Date: Sat, 12 Jul 1997 13:08:57 -0400 From: Gareth Branwyn Subject: Re: lingo (fwd) In a message dated 7/12/97 12:51:07 PM, gpulliam[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]charlie.cns.iit.edu (Greg Pulliam) wrote: >I know a lot of these have already made their way onto this list, but I >think there are enough new ones to warrant this unedited forward. > >Greg Pulliam > > >>>X-Sender: penny[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]pop-in >>>Mime-Version: 1.0 >>>Date: Thu, 10 Jul 1997 11:11:52 -0400 >>>To: fys[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]chaos.cc.ncsu.edu (F.Y. Sorrell), ALeBourgeois[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]cgsh.com, >>> josephm[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]access.digex.net, whodat[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dockingbay.com, >>>flanman[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]eos.ncsu.edu, >>> buz[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]wilma.colorado.edu >>>From: pennyleb[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ncsu.edu (Penny LeBourgeois) >>>Subject: lingo >>> >>> >>>>You can't be cool if you're using outdated lingo. Here's the latest >>>>from the >>>>corporate and Silicon Valley jungles. >>>> >>>>"percussive maintenance" = the fine art of whacking a device to get it >>>>working >>>> >>>>"prairie dogging" = in companies where everyone has a cubicle -- >>>> something happens, and everyone pops up to look >>>> >>>>"blowing your buffer" = losing your train of thought [rest of list deleted] That list, an email virus I've received dozens of times, is swipped from my Jargon Watch column in Wired. The terms, of course, are not mine, but the definitions are. Obviously, I don't mind it being passed around in email, but it's gone much farther. Stripped of any attribution, the list has shown up in The Washington Post (twice!), The Economist, the Microsoft corporate newsletter and several dailies. I find it ironic that this would happen when traditional media seems to spend so much time these days saying disparaging things about online media and how the information you find online can't be trusted. A quick Web search by these publishers on any of the terms would have picked up my Jargon Watch column and the appropriate copyright information. As I told The Washington Post: "I always wanted to be in The Post, but I assumed that my name would appear with my work." Gareth -------------------------------------------- Gareth Branwyn garethb2[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]aol.com, http://home.earthlink.net/~garethb2/ Contributing editor, Wired Co-author of the _Happy Mutant Handbook_ and _Internet Power Toolkit_ Author of _Jargon Watch: A Pocket Dictionary for the Jitterati_ (HardWired)