What 'Tech Terms' make you cringe?

[syedhs]

Webinar does make me cringe - A LOT. Lonewolf, it is impressive you read my mind by getting correctly the top 5 most detestable tech-word (by me ).

[DanielSefton]

TWAIN drivers for scanners.

(Technology Without An Interesting Name )

[KungFooMasta]

+1 on the 'cloud'. I hear it used so much, its just a nebulous term now that means anything.

[jacmoe]

As a European I've always pronounced Euler as 'oiler' - maybe being close to Germany helps...

[Klaim]

+1 cloud
+1 web 2.0

"Next gen" and "HD" used in product names just for the "hype".

[Kojack]

As a European I've always pronounced Euler as 'oiler' - maybe being close to Germany helps

You mean an oiropean?

[reptor]

"too close to the trees to see the forest"

Never heard it said like that before, I usually hear "can't see the wood for the trees"; or if you say it in my regional accent "canna see wood fort rees".

Both versions are used here. I just picked one without thinking about it much and did as direct a translation to English as I could. This is what happens often between cultures. The language used may be correct but that's not how you usually say it so it seems strange to you. Entirely understandable. I will take the good advice and try to remember to use the more English version of the saying when having a discussion in English.

[reptor]

As a European I've always pronounced Euler as 'oiler' - maybe being close to Germany helps...

I didn't realise there is a problem with saying that word my mathematics teacher pronounced it like if it was Finnish. Which is kind of wrong but nobody seemed to be bothered by that. I guess if somebody said it "correctly" then people would have a bit of trouble understanding what was being said

Really a problem would be that people would have to understand from which language the word comes from. Without that knowledge no correct pronunciation is possible. And most of the people in the classroom had not studied German.

I don't think it matters much if Finnish people in a Finnish classroom pronounce that wrong. Nobody from the country of origin is listening

It could be a problem if we go abroad and still keep saying it like we used to say it in the Finnish classroom.

[Moohasha]

+1 Webinar (get invites to these ALL THE TIME at work!!)
+1 Cloud
+1 Web 2.0

And I wouldn't really call it a "tech term", but it drives me crazy to NO END when people pronounce MMORPG as if it's a word (mamorpiga)

And for people's amusement, checkout the Buzzword Generator. Great for coming up with things like:

• Future-proofed 6th generation approach
• Object-based tertiary complexity
• Enterprise-wide zero defect collaboration

Ensures your "superiors" will be thinking (I have no idea what he just said, but I like it!!)

[volca]

That reminds me of Bullshit bingo - they even have an IT variant

[MrD]

"Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?"

It is.

‹ph› is a digraph in the English Language and many other languages that represents /f/. Ph in English generally occurs in words derived from Greek, due to Latin transcription of Greek phi (Φ φ) as ‹ph›. In Ancient Greek, this letter originally represented /pʰ/.

[reptor]

philosophy = filosofia in Finnish

[MrD]

I've read this before. It doesn't "fly" in the US. We read "F" as the ph sound.

Are you saying you read "ph" as "f"? If so then that is correct.

To be fair, even if you're not, I'm not going to take pronunciation advice from a country that has yet to learn how to correctly pronounce the letter 'Z'.

[Moohasha]

Speaking of putting 'i' in front of everything...

[jacmoe]

As a European I've always pronounced Euler as 'oiler' - maybe being close to Germany helps

You mean an oiropean?

'European' is an English world, so obviously not.

[bvanevery]

"Rich." As in "rich multimedia," "rich application controls," "rich development environment." GMAFB. Usually it's uttered by some MS Evangelist. It's meaningless marketspeak designed to give mid-level managers some kind of warm squishy state-of-the-art / buzzword compliance feeling inside, without actually needing to have any idea what's going on. Historically, if every time MS said "rich" you translated it to "lipstick on a pig," you'd mostly be correct.

[reptor]

Oh, OK. Let's continue this thread. Not exactly tech terms, but makes me cringe.

I don't like it when people make bold statements which you know there is no real chance for it to be true.

"I would kill to get that." No you wouldn't.

"I am going to rip your head off." Really? No you wouldn't.



In sports I often see this:
"He was robbed of victory." He wasn't robbed of victory because the race was still on and nobody had been granted a victory yet so no robbing of a victory was possible.

And this (in motor sports often heard):
"He destroyed the others." Um, destroyed? Really? No.

