snigletA sniglet is a word that should be in the dictionary but isn't. Sniglets are the brainchild of comedian Rich Hall who, with a little help from his friends, wrote a series of books containing sniglets in the mid-eighties. With a little help from our readers, this page provides some IT-related sniglets we think should be in the dictionary but aren't. If you have a suggestion for an IT-related sniglet, let us know ! acronymnym - a redundancy created by following an acronym with the final word of that acronym, like DNS server. alpha geek - the most knowledgeable, technically proficient person in an office or work group. analog-retentive - those people who obstinately cling to outmoded technology. AlzIMers - forgetting who you're talking to and typing in the wrong IM window. animousity - vigorously clicking your pointer device because a page is loading too slowly. See also: screen spasm - pages that try to load simultaneously on your computer screen as a direct result of your animousity. AOL-WOL - disappearing from an IM conversation without notice. backronym - an IT term whose letters once had no meaning, but have since come to stand for something-or-other. bee break - the act of sneaking off to the bathroom in the middle of dinner, concert or work to scroll through one's BlackBerry. beer Googles - searches on the Internet made while intoxicated, sometimes resulting in information looking more attractive or credible than it would otherwise. blamestorming - sitting around in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible. Bluetooth fairy - someone who walks around with a blinking Bluetooth headset permanently affixed to his ear. BUI - getting caught blogging under the influence. Also known as PUI , or posting under the influence. blurker - someone who reads a blog or blogs regularly but never comments or contributes to the discussion. cellphonic appraisal - the activity that occurs when a ringing cell phone causes everyone in the room to check and see if it's theirs. cewebrity - someone who is well known online but obscure offline. crapplet - a poorly written or totally useless Java applet. cinderellaware - software (demo or shareware ) which becomes useless after a trial period unless the user pays for and registers it. cube farm - an office filled with cubicles. cylences - long gaps in a phone conversation that occur because one person is also reading e-mail, IMing or cybershopping. dopeler effect - the tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly. dot gone - pre-Internet bubble bust startup cellopain - the person who talks loudly and obliviously on a cellphone in a crowd. CrackBerry - slang for BlackBerry, often used in the sense of a "CrackBerry addict," or one who is always checking and responding to emails on the handheld device. dhishing - making fake member profiles ( dhishes ) on an online dating Web site with the intent of defrauding genuine members by asking for money, plane tickets or other goods or services. Dhishes tend to be of extremely attractive people. e-dundancy - sending someone an e-mail at the same time you're having an IM conversation with them. egosurf - to search for yourself on Google or another search engine e-mailsculation - what happens when the IT department abruptly takes away access to an email account from a worker that's been fired, including archives, distribution lists and contacts. e-mnesia -- the condition of having sent or received an e-mail and having no recollection of it whatsoever. execuglide - to maneuver oneself around the room while seated in a wheeled office chair. famspam - unsolicited email sent by family members. fauxtography - altering a photographic image with editing software to create an image that appears real but is in fact misleading or untrue. faxcess - having access to a fax machine. faxcination - staring intently at the fax machine because you're waiting for a fax to come through. fonesia - the affliction that strikes when you dial a phone number and forget whom you were calling just as they answer. fUtility - a 3rd party utility that won't install no matter how closely one follows the instructions. gadaboutag - the orphan HTML tag that's messing up your page. gleemail - inspirational emails forwarded by a friend or coworker that may or may not bring joy to your inbox. GMOOT - short for "Get me one of those," the basic command from CEOs to CMOs or CMOs to their agencies. id10t error - help desk log lingo for clueless end-user. IMdecision - repeatedly erasing an IM text box because you change your mind about what you want to say. IMglish - the combination of chat abbreviations and online slang commonly encountered in instant messages conversations. multi-asking - communicating with someone through IM, phone or e-mail at the same time. See also: e-dundancy . Macrimination - the automatic assumption that whatever is wrong is caused by the Mac on the network. negabytes per second (NBps) - a measure of data transfer that seems so slow it can only be assumed to be flowing backwards. ohnosecond - that very short moment in time during which you realize that you have pressed the wrong key and deleted hours, days, or weeks of work. oxoxomoron - a person who includes symbolic "hugs and kisses" at the end of their e-mail. pebcak - help desk lingo for user error (problem exists between chair and keyboard). percussive maintenance - the fine art of whacking the crap of of an electronic device to get it to work again. phenomenot - the Latest, Greatest, wizz-bang whatever that's not what it's proclaimed to be. phenomenut - the guy who runs right out and buys phenomenots. prairiedogged - the feeling of helplessness that overtakes you when co-workers in neighboring cubicles constantly pop their heads up to ask you stupid questions. Questfallen - reaction to the realization that your MapQuest directions have failed you. random excess memory - memory you were talked into buying in order to solve some problem that never did get resolved. reBay - to buy something on eBay and immediately put it back up for auction. screenager - an intern in the IT department. regurgimailer - someone who forwards whatever that lands in his inbox to everyone he knows . schoogle to Google the names of old classmates. screensucking - wasting time engaging with any screen, including computer monitor, video game, television, BlackBerry, Palm, cell phone or iPod spamouflage - an intentional typo, such as Vikagra , used by spammers to fool spam filters. spammified - when an email ends up in the spam folder by mistake. telamnesia - a condition where an individual is restricted to only talking to people on speed-dial or his cell phone contact list. treeware - documents made out of paper, as opposed to electronic documents. unstant messaging - minimizing your IM window when your boss walks by. wandal - someone who vandalizes a wiki, participating in "wandalism." WAPathy - lack of interest in wireless technology. wikiality - reality as defined by consensus, rather than analysis of objective fact. ( Coined by Stephen Colbert ) zen mail - an e-mail message that arrives without text in the message body. Got a suggestion for an IT-related sniglet? Let us know !
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| This word suggested by: Lisa Belkin, Dr. Edward M. Hallowell, Jeff Adkins , Paul Gillin, Larry Johnson, Mark Shoffner, Brenda Rowe, Robert E. Taylor, Barbara Lee, Beverly McDonald, David Rouse, Sam Bastin, Howard F. Moore, Gregor Rutar, and many others! | | Last updated on:
May 10, 2007 |
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Overheard
"In a matter of days, Mr. Spitzer went from potential presidential candidate to — in the tech world, at least — the poster boy for software usually used to snare fraudsters, money launderers and terrorists."
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