Sniglet - Words that should be in the dictionary (but aren't)

A 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 !

acronym-nym - a redundancy created by following an acronym with the final word of that acronym. Example: 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 text 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.

blogorrhea- compulsive, excessive, and/or meaningless ranting/raving by an individual on a blog -- essentially, blog-based logorrhea, meaning a tendency to talk on and on. 

Bluetooth fairy - someone who walks around with a blinking Bluetooth headset permanently affixed to his ear. (Remember the kid's song "Little rabbit foo-foo?")

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.

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 distracted and reading their text messages

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.

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.

Mahogany Row - the business side, the boardroom.

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.

specifiction: - 1) a specification founded on invalid or erroneous assumptions. 2) a specification that, as written, is impossible to implement.

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.

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 !