Weird computer jargon

[Paddy Landau]

I was talking to someone about ironing out computer bugs, and the bizarreness of that metaphor struck me.

Of course, "bug" wasn't originally a metaphor. In the earliest days of computing, before semiconductors, when giant primitive computers used vacuum tubes (and most computers were in fact people, not machines), a computer bug was literally a bug that had crawled or flown into the computer and damaged or interfered with some component.

But the idea of ironing out a bug… well, that's odd.

What weird computer jargon have you come across?

267371

[coldraven]

But the idea of ironing out a bug… well, that's odd.
Maybe not! AFAIK the reason people starting ironing their bedsheets (or rather the wealthy got the maid to do it) was to kill the eggs of any bed-bugs.

Edit: I suppose as cotton sheets became affordable by the average household, ironing became mainstream. They heated them on the coal-fired range. I think I read recently that the bed-bug has become quite rare because of this.
Edit2: I remember now, it was the flea that has become rare. I heard about on the radio.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=antique+%22flat+iron%22&t=canonical&iax=1&ia=images

[Paddy Landau]

AFAIK the reason people starting ironing their bedsheets … was to kill the eggs of any bed-bugs.
Ah ha! So, here we have a mix of metaphor that has worked very nicely. Now we need to decide what bedsheets would represent in a computer :D

[mikodo]

Maybe not in the same vain but, I started with my first computer in my 50's. Started right away into Ubuntu, and tried to learn how to administrate it, (I broke it lots). I kept reading explanations of how to do things, that made no sense to me. I remember complaining, "WTH are you guys talking about?" Foo this, Foo that = Foobar! I had no idea ...

[Paddy Landau]

Foo this, Foo that = Foobar! I had no idea ...
Ha ha! Yes indeed. I don't know where foo and bar come from, but they're all over the place.

Another is when a programmer wants to say that two things are different, e.g. "Linux is different from Windows," they'll write, "Linux != Windows."

I look at that and wonder, "How is a non-programmer supposed to know what that means?" To a non-programmer, it looks like, "Linux emphatically is equal to Windows."

Jargon!

[QIII]

Some say it came from the American GI slang acronym FUBAR starting in WWII.

[bapoumba]

I like SNAFU :)

[Habitual]

Not computer related, BOHICA.

GIGO was the usual.

[bapoumba]

I had to look for bohica :)

[lisati]

Some say it came from the American GI slang acronym FUBAR starting in WWII.
The best family-friendly explanation I've heard has the "F" representing the word "Fouled" - a more common explanation would have me sent to the corner for "offensive" language.

I had to look for bohica :)
Likewise.

[QIII]

I had to look for bohica :)

One of my favorites! Usually uttered when Officers like me walked up to a group of soldiers...

One of my favorite coputer expressions is PEBCAK/PEBKAC

[Habitual]

I had to look for bohica :smile:

Likewise.
QIII and I must be the dinosaurs, that or it's a Left Coast thing.

[bapoumba]

QIII and I must be the dinosaurs, that or it's a Left Coast thing.

Left Coast most probably, dinosaur I am :tongue: