Subject: More Terms
Date: Thu, May 18 2000 00:00:02 EDT
Jan Altman thought the terms from the 90's were a scream, so she sent along a few good ones that yesterday's list missed...
- Adminisphere:
- The rarefied organizational layers beginning just
above the rank and file. Decisions that fall from the adminisphere are often
profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to
solve.
- Blowing Your Buffer:
- Losing one's train of thought. Occurs when
the person you are speaking with won't let you get a word in edgewise or has
just said something so astonishing that your train gets derailed. "Damn, I
just blew my buffer!"
- Bookmark:
- To take note of a person for future reference.
- Brain Fart:
- A byproduct of a bloated mind producing information
effortlessly. A burst of useful information. "I know you're busy on the
Microsoft story, but can you give us a brain fart on the Mitnik bust?"
- CGI Joe:
- A hard-core CGI script programmer with all the social
skills and charisma of a plastic action figure.
- CLM (Career-Limiting Move):
- Used among microserfs to describe
an ill-advised activity. Trashing your boss while he or she is within
earshot is a serious CLM.
- Cobweb Site:
- A web site that hasn't been updated for a long
time. A dead web page.
- Dead Tree Edition:
- The paper version of a publication available
in both paper and electronic forms, as in: "The dead tree edition of the San
Francisco Chronicle..."
- Dilberted:
- To be exploited and oppressed by your boss. Derived
from the experiences of Dilbert, the geeky comic strip character. "I've been
dilberted again. The old man revised the specs for the fourth time this
week."
- Dorito Syndrome:
- Feelings of emptiness and dissatisfaction
triggered by addictions to substances that lack nutritional content. "I just
spent six hours surfing the Web, and now I've got a bad case of Dorito
Syndrome."
- Elvis Year:
- The peak year of something's or someone's
popularity. "Barney the Dinosaur's Elvis year was 1993."
- 404:
- Someone who's clueless. From the Internet error
message "404, URL Not Found," meaning the requested document can't be
located. "Don't bother asking him, he's 404."
- Glazing:
- Corporate-speak for sleeping with your eyes open. A
popular pastime at conferences and early-morning meetings. "Didn't he notice
that half the room was glazing by the second session?"
- Graybar Land:
- The place you go while you're staring at a
computer that's processing something very slowly (while you watch the gray
bar creep across the screen). "I was in graybar land for what seemed like
hours, thanks to that CAD rendering."
- Gray Matter:
- Older, experienced business people hired by young
entrepreneurial firms looking to appear more reputable and established.
- Nyetscape:
- Nickname for AOL's less-than-full-featured Web
browser.
- Open-Collar Workers:
- People who work at home or
telecommute.
- Plug-and-Play:
- A new hire who doesn't need any training. "The
new guy, John, is great. He's totally plug-and-play."
- Salmon Day:
- The experience of spending an entire day swimming
upstream only to get screwed in the end.
- Under Mouse Arrest:
- Getting busted for violating an on-line
service's code of conduct. "Sorry I couldn't get back to you. AOL put me
under mouse arrest."
- World Wide Wait:
- The real meaning of WWW.