"New" Words From the Geek Culture 191
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?
Is it wrong... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Is it wrong... (Score:4, Informative)
Webinar : Seminar on the web, usually using youtube, flash or some other video/podcast like medium.
Re:Is it wrong... (Score:5, Funny)
Unfortunately the parent's name is unknown, or we'd have a good candidate for a new word to denote a dim pillock who explains jokes. And, while the angels weep, gets modded up for it.
Re:Is it wrong... (Score:5, Insightful)
Disown it!
And seriously, what does mondegreen have to do with geek either -- nor is it in any way a new word. This seems like a another sockpuppet article designed to generate traffic for a website.
Newsflash (Score:2)
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 ....
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Webinar : Seminar on the web, usually using youtube, flash or some other video/podcast like medium, used by people who have only attended lecture-format courses.
You see, the problem with "webinars" is that in actual practice they have little to do with interactive discussion and everything to do with a lecture.
Re:Is it wrong... (Score:5, Funny)
What is a "webinar" for example?
It was invented by a group of HR people. They needed a cool new word for "webcast", so people wouldn't get angry when they found out that instead of spending a week at retreat on professional development, they were to be locked in a room with a projector instead.
Re:Is it wrong... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Is it wrong... (Score:4, Funny)
THANK YOU
First time I heard this was from our marketing guy my response was along the lines of a shutter and yelling at him to NEVER use that word again in front of me. They are web presentations. Webinar is a new word for the bullsh*t bingo card.
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There are lots of words that marketing drones create that are irritating, but "webinar" has a purpose.
A webinar -- in the context my company uses it -- is more like a web-based seminar. Both a seminar and a webinar are targeted to an external audience (outside the company), have a moderator (usually a third party person), and may be hosted by more than one company. A webinar is more expensive than just a regular "web presentation" since there's some logistics involved (hiring a third party to set it up and
Re:Is it wrong... (Score:5, Funny)
You're a marketer aren't you?
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my response was along the lines of a shutter and yelling at him to NEVER...
Does that count as a mondegreen, or just poor command of English?
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For reference, it's shudder that you're looking for, not shutter, which is what is put over a window during a storm.
Re:Is it wrong... (Score:5, Funny)
1) something formed by or as if by weaving. There's a spider webinar garage
Re:Is it wrong... (Score:5, Funny)
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some would argue that Foxworthy's catchy hickisms are nothing more than southern versions of mondegreens.
One of my favorite song mondegreen is "I've got, two chickens with parasites"
Re:Is it wrong... (Score:5, Funny)
I find it egregious that it took until 2007 to add "w00t" to the dictionary. I was using w00t back in the Warcraft II and Command & Conquer days.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have some juvenile delinquents that I need to evict from my grass.
hah (Score:2)
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Heck, someone's going to start talking about ogging next..
Re:Is it wrong... (Score:4, Funny)
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I've always wondered, how do you get a yard in your parents' basement? And if you had an hydrophonic yard, wouldn't juveniles be committing burglary when they're there?
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Quit your bitching (Score:2)
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Re:Is it wrong... (Score:5, Interesting)
Even if you can guess what it means, it's always good fun to pounce on neologisms and jargon and grill the user why they are using them instead of a more traditional word. My Dad told me a great story. He worked for the University which was under pressure from its new Thatcher appointed Vice Chancellor to be more 'commercially oriented' while no one really knew in practice what this meant. The VC gave a speech full or management consultancyisms and uses the word proactive. Someone stood up and asked him if he meant active. The VC blusters and the questioner keeps arguing. After a very long time the VC says "ok, you win I meant active". The questioner sat down. The VC delivered the rest of the speech without much enthusiasm and left without allowing questions from the floor.
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Re:Is it wrong... (Score:5, Insightful)
Primarily because, in my experience, most users of the word "pro-active" are unaware of it's anti-reactive connotations and use it to describe singularly reactive situations ("I want us to respond to this pro-actively"), or even in just syntax-ruining "I've learnt a cool new word" non-sequiturs ("our new rubber grommets have a 100% pro-active paradigm"). In other words, I'm convinced that alot of people use it because they think it sounds More Important than "active" or lack the vocabulary to better describe it.
