Words or phrases that annoy you (even if you can't explain why) . . .

[bousozoku]

What particularly annoys me is (usually young) computer support people who feel that because they know something about computers it puts them on a plane above those who are merely 'users'.
I always felt humble supporting people who were doing a job that I could never have been able to do, with skills that I would never master, while trying to get their recalcitrant and often badly designed computer system back up and running.
I could never put down a little old lady of 83 who managed the front office of a school, a job that would terrify me, having to handle her principal, stressed out teachers, insane and rabid parents, and distressed children who had just lost their favourite pencil, all while making sure there was still a cup of tea and a biscuit for her onsite tech.

In the late 1980s, I had been asked to teach the Director of Marketing how to use Aldus Pagemaker on Windows 2.0. She was not technical and constantly called the Personal Computer person for help, quite often for the same thing as she asked last week.

As a programmer and graphic designer, I had a lot of experience that I was willing to share, but I was not one for nonsense. When she sat down, I asked her where her notebook was. She left for a minute and returned with a notebook and pen. I told her that I was willing to answer any question and that she should ask many questions, but she should take notes because I would not answer silly questions twice.

She called me occasionally, but she thanked me for being so stern and insisting on her taking notes.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

While on the side-tracked topic of computer support--

I was called out on site in the days when mice had a ball inside. These balls would pick up grit and fluff from the mousepad and transfer it to the rollers. The result was jerky and inconsistent movement of the cursor.
I opened the mouse, cleaned the ball, cleaned the rollers, then addressed the cause, a particularly gungey mousepad.
I picked up the mousepad and started slapping the gunge off it. Everybody in the office stopped and stared at me.
I said, loudly "Bad mousepad, naughty mousepad".
I was never invited back. Apparently I was a serial mousepad abuser...

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

How come journalists who are far too young to have read "Stranger in a Strange Land" are using the word 'grok'?
It is being used as a synonym for 'understand', which it isn't.
It means to understand something so deeply and profoundly that it becomes part of your being, your spirit, your chi.

 

[decafjava]

While on the side-tracked topic of computer support--

I was called out on site in the days when mice had a ball inside. These balls would pick up grit and fluff from the mousepad and transfer it to the rollers. The result was jerky and inconsistent movement of the cursor.
I opened the mouse, cleaned the ball, cleaned the rollers, then addressed the cause, a particularly gungey mousepad.
I picked up the mousepad and started slapping the gunge off it. Everybody in the office stopped and stared at me.
I said, loudly "Bad mousepad, naughty mousepad".
I was never invited back. Apparently I was a serial mousepad abuser...

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

How come journalists who are far too young to have read "Stranger in a Strange Land" are using the word 'grok'?
It is being used as a synonym for 'understand', which it isn't.
It means to understand something so deeply and profoundly that it becomes part of your being, your spirit, your chi.

I mean anyone can still read the book but I agree with you having got the book as a gift years uhhh decades ago.

Sorry about your mousepad habit. No wonder you became a cat person.

 

[rm5]

What the hell does "DMA" mean? This is the fourth time I've seen it now, and it's driving me insane because I don't know what it means!

I know it has a lot of different meanings - Direct Memory Access, Dallas Museum of Art, Doctor of Musical Arts - but in an online setting, what does it mean??? Google doesn't seem to be helping me...

I've seen it online four times now, but from four different people, so maybe they're using it in different ways? But does it have a special meaning online?

 

[chown33]

If it's related to changes to Apple's App Store in the EU, then DMA stands for Digital Markets Act.

Digital Markets Act - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It might also mean Designated Market Area:

Media market - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I often look up acronyms on Wikipedia. It will take some contextual awareness to pick the right one, but "DMA" has a page:

DMA - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[bousozoku]

What the hell does "DMA" mean? This is the fourth time I've seen it now, and it's driving me insane because I don't know what it means!

I know it has a lot of different meanings - Direct Memory Access, Dallas Museum of Art, Doctor of Musical Arts - but in an online setting, what does it mean??? Google doesn't seem to be helping me...

