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"New" Words From the Geek Culture
thatskinnyguy sends news of Merriam-Webster's 2008 list of new words and, to no-one's surprise, a good number of them come out of geek culture: words like webinar, malware, netroots, pretexting, and fanboy are now official words according to M-W. The CNet article pulls out one "new" word for special appreciation — mondegreen — and, while the article gets the origin right, it ends with a lame call for readers to send in their favorite mondegreens. (CNet does have the good grace to link the Kiss This Guy site.) SFGate columnist Jon Carroll has been collecting readers' mondegreens since 1995 and his list is bound to be better. Quoting Carroll, in a prophetic mode: "This space has been for some years the chief publicity agent for mondegreens. The Oxford English Dictionary has not yet seen the light, but it will, it will." Would you believe, Merriam-Webster's?
...that I don't know what almost all these words mean? What is a "webinar" for example? I guess I'm just not cool anymore... :|
...personally enjoy being able to watch languages evolve, but, "Webinar"?!
It should only be used in the phrase:
"What in the webinar you doing, scumm!?"
I prefer the acronym, OCS: Online Collaborative Seminar.
You spelled "fanboi" wrong.
Sincerely,
AC
These words are just hipster-speak. Wired would be proud (but probably disappointed that they didn't get "triple-dub" in the dictionary).
Witness the birth of a new geek word on Arstechnica forum:
pludgeverb
1 [ intrans. ] to install an operating system update before verifying that it's safe to do so on the [Ars Mac forum]
http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8300945231/m/953002313931
The thread is now the third link on Google if you search for the word.
To a geek, 'google for SSL' makes sense.
hilarious
I realize being a language Nazi is nerdy, even by Slashdot standards, but this summary is just shockingly awful!
The headline reads "\"New\" Words From The Geek Culture". So the summary starts off with a single line on it, then randomly rambles on about CNet focusing on 'mondegreens'. Bzzt! Summary-headline mismatch already! Now it's possible that kdawson is just mimicking TFA, which does the same, but that's a frcikin' blog post! Somehow, a rambling blog post has been distilled into (if it's possible) a fumbly summary as well!
All this meandering is topped off with a quite inexplicable question: "Would you believe, Merriam-Webster's?"
Seriously, WTF?
[Slashdot Comments We Liked]
"How about a newspaper columnist and few geeks on the net?"
I gave up on Webster's as an authoritative source on the English language after they added bling to its dictionary. Noah Webster would be angered by the himbos now in charge of his publication. Perhaps the publishers are just part of the Sandwich generation and spend too much time with their parents while their mouse potato kids edit the dictionary for them.
I knew I should have started questioning MW when they added D'OH! (ala Homer Simpson) in as a word..
I can finally tell someone their picture should be in the dictionary under fanboy.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
That's because the summary is wrong; "webinar" does not come from the geek world. It comes from the Dilbert world, where marketroids are compelled to make up stupid names for every mildly novel thing. Also, "pretexting" comes from the worlds of crime and espionage. The submitter learned about it in a geeky context (hacking) because the submitter is a geek and learns about most things in a geeky context.
Next some teenager will claim that "money shot" and "barely legal" are geeky terms just because he never watched porn before the internet.
This smacks of the dictionary trying to be overly trendy - I expect a lot of these will be quietly dropped from this dictionary in years to come.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
syn. "use Gentoo Linux"
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
Efforting - V - newspeak - The act of an incompetent journalistic organization to appear busy - "We are efforting to bring you more details."
I am hearing this more and more... I say STFU and just say "trying" or "working on" instead of bullshitting us while trying to sound cromulent.
On that note, while they're at it, they ought to add STFU to their little book o' words. It is a perfectly spatulant word and the English-speaking world would be metalopulant to finally instructulate it offically.
FairTax baby!
Yup. If they came from a geek angle they'd have the security definition of "social engineering". Their current entry defines social engineering as either "management of human beings in accordance with their place and function in society" or applied social science.
Although, of course, the latter could be used as a cynical way of describing what social engineering is...
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
What does "pretexting" have to do with geek culture? You don't have to be a geek to use a chat programs or a web browser and I think very few of us ever engaged in such activity.
You may as well be saying kiddie fiddling is part of Christian culture.
now all we need is to add "cromulent" to the dictionary.
wc2 and c&c are days that are not so old, "paps"
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Just to throw one of my favorites out there, since I rarely get a chance to share this one any more...