It's kinda acceptable in most sysadmin circles as most geeks are aware of things like "pro-active" support (I prefer to call it preventative maintenance myself since it means less fuzzyness for the recipient, which we abbreviate to premaint in conversation) but neologisms are mostly a matter of taste. /spot the word-snob ;)
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In other words, I'm convinced that alot of people use it
The Guide to Alot
a lot many Steph had a lot of apples.
allot to divide They alloted 2 apples per person
alot no meaning I found alot of errors in there post!
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"I want us to respond to this pro-actively"
I like that one. I think I'll use it today, just to see if anyone catches the oxymoron.
BTW, being "proactive" is what we used to call "taking initiative", but I suppose that phrase may have had its origin in management-speak, as well...
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"Proactive" is a perfectly good English word. It just sucks when management/consultant types misuse it while trying to sound clever.
This is usually done by the sort of person who says "utilise" instead of "use" and doesn't know the difference between the nouns "use" and "usage".
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Yep. Why were the bad guys always "proceeding forward of myself" instead of "walking in front of me"?
NOT an oxymoron (Score:2)
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You must experience a lot of stupid people.
I usually hear it being used correctly; for example, "we need to tackle the problem of the population getting ill proactively".
Re:Is it wrong... (Score:5, Insightful)
For a self-described "word snob" I'm surprised you bungled "its" ("it's") and "a lot" ("alot"). :)
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(I prefer to call it preventative maintenance myself)
At my old job, that was the phrase they used for "cleaning".
Also, I use it as "the act of tapping the box with a hammer before a Windows or Gentoo install, just so it knows what to expect upon failure".
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Proactive is the opposite of reactive, which are both something else than "active".
You know that and I know that, but apparently the VC giving the speech didn't know that, and the questioner successfully called his bluff. The point isn't that the words don't have useful meanings, it's that people use them to hype up their message without actually knowing those useful meanings.
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`When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, `it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.'
`The question is,' said Alice, `whether you can make words mean so many different things.'
`The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, `which is to be master - - that's all.'
Re:Is it wrong... (Score:5, Funny)
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What, and risk their own opportunities for advancement? Are rose tinted glasses in fashion in your part of Germany?
Re:Is it wrong... (Score:5, Funny)
I guess I'm just not cool anymore...
Oh, dear. Epic coolness fail! Newspeak is made of win. You are not a legend.
On the etymology of mondegreen (Score:2)
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I realize that you must be joking, but for those who didn't read the linked page to the sfgate columnist (here [sfgate.com]), this is the story according to him:
Dear Merriam-Webster: (Score:5, Funny)
You spelled "fanboi" wrong.
Sincerely,
AC
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I always thought that was someone trying to sound french.
New word coined on Arstechnica a week ago (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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if i had mod points, i'd mod you up! (btw, it was number 1 on google for me)
SCNR (Score:5, Funny)
syn. "use Gentoo Linux"
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For shame (Score:5, Insightful)
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?
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Coherence and originality as so Web 1.0. The Web 2.0 way is to get a bunch of uncredited articles and make a 'mashup' of them.
Mind you, Mondegreen is a cool invention
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen [wikipedia.org]
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I guess I might also be a bit of a language nerd. Rarely do I use "new" words when I write something, unless it is so someone I know very well. If I write something on the internet I try to be as easy to understand as I can make it. Often using new or complex words seem to distract or confuse; and language is supposed to inform and enlighten.
However adding new words is good, no doubt about that. But the word have to be commonl
Would you believe, Merriam-Webster's? (Score:2)
"How about a newspaper columnist and few geeks on the net?"
meh, Webster's (Score:5, Funny)
Re:meh, Webster's (Score:5, Insightful)
I gave up on Webster's as an authoritative source on the English language after they added bling to its dictionary.
Why shouldn't a dictionary have that word? People are going to use it, and other people are going to want to know what it means. A dictionary would be failing them by not including it.
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But how many times have you used mouse potato since 1993?
Re:meh, Webster's (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:meh, Webster's (Score:4, Insightful)
But how many times have you used mouse potato since 1993?
Isn't that exactly why it should be in a dictionary? Somebody reading something from the early 1990s might come across it and want to check their understanding of the meaning. If I'm reading old literature I'm rather glad that my dictionary includes "sweven" and "parfay" precisely because I don't normally use those words.