I've seen it online four times now, but from four different people, so maybe they're using it in different ways? But does it have a special meaning online?

It's relevant in the EU's Digital Markets Act.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

What the hell does "DMA" mean? This is the fourth time I've seen it now, and it's driving me insane because I don't know what it means!

I know it has a lot of different meanings - Direct Memory Access, Dallas Museum of Art, Doctor of Musical Arts - but in an online setting, what does it mean??? Google doesn't seem to be helping me...

I've seen it online four times now, but from four different people, so maybe they're using it in different ways? But does it have a special meaning online?

In an online setting, especially, in a tech forum, one would have to assume that it means "Direct Memory Access".

Yes, I had to look it up, as well.

Meanwhile, Urban Dictionary, (a source that I find exceptionally useful when attempting to decipher something that someone - usually much younger - may have written here), offers another explanation, namely, "Digital Marketing Artistry", apparently, this is an online Marketing and Personal Development Business.

However, I will say that the standard practice in (reputable) publications used to be that when one referred to an office (or person), for the first time in a piece, or article, any piece, or article, one referred (even if everyone was assumed to already have known this, or have been aware of this - there is always someone who isn't, and for whom this may be the first time they have encountered this information), one referred to the person and their office together in the sentence; ("The President, Mr Biden,..").

For the rest of the piece, one could separate office or person ("the President said"..or, "Mr Biden said"...)

Likewise, when using acronyms: The very first time the acronym is used in the piece, or article, one is (or was, or used to be), having used the acronym, expected then, to write out in full what the acronym meant, having used the acronym, whereupon the acronym was then used for the rest of the article, or piece, as the explanation of what it meant had already been given.

Personally, I always thought it both good journalistic practice, and good teaching; even at third level, a surprising amount of (successful) teaching involves some degree of repetition, or re-capitulation of key points, facts, or arguments that you may wish your students to be able to remember, or recall.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

If it's related to changes to Apple's App Store in the EU, then DMA stands for Digital Markets Act.

Digital Markets Act - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It might also mean Designated Market Area:

Media market - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I often look up acronyms on Wikipedia. It will take some contextual awareness to pick the right one, but "DMA" has a page:

DMA - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It's relevant in the EU's Digital Markets Act.

Ah.

Embarrassing.

This is one that I should have known - and immediately thought of.

 

[bousozoku]

While on the side-tracked topic of computer support--

I was called out on site in the days when mice had a ball inside. These balls would pick up grit and fluff from the mousepad and transfer it to the rollers. The result was jerky and inconsistent movement of the cursor.
I opened the mouse, cleaned the ball, cleaned the rollers, then addressed the cause, a particularly gungey mousepad.
I picked up the mousepad and started slapping the gunge off it. Everybody in the office stopped and stared at me.
I said, loudly "Bad mousepad, naughty mousepad".
I was never invited back. Apparently I was a serial mousepad abuser...

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

How come journalists who are far too young to have read "Stranger in a Strange Land" are using the word 'grok'?
It is being used as a synonym for 'understand', which it isn't.
It means to understand something so deeply and profoundly that it becomes part of your being, your spirit, your chi.

At another company, someone called to complain that her cup holder had broken. In the end, she had been using the CD-ROM tray to hold her coffee cup. In another incident, someone complained that her computer wasn't working. When asked for information related to the unit, she couldn't see that information because the power was out.

 

[bousozoku]

I "love" when people here refer to the floor outside and the ground inside a building. A coat or a sweatshirt is a sweater here.

 

[bousozoku]

Ah.

Embarrassing.

This is one that I should have known - and immediately thought of.

Just because you were an EU bigwig doesn't mean that you always have to think of everything related.
😁

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Just because you were an EU bigwig doesn't mean that you always have to think of everything related.
😁

A littlewig.

Maybe, at times, perhaps a medium wig.

But, yes, this was an embarrassing lapse.

 

[rm5]

It's relevant in the EU's Digital Markets Act.

