Subject: 90's Lingo -
Blamestorming: Sitting around in a group discussing
why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and
who was responsible.
Body Nazis: Hard-core exercise and weight-lifting
fanatics who look down on anyone who doesn't work
out obsessively.
Cube Farm: An office filled with cubicles.
Keyboard Plaque: The disgusting buildup of dirt and
crud found on computer keyboards.
Ohnosecond: That minuscule fraction of time in which
you realize that you've just made a big mistake.
Perot: To quit unexpectedly, as in "My cellular phone
just perot'ed."
Prairie Dogging: When someone yells or drops something
loudly in a cube farm, and people's heads pop up over
the walls to see what's going on.
SITCOMs: What yuppies turn into when they have children
and one of them stops working to stay home with the
kids. Stands for single Income, Two Children,
Oppressive Mortgage.
Starter Marriage: A short-lived first marriage that
ends in divorce with no kids, no property and no regrets.
Swiped Out: An ATM or credit card that has been rendered
useless because the magnetic strip is worn away from
extensive use.
Treeware: Hacker slang for documentation or other
printed material.
Going Postal: Euphemism for being totally stressed out,
for losing it. Makes reference to the unfortunate track
record of postal employees who have snapped and gone on
shooting rampages.
assmosis - The process by which some people seem to
absorb success and advancement by kissing up to the boss
rather than working hard.
Beepilepsy - The brief seizure people sometimes have
when their beeper goes off (especially in vibrator mode).
Characterized by physical spasms, goofy facial expressions
and interruption of speech in mid-sentence.
Chips and Salsa - Chips = hardware, salsa = software.
"Well, first we gotta figure out if the problem's in
your chips or your salsa."
Flight Risk - Used to describe employees who are suspected
of planning to leave a company or department soon.
Generica - Features of the American landscape that are
exactly the same no matter where one is. "We were so
lost in generica, I actually forgot what city we were in."
Irritainment - Entertainment and media spectacles that
are annoying, but you find yourself unable to stop watching
them. The O.J. trials were a prime example.
PEBCAK - Tech support shorthand for "Problem Exists
Between Chair and Keyboard."
Techies are a frustrated, often arrogant lot.
They've submitted numerous acronyms and terms that
poke fun at the clueless users who call them up with
frighteningly stupid questions. Another variation
on the above is ID10T: "This guy has an ID-Ten-T on
his system."
Percussive Maintenance - The fine art of whacking the
crap out of an electronic device to get it to work again.
Seagull Manager - A manager who flies in, makes a lot of
noise, leaves droppings over everything and then leaves.
Telephone Number Salary - A salary (or project budget)
that has seven digits.
Umfriend - A sexual relation of dubious standing. "This
is uh..Dale, my... um... friend..."
Vulcan Nerve Pinch - The taxing hand position required to
reach all of the appropriate keys for certain commands.
For instance, the warm re-boot for a Mac II computer involves
simultaneously pressing the Control key, the Command
key, the Return key and the Power On key.
Yuppie Food Stamps - The ubiquitous $20 bills spewed
out of ATMs everywhere. Often used when trying to
split the bill after a meal: "We all owe $8 each, but
all anybody's got is yuppie food stamps." |
