootstrap” played off the idea of impossibility, like the original “pull oneself up by one’s bootstraps”. It’s not intuitively obvious how a computer’s operating system can get running; in normal operation, the OS is responsible for loading programs, so how does the OS itself get loaded? Well, some other “loader” program loads it, but then how does that loader program get loaded? There seems to be an infinite regress. Yes, that was the fun thing about the term. But in reality, the regression isn’t infinite – there is ultimately some entity that kick-starts the whole process, even if it’s just the user entering the code for a first-stage primitive loader through the console switches. As I mentioned, a large mainframe type computer with complex initialization requirements might have a whole minicomputer, already running, dedicated to that task. And if the minicomputer wasn’t already running, it would start up with its own simple bootstrapping tech, and then start up its big brother. A hierarchy of bootstrapping! > [@pulykamell](#): > > > [@wolfpup](#): > > > > How is it not just a silly substitute for “remake”? > > A remake generally keeps the old storyline, a reboot reimagines the storylines, plotlines, universe/setting, etc. And how is that even remotely analogous to the original use of the term in computing? Does a computer “re-imagine” itself and invent a new story line when it restarts? To me, it’s a stupid appropriation of a term from a different contrext that makes no sense in the newly appropriated context, very much like biz-speak, which is basically what this is. Biz-speak not only appropriates terms from other contexts, but invents new words, uses nouns as verbs, verbs as nouns, and generally mutilates the language beyond all recognition. ---
**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, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/144 "2024-09-16T22:22:04Z")
Discussion led me to look up the definition of bootstrapping. I have long been familiar with the term, but never WRT computers. I had always thought of it in the “Pull oneself up by one’s own bootstraps” manner. I now see that there are many uses WRT computers and business. Never crossed my mind that booting a computer was a short form of bootstrapping. And - I’ll let it drop at this point - but someone upthread suggested that reboot = restart. When I restart, I go to the C/A/D screen. But someone else said pressing the on button “starts the booting process.” So. if I want to reboot, it makes just as much sense to me that I want to get to the start of the booting process - in other words, turn the machine completely off. Yeah, I could do what computerphiles seem to enjoy, view it as an interesting puzzle and just click various combinations of keys until I get the desired effect. But I DON’T find it an interesting puzzle. I just want the damned tool to work the way it is supposed to. And when it fails to do so, I prefer unambiguous instructions to follow to get it corrected. ---
**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, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/145 "2024-09-16T22:25:13Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Biz-speak not only appropriates terms from other contexts, but invents new words, uses nouns as verbs, verbs as nouns, and generally mutilates the language beyond all recognition. All that for me is a bonus in language. All that stuff is fun! I don’t necessarily like all the neologisms, but I do end up adopting a good 80-90% of them. Like the term “onboarding” was completely new to me until a few months ago when I had to undergo an “onboarding,” but it’s such a succinct term that made sense the first time I heard it, and I like it. No idea why you are having a problem with the “reboot” analogy. When a computer reboots, it starts from a blank slate, basically. It’s an apt analogy, a zippy word, and it works great. ---
**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, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/146 "2024-09-16T22:32:53Z")
Rebooting and restarting are the same thing. The machine is on and you want to turn it off and then back on again to fix a problem. That’s all both those words mean. There is no “cntrl/alt/del” screen involved. ---
**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, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/147 "2024-09-16T22:44:40Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > There is no “cntrl/alt/del” screen involved. Thank you for explaining that what I encounter each and every work day with my computer does not occur. When I “restart” at the end of the day _(as specifically directed. I don’t really know or care why - I think it has something to do with being available for updates. I don’t understand why, so untill I learned it through repetition, I printed off a cheat sheet and pinned it above my desk as to when I “restart” and when I “shut down”)_, the computer goes to the cntl/alt/del screen w/ some pretty landscape picture. The computer never goes completely dark, as it does when I “shut down” - which is what I would consider “turning it off.” The next day, when I want to start work, the first thing I do is press cntrl/alt/del. But you know better than I what I see and do each and every work day. ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/148 "2024-09-16T22:51:28Z")
Maybe I’m repeating what was said in a previous post, but “boot” comes from the phrase “pick oneself up by one’s bootstraps,” and has the specific technical meaning of bringing a computer into a useable but minimally affected state. Of course dragging the term into the progress of a drama series is maybe a little affected, but making analogies with whatever technology is contemporary at the time is hardly odd or special to modern times. (BTW, when was the last time you saw a “bootstrap”?) On another sub-thread of this topic: why do we have “lengthy” to substitute for “long?” We don’t have “widthy” for “wide” or “heighty” for “high.” (Those of you who like to use “whilst” for “while” can chime in now…) ---
**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, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/149 "2024-09-16T23:18:47Z")
> [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > Maybe I’m repeating what was said in a previous post, but “boot” comes from the phrase “pick oneself up by one’s bootstraps,” and has the specific technical meaning of bringing a computer into a useable but minimally affected state. It refers to bringing a computer into the fully functional state in which it was last configured in persistent memory, with the loss of all cache and dynamic memory of running programs. > [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > Of course dragging the term into the progress of a drama series is maybe a little affected, but making analogies with whatever technology is contemporary at the time is hardly odd or special to modern times. IMHO, it’s more than “a little affected”. It’s meaningless and ridiculous. > [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > On another sub-thread of this topic: why do we have “lengthy” to substitute for “long?” We don’t have “widthy” for “wide” or “heighty” for “high.” Because “length” can also be applied to the measurement of time, and to related concepts like the time to read something. Whereas those other terms strictly describe dimensionality in physical space. ---
**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, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/150 "2024-09-16T23:34:19Z")
> [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > On another sub-thread of this topic: why do we have “lengthy” to substitute for “long?” We don’t have “widthy” for “wide” or “heighty” for “high.” We do have “weighty” though. ---
**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, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/151 "2024-09-16T23:47:51Z")
The idea with a reboot (in entertainment media) is that you are restarting something from the ground up. Just like what happens when you restart your computer. This is opposed to a sequel, where everything that happened before still happens, and a remake where you’re trying to make a new version of the same basic thing. Star Trek (2009) is a reboot. They didn’t remake the first Star Trek movie. But they did find a way to reset the timeline so that stuff established before no longer counts. It fits perfectly with other figurative uses of “reboot,” which always mean to start fresh in some way. ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/152 "2024-09-17T00:08:19Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > > [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > > > Of course dragging the term into the progress of a drama series is maybe a little affected, but making analogies with whatever technology is contemporary at the time is hardly odd or special to modern times. > > IMHO, it’s more than “a little affected”. It’s meaningless and ridiculous. > > > [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > > > On another sub-thread of this topic: why do we have “lengthy” to substitute for “long?” We don’t have “widthy” for “wide” or “heighty” for “high.” > > Because “length” can also be applied to the measurement of time, and to related concepts like the time to read something. Whereas those other terms strictly describe dimensionality in physical space. According to Wiktionary, no. From their definiiton of “lengthy:” **_adjective_:** Having length; long and overextended, especially in time rather than dimension. **_adjective_:** Speaking or writing at length; long-winded. But I appreciate your nice clarification of “bootstrap.” We’ll have to agree to disagree about shlepping it into movie lingo. ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/153 "2024-09-17T00:11:33Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > > [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > > > On another sub-thread of this topic: why do we have “lengthy” to substitute for “long?” We don’t have “widthy” for “wide” or “heighty” for “high.” > > We do have “weighty” though. “Weighty” is not redundant with some other word derived from “weight,” the way “lengthy” is redundant with “long” (from which “length” is derived…) The only synonym form “weighty” is “heavy,” presumably related to “heft” (but by now not really synonymous with “hefty.”) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/154 "2024-09-17T00:16:56Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I just want the damned tool to work the way it is supposed to. And when it fails to do so, I prefer unambiguous instructions to follow to get it corrected. Okay, booter. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/155 "2024-09-17T03:12:24Z")
If you I’m understand what a computer startup entails, “boot” (yes, from “bootstrap”) makes a ton of sense. Mind you, some of us grew up with Real Computers, which IPL (initial program load), perhaps after an IML (initial microcode load). When squatty boxes started talking about “booting” we all thought it was cute. ---
**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 17, 2024, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/156 "2024-09-17T11:07:10Z")
> [@phs3](#): > > Mind you, some of us grew up with Real Computers, which IPL (initial program load), perhaps after an IML (initial microcode load). When squatty boxes started talking about “booting” we all thought it was cute. I suspect the “IPL” terminology had less to do with Real Computers than with tne culture at IBM of not calling things what they really were, but giving them unnecessarily obtuse labels, though other computer vendors may have also used the “IPL” terminology. For instance, in most of the world computers had disk drives connected to a direct memory access (DMA) interface. IBM would never acknowledge such a thing. At IBM, Data Processing Systems had DASDs (Direct Access Storage Device) connected to a “selector channel”. Which was exactly the same thing but cost three times as much. You could hardly expect such a wondrous thing to “boot” . It had to “IPL”! ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/157 "2024-09-17T15:25:51Z")
Seems a cromulent development… ---
**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 17, 2024, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/158 "2024-09-17T20:01:57Z")
> [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > On another sub-thread of this topic: why do we have “lengthy” to substitute for “long?” We don’t have “widthy” for “wide” or “heighty” for “high.” We have girthy and lofty. ---
**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 17, 2024, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/159 "2024-09-17T20:04:32Z")
That sounds like a bodily function. ---
**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 17, 2024, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/160 "2024-09-17T20:21:16Z")
😀 That’s right, as in “Sorry, I have quished a fart”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707.md?page=9)