Ah, THAT'S what it is! Has to be! Never thought of that one.

 

[bousozoku]

A littlewig.

Maybe, at times, a medium wig.

But, yes, this was an embarrassing lapse.

I'm sure that we can let that one slide.

 

[J.A.K.]

I always felt humble supporting people who were doing a job that I could never have been able to do, with skills that I would never master, while trying to get their recalcitrant and often badly designed computer system back up and running.

One of the reasons I dislike using terms such as stupid/dumb/idiot/moron, etc. or their antonyms is that the common conception of intelligence is based on extremely outdated information that was itself based almost entirely on grossly racist, classist, ableist and even speciest assumptions.

Is the physicist who takes their car to a mechanic stupid because they can't repair their own car? Is the mechanic stupid because they can't quantify the physical world through predictive algorithms?

Which, to me, raises the question: is the chicken who crossed the road as the physicist was leaving the mechanic's workshop after having to wait for a Venmo loan from a friend because their salary was so poor because we devalue scientific enquiry and the mechanic charged more than their quote due to the physicist never changing their car's oil but then there was an issue with 5G connection and the physicist had to log in to the mechanic's wi-fi which in and of itself was a nightmare of incompatible technologies and ancient hardware which was, of course, also very slow since the workshop is in a low service area and when the transfer finally completes to only then discover that the mechanic doesn't have a Venmo account so then there's the negotiation of payment through PayPal and by this point, everyone is angry and annoyed, leaving the poor chicken to get run over as the physicist accelerates aggressively out of the workshop, stupid?

 

[bousozoku]

One of the reasons I dislike using terms such as stupid/dumb/idiot/moron, etc. or their antonyms is that the common conception of intelligence is based on extremely outdated information that was itself based almost entirely on grossly racist, classist, ableist and even speciest assumptions.

Is the physicist who takes their car to a mechanic stupid because they can't repair their own car? Is the mechanic stupid because they can't quantify the physical world through predictive algorithms?

Which, to me, raises the question: is the chicken who crossed the road as the physicist was leaving the mechanic's workshop after having to wait for a Venmo loan from a friend because their salary was so poor because we devalue scientific enquiry and the mechanic charged more than their quote due to the physicist never changing their car's oil but then there was an issue with 5G connection and the physicist had to log in to the mechanic's wi-fi which in and of itself was a nightmare of incompatible technologies and ancient hardware which was, of course, also very slow since the workshop is in a low service area and when the transfer finally completes to only then discover that the mechanic doesn't have a Venmo account so then there's the negotiation of payment through PayPal and by this point, everyone is angry and annoyed, leaving the poor chicken to get run over as the physicist accelerates aggressively out of the workshop, stupid?

Have you ever considered quantifying people by their (western) zodiac sign?

I've found it to be quite useful in my expectations of the kind of work they will do. Trust a Virgo to overdo it, and trust a Gemini to probably not finish it.

 

[Chuckeee]

One of the reasons I dislike using terms such as stupid/dumb/idiot/moron, etc. or their antonyms is that the common conception of intelligence is based on extremely outdated information that was itself based almost entirely on grossly racist, classist, ableist and even speciest assumptions.

I dislike when “dumb” is used to describe someone with low intelligence. I always thought “dumb” was supposed to be describing someone who is unable to speak.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I dislike when “dumb” is used to describe someone with low intelligence. I always thought “dumb” was supposed to be describing someone who is unable to speak.

Very well said, and I completely agree with you.

 

[bousozoku]

I dislike when “dumb” is used to describe someone with low intelligence. I always thought “dumb” was supposed to be describing someone who is unable to speak.

Blame German for that problem. Blame multiple languages feeding into one. I believe that's where Finnish actually holds the high ground. They create words for almost everything, rather than importing them from other languages. Besides, it keeps outsiders guessing.

 

[rm5]

Okayyy, to whom it may concern...

I just figured out what "Acter" is - it's actually the name of a digital platform! So not a misspelling at all.