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Rather like the words "jazz" and "hiphop", and the usage of "cool", "chill out", "hip", "dig" to refer to things other the temperature, anatomy, and holes.
The "Black American" dialect (call it "African American Vernacular English", call it "ghetto talk", whatever) has long been a primary source of new words and inventive uses for old ones
Re:meh, Webster's (Score:5, Insightful)
I gave up on Webster's as an authoritative source on the English language after they added bling [merriam-webster.com] to its dictionary.
What do you mean by "authoritative"? Do you think that the purpose of a dictionary is to tell you how the language should be used or to report how it actually is used? Most dictionary compilers see themselves as having the latter role, in which case "bling" certainly deserves a place.
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The dictionary compiles all the words we say, and we make up more words, and the dictionary compiles all the new words we say, and we make up more new words...
Which is a good case for dictionaries moving from paper to electronic formats -- my copy of the Complete Oxford English Dictionary (the "compact" edition) is huge and unwieldly, and long out of date.
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Valid Joke (Score:5, Funny)
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in one day, out the next (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
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Very little.
I remember the first year I read about this trend. They were inducting "bootylicious". During the same induction, they were also putting in some slang term from the 50s which actually had staying power.
it was apparent then that it was pure attention-whoring (if you look this up in MW you'll find a link to MW). People shouldn't be giving dictionaries which include these types of words the time of day.
Newspeak (Score:3, Funny)
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.
All perfectly cromulent words (Score:5, Insightful)
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now all we need is to add "cromulent" to the dictionary.
I don't know why you say that, it is a perfectly cromulent word.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cromulent
Re:All perfectly cromulent words (Score:5, Funny)
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I don't see any reason to embiggen the dictionary.
Unless one wishes to enturbulate the masses.
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Missing a word (Score:3, Interesting)
slashdot
Cool! (Score:2)
Several new words in MW were pulled from geek culture?
Word.
Oxford English (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Oxford English (Score:4, Informative)
Actually, the OED is a descriptive dictionary, and historically has had a habit of picking up words that prescriptivists would rather not see listed. It may be a little less likely to acknowledge gratuitous verbogeny than Webster, but the staff of the OED has always taken their job to be the documentation of English as it is actually used.
`fanboy' didn't come out of the IT culture (Score:4, Informative)
Mondegreen has been around far longer than 1995 (Score:3, Interesting)
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 :)
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What about Google? It has almost replaced 'search this on web' phrase.
To a geek, 'google for SSL' makes sense.
Google's lawyers are hard at work to make sure that their trademark doesn't become a verb and fall to common use status (nullifying the trademark).
Old news (Score:4, Insightful)
I think it's too late. Already common use and even listed in some dictionaries.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/google [merriam-webster.com]
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/google [reference.com] (lists 5 references to google)
another reference (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2006-07-06-new-words_x.htm [usatoday.com] (google was added two years ago)
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Google's lawyers are hard at work to make sure that their trademark doesn't become a verb and fall to common use status (nullifying the trademark).
They should be happy , it's free advertisement.
Then again , they might see that as competition ( they are in the ad business )
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and no googling for one!
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Verbing weirds nouns.
Re:Eye Four One... (Score:5, Funny)
If Merriam-Webster is going to start adding geek words (though the ones added are of a questionable credibility), I petition that they also add geek words with much more historical and cultural significance.
Yes, it is time a major dictionary added the word 'goatse'. But they should hide it in a tiny locked compartment in the back of the dictionary to seal up the evil it contains. Precautions must be taken to prevent unsuspecting people from accidentally reading words of this much power.
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Re:Webinar? WTF? D'Oh! (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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Although, of course, the latter could be used as a cynical way of describing what social engineering is...
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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...
Re:Webinar? WTF? D'Oh! (Score:5, Funny)
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'.
Re:Malware... how is this different than Bloatware (Score:3, Informative)
I've always understood the word malware to encompass actively malicious software. Bloat is annoying, a keylogger is malicious.
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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)
Offtopic: regarding SG (Score:2)
Hey! Good to see another SG player here on Slashdot. I'm quanticletwo on Atlantis in MP.