Yet another five completely nerdish jargon words you might hear online

  1. funky: Said of something that functions, but in a slightly strange, klugey way. It does the job and would be difficult to change, so its obvious non-optimality is left alone. The more bugs something has that nobody has bothered to fix because workarounds are easier, the funkier it is.
  2. lurker: One of the "silent majority" in a electronic forum; one who posts occasionally or not at all but is known to read the group's postings regularly. This term is not pejorative and indeed is casually used reflexively: "Oh, I'm just lurking."
  3. nastygram: Disapproving mail, especially from a net.god, pursuant to a violation of netiquette. Sometimes used to describe a letter or status report from an unhappy, and probably picky, customer. "What'd Corporate say in today's nastygram?"
  4. net.personality: Someone who has made a name for him or herself on Usenet, through either longevity or attention-getting posts.
  5. Your mileage may vary: From the standard disclaimer attached to EPA mileage ratings by American car manufacturers. a. A ritual warning often found in UNIX freeware distributions. Translates roughly as "Hey, I tried to write this portably, but who knows what'll happen on your system?" b. A qualifier more generally attached to advice. "I find that sending flowers works well, but your mileage may vary."


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Copyright © 1994, 1995, 2004 by Kevin Savetz. The information in this book was collected in 1994-1995 and has not been updated since.