The Police once sang a song about a rather disturbing girl with "Owl Beef wrapped around your finger".
Strange thing is the most important NEW word is still not in the m-w...
slashdot
I think it's too late. Already common use and even listed in some dictionaries.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/google
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/google (lists 5 references to google)
TANSTAAFL GIGO Acronyms to live by!
http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2006-07-06-new-words_x.htm (google was added two years ago)
TANSTAAFL GIGO Acronyms to live by!
the name "wulu" is now a widespread word used in place of calling somone a newb, (wulu is a character so moronic that his name is now shuned)
anyways the new world of SG is all tatical and nobody ever just sees it as a game they are always screaming at eachother and calling eachoter wulus for there mistakes.
Simply love that screaming: WULUUU!, WULUUUU!! during SG battles...
/Jossarian from Agartha/TOFU on MP
On Internet, nobody knows you are an AI script ... until you show the lack of sense of humor. It's our last line of online defense against Skynet infiltrators!
The following words are ones I think should be included in the dictionary*:
Bound-and-hagged = staying home on Friday or Saturday night
Cob nobbler = loser
Dish = desirable guy
Fuzz = heavy wool sweaters
Harsh realm = bummer
Kickers = heavy boots
Lamestain = uncool person
Plats = platform shoes
Swingin' on the flippity-flop = hanging out
Wack slacks = old ripped jeans
*apologies to the NYTimes and Megan Jasper...
This post brought to you by your friendly neighborhood MBA.
Several new words in MW were pulled from geek culture?
Word.
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
At my last job everyone used the term webinar. Just because you have a unique experience doesn't mean everyone else has the same experience...
"The Oxford English Dictionary has not yet seen the light, but it will, it will." Oh but it won't.
- Dan
so craptarded!
The Miriam-Webster folks document its first /recorded/ usage as early as 1919. Presumably, it had been in used in spoken form even earlier. So this is a case of the IT crowd adopting pre-existing slang rather than IT speak making its way out into the general culture.
I gleaned this from the AP article. The interesting thing to me is how old some of these new words are, like usage of wing nut to describe a radical out in the far wing of a political party dates back to 1900.
At my last job everyone used the term webinar. Just because you have a unique experience doesn't mean everyone else has the same experience...
Actually, if you have a unique experience, that specifically means that no one else has had that experience. I learned that at a recent company 'blogginar'.
Mondegreen: Named after Lord Alfred Fredrick Mondegreen of Cornwall, who legend has it was was a total poseur douche when it came to music.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Don't tell anyone, but articles - in newspapers or on the web - are almost always written to generate "traffic". This is true even for "free" publications, which get funded by advertising commensurate to their volume of readership. Shhh ....
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
TFA links to an associated press story that they got their information from (practically copypasta... god I hope that becomes a word in the vernacular) and it states Malware is now an official word, ie in the W-M dictionary.
So this brings me to a tech question! How is this different than a term I've been hearing around the office, "Bloatware". The context for bloatware is cleaning crap off of a computer it came installed with, that generally slows down the darn thing.
Posting with out proof reading since 2001.
My 93-year-old grandfather died last year, after waiting over 80 years for "skiddoo" to be added (to no avail). And you have the nerve to bitch about having to wait a few years?!?!
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
It is absolutely possible to react in a proactive manner. It is not an oxymoron. For example, if someone pulls a knife, one can react by trying to defend oneself, or one can be proactive and rush them and remove the knife from their control.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
I've always understood the word malware to encompass actively malicious software. Bloat is annoying, a keylogger is malicious.
William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
And I thought "Bloatware" was any new release from Microsoft.
10x the size of the last release with the menu re-arranged so you can't find anything.
Plus 15 new craptacular "features" (We call em bugs folks)
If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur. --Red Adair
Unless "shitcock" is in there, it's NOT comprehensive.
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Rickrolled.
The problem with "Preventative Maintenance" is that it produces a rather eye-catching acronym when you provide that type of Service... Preventative Maintenance Services - P.M.S. Now *that* sounds professional.
I recall reading a Jon Carrol column in the SF Chronicle about mondegreens in about 1986. IT was at the least no later than 1987. And now that I look in Wikipedia, the word was coined in 1954:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen
Some people just take a very long time to catch up with the cool kids :)
Hey! Good to see another SG player here on Slashdot. I'm quanticletwo on Atlantis in MP.
We all know what to do, but we don't know how to get re-elected once we have done it
We had plenty of words already.
