Jargon Watch
BLOB (Binary Large OBject) -
Used to describe very large binary files. "The speed of your server is a function of the size and number of BLOBs you'll be moving through the network."
Dawn Patrol -
Programmers who are still at their terminals when you return to work the next morning.
Dittoheads -
People who are in perfect alignment on an issue, an idea, or a belief system. Allegedly coined by Rush Limbaugh to refer to his legion of faithful followers.
Firefighters -
Net users who try to put out "flame wars" early in their gestation.
Going Postal -
Euphemism for being totally stressed out; losing it. Makes reference to the unfortunate number of postal employees who have snapped and gone on mass shooting rampages.
Holy Wars -
Perpetual BBS discussions that never die, the arguments never change, and no one's opinions ever budge one iota. Holy wars are fought over abortion, gun control, Mac versus IBM, Windows versus DOS, and how much nudity to allow in the image areas of online services.
Slag -
To bring a network, especially a LAN, to its knees by overloading it with data traffic. "We slagged the net last night by playing Spectre while the MIS department was trying to reindex the accounting file."
SoHo -
Acronym for Small Office, Home Office. Ziff-Davis recently started inserting a PC supplement into Sunday newspapers targeting the SoHo market.
Thrashing -
Clicking helter skelter around an interactive computer screen in search of hidden buttons that might trigger actions. (Found in the manual to the CD-ROM game Myst.) - Gareth Branwyn
Tip o' the hat to:
John Raymond Sumser, Ian Iver, Eric S. Theise, John Manning, and Rebecca Lartigue