 

[Mousse]

I believe that's where Finnish actually holds the high ground. They create words for almost everything, rather than importing them from other languages.

English is the opposite. James D. Nicoll said it best.

 

[Clix Pix]

I dislike when “dumb” is used to describe someone with low intelligence. I always thought “dumb” was supposed to be describing someone who is unable to speak.

Actually, people who are unable to speak are either wholly mute (unable to make sounds at all) or, more commonly, while able to make sounds, cannot speak in a way others can understand.... They are not "dumb," (yes, unfortunately that word is more often associated with low intelligence, as is the "R" word).

Most people who are profoundly deaf/severely hearing-impaired (which is most frequently the reason for being unable to speak intelligibly) detest the expression "Deaf and Dumb," as that is not an accurate representation of them at all, their actual intelligence, or their ability to communicate in other ways.

Others who have specific anatomical (usually syndromic) issues due to craniofacial anomalies also may be unable to speak at all or may not be able to enunciate clearly. Again, this is not a reflection of their actual intelligence.

 

[rm5]

I dislike when “dumb” is used to describe someone with low intelligence. I always thought “dumb” was supposed to be describing someone who is unable to speak.

Both are equally offensive.

Actually, people who are unable to speak are either wholly mute (unable to make sounds at all) or, more commonly, while able to make sounds, cannot speak in a way others can understand.... They are not "dumb," (yes, unfortunately that word is more often associated with low intelligence, as is the "R" word).

Most people who are profoundly deaf/severely hearing-impaired (which is most frequently the reason for being unable to speak intelligibly) detest the expression "Deaf and Dumb," as that is not an accurate representation of them at all, their actual intelligence, or their ability to communicate in other ways.

Others who have specific anatomical (usually syndromic) issues due to craniofacial anomalies also may be unable to speak at all or may not be able to enunciate clearly. Again, this is not a reflection of their actual intelligence.

Don't even get me started on this. It's so awful.

I once had a teacher who would not allow the words "dumb" or "crazy" in his classroom. Ironically though, I had a beyond awful experience in that class.

Anyway, back to the point, any of those (quite derogatory) words have nothing to do with a person's intelligence. If you are going to describe someone with any sort of disability (or, for that matter, a completely neurotypical person/person without disabilities), you just gotta choose your words carefully. See this for reference.

What I particularly take offense with is "suffers from." Oh, people have used that with me all the time. "He suffers from such and such thing." I don't think there's any suffering going on here. What makes you think I'm "suffering?" Are people just trying to induce pity? "Oh, poor @rm5 , he's suffering so much." What garbage. I absolutely hate it. I'm perfectly happy right now - I'm certainly not suffering. Telling me that makes me feel ashamed and belittled. Anyway, just weird stuff people should be aware of, that I think is very much related to your point. And of course very personally relatable, so thanks for bringing this up, seriously. I AM NOT SUFFERING. If I was suffering, it would be very obvious.

EDIT: This is also a good resource!

EDIT #2: I think that the reason why people say things like "dumb" - or referring to people with disabilities as a "class" ("the deaf," etc.) is because they don't realize that we are just people like everyone else, with the same (hopefully good) intentions and goals of life. Nor do they realize that having a disability is very common (see below).

I'm actually really glad this has been brought up in this thread, I was wondering when it would make an appearance. What's the statistic? Nearly 15% of the U.S. population (~40 million people) has some sort of disability? Something like that? So no, we're not just "outliers" - it's extremely common.

 

[rm5]

Have you ever considered quantifying people by their (western) zodiac sign?

I've found it to be quite useful in my expectations of the kind of work they will do. Trust a Virgo to overdo it, and trust a Gemini to probably not finish it.

Zodiac signs are so irrelevant to me, it's not even worth bringing up around me. That's just my opinion.

 

[bousozoku]

Zodiac signs are so irrelevant to me, it's not even worth bringing up around me. That's just my opinion.

I've found that people are very consistent to them. Horoscopes, on the other hand, are usually crap.