In general when I see "robbed" and "destroyed" used in the English/American media, or discussions, I don't like it. The thing is, it sounds wrong to say that. Thinking of my native language I've never ever heard anyone commentate on a sports event like that. Maybe it happened but I didn't hear it. When I listen to English I hear it often. I don't like these kinds of overly negative (or positive) statements. In my opinion it feeds the hysteria surrounding the subject of the discussion - and reduces the likelihood of the discussion being sensible.

[KungFooMasta]

I interpret those kind of statements as a short-hand way of saying something.

"Robbing" is to take away somebody's opportunity to win. Ie that person would have won, except something got in the way and prevents said person from winning. He was robbed!

"Destroying" the competition. He eliminated any chance of other players preventing a victory.

Your other statements are related to sarcasm. You shouldn't always literally translate the message, but understand people are trying to express something, and might not express it in the most accurate way, or take the time to think of how to best express themselves.

[jacmoe]

Oh, OK. Let's continue this thread. Not exactly tech terms, but makes me cringe.

I don't like it when people make bold statements which you know there is no real chance for it to be true.

"I would kill to get that." No you wouldn't.

"I am going to rip your head off." Really? No you wouldn't.

You need to be wearing your cultural glasses.

I mean: take the word 'fuck', for instance.
(Pardon my French, guys)
If you were to take that literally...
We just have to accept that words means different things to different people.

Take for instance Danish versus Swedish (I'm Danish, my wife is Swedish):
In Denmark we use the word 'use' about people: we could 'use' him, 'use' me, etc.
In Swedish it translates to 'take advantage of' because you generally 'use' things in Sweden, not people.
To 'use' a person is considered rude.
We don't have that distinction in Danish.

So, you need to understand the culture.

Can you translate idioms ?
No. You can't.
You need to understand the culture to 'get' it.

I could die for a cup of coffee right now - so BRB.

[bvanevery]

In sports I often see this:
"He was robbed of victory." He wasn't robbed of victory because the race was still on and nobody had been granted a victory yet so no robbing of a victory was possible.

Well, he could have been robbed, if his opponent was victorious due to an illegal move, and the referee didn't call it. Sometimes that's what they're saying. But yes, oftentimes they're just speaking in a sloppy manner and I see your point.

[bvanevery]

I could die for a cup of coffee right now - so BRB.

It might make an amusing short game, or short animation.

[bvanevery]

Introducing the new Anthropology Metaphor Game. Match the metaphor to the culture that produced it. For example, "Put a shrimp on the Barbie." In my mind, I see a Barbie doll getting humped by a craven aquatic shrimp.

I see Paul Hogan having us on. I heard that this phrase has no basis in Australian culture whatsoever.

[reptor]

In sports I often see this:
"He was robbed of victory." He wasn't robbed of victory because the race was still on and nobody had been granted a victory yet so no robbing of a victory was possible.

Well, he could have been robbed, if his opponent was victorious due to an illegal move, and the referee didn't call it. Sometimes that's what they're saying. But yes, oftentimes they're just speaking in a sloppy manner and I see your point.

I see it often used of situations when someone, for example in car racing, someone overtakes another driver for the lead and goes on to win the race. Then the one who got overtaken is said to have been robbed of victory. Which is non-sense. But it seems to be quite common for the English-speaking reporters to write like that. I just think the reporters, who usually have a degree in journalism, could write better articles than that.

The one who "was robbed" was not entitled to the win any more than the other person who actually won. Therefore I consider it slightly an offensive tone in the news articles reporting sports events. I would appreciate more balanced reporting of sports events. I can go to on-line discussion forums to read the partisan comments. I would rather separate those from the news articles.

[reptor]

We just have to accept that words means different things to different people.

Great.

However, for example about pointing out incorrect use of the word "robbed". It is a very well-defined word. If nobody was robbed then nobody was robbed it does not matter in which country we are for that to be true.

Yeah, I don't like to speak like that. Other people choose to speak like that. I reserve the right to tell them what I think about it

[jacmoe]

Yeah, I don't like to speak like that. Other people choose to speak like that. I reserve the right to tell them what I think about it

You still don't get it, do you ?
'Robbed' in this context means 'deprived' (I think) - and you need to see this without your Finnish glasses on. Choose a pair of American RayBans instead.
Otherwise, your comments are void.
It's like the difference between the Danish meaning of the word 'use' and the Swedish meaning of that same word.