Date: Sat, 12 Jul 1997 13:08:57 -0400

From: Gareth Branwyn GarethB2[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM

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You can't be cool if you're using outdated lingo.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



--------------