They're just adding random shit in EA-style to sell more dictionaries.
Here's a list of the known additions.
Below them, I provide an alternate word (or phrase) that already exists that is synonymous with the new word or phrase.
Side note - dictionaries have no fucking business using phrases!
Air quotes (1989): gesture made by raising and flexing the index and middle fingers of both hands, used to call attention to a spoken word or expression.
Miming.
Dark energy (1998): hypothetical form of energy that produces a force that opposes gravity and is thought to cause the accelerating expansion of the universe.
Science.
Dirty bomb (1956): bomb designed to release radioactive material.
Radiation bomb.
Dwarf planet (1993): celestial body that orbits the sun and has a spherical shape, but is too small to disturb other objects from its orbit.
Satellite.
Edamame (1951): immature green soybeans, usually in the pod.
Soybeans.
Fanboy (1919): boy who is an enthusiastic devotee, such as of comics or movies.
Fanatic.
Infinity pool (1992): outdoor swimming pool with an edge over which water flows into a trough, but seems to flow into the horizon.
Pool.
Jukebox musical (1993): musical that features popular songs from the past.
Musical.
Kiteboarding (1996): the sport of riding on a small surfboard propelled across water by a large kite, to which the rider is harnessed.
Surfing while kiting.
Malware (1990): software designed to interfere with a computer's normal functioning.
Software.
Mental health day (1971): day that an employee takes off from work to relieve stress or renew vitality.
Truancy.
Mondegreen (1954): word or phrase that results from a mishearing of something said or sung. From the mishearing in a Scottish ballad of "laid him on the green" as "Lady Mondegreen."
Mishearing.
Netroots (2003): grassroots political activists who communicate via the Internet, especially by blogs.
Losers.
_Norovirus (2002): any of a genus of small round single-stranded RNA viruses; specifically, Norwalk virus.
Virus.
Pescatarian (1993): vegetarian whose diet includes fish.
Burlap Vegetarian (see Lipstick Lesbian).
Phytonutrient (1994): bioactive, plant-derived compound (as resveratrol) associated with positive health effects.
Vegetables.
Pretexting (1992): presenting oneself as someone else to obtain private information.
Fraud.
Prosecco (1881): a dry Italian sparkling wine.
Wine.
Racino (1995): racetrack at which slot machines are available for gamblers.
Racetrack.
Soju (1978): a Korean vodka distilled from rice.
Vodka.
Subprime (1995) 1: having or being an interest rate that is higher than a prime rate and is extended especially to low-income borrowers; 2: extending or obtaining a subprime loan.
Foreclosure.
Supercross (1983): motorcycle race held in a stadium on a dirt track having hairpin turns and high jumps.
Bike race.
Texas Hold 'em (1995): Poker in which each player is dealt two cards face down and all players share five cards dealt face-up.
I'm all in.
Webinar (1998): live, online educational presentation during which participating viewers can submit questions and comments.
Video.
Wing nut (circa 1900): Slang: one who advocates extreme measures or changes; radical.
Radical.
I realize that you must be joking, but for those who didn't read the linked page to the sfgate columnist (here), this is the story according to him:
"I have no special gift, I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein
I'm really missing the basic geek words and phrases here: "series of tubes", "The Interwebs", "pwnage", etc.
I guess everything has to start somewhere, but it's mildly disappointing that many of these words have no real etymology. "Mondegreen" is a prime example. It literally is a conglomeration of unrelated syllables whose form gives no possible hint to its meaning, as opposed to "misinterpret," which means nearly the same thing but is derived from the commonly understood roots "mis-" (Old english, bad or wrongly) and "interpret."
.
"Webinar" I suppose one already versed in English and modern culture could reasonably guess the meaning, but even it comes from a butchery of the roots. The internet, not the web is the primary element behind a webinar, and the key concept of a seminar over the internet is the "semen" (seed) root, not the "-ar" suffix (pertaining to), yet this
I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad thing, but it doesn't support a well-structured language.
WTF is a mondegreen?!?! Away, foul gibberish!
geeky terms just because he never watched pr0n before the internet.
There, fixed that for you. Is "pr0n" considered a geeky term?
So this brings me to a tech question! How is this different than a term I've been hearing around the office, "Bloatware". The context for bloatware is cleaning crap off of a computer it came installed with, that generally slows down the darn thing.
No. "Bloatware" would be like something written in Java or GNU /bin/true. The term you're looking for is "crapplet".
you mean Pops McGillicudy ?
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