Dilberted
To be exploited and oppressed by your boss. Derived from the experiences of
Dilbert, the geek-in-hell comic strip character. "I've been dilberted again.
The old man revised the specs for the fourth time this week."
Link Rot
The process by which links on a web page became as obsolete as the sites they're
connected to change location or die.
Chip Jewelry
A euphamism for old computers destined to be scrapped or turned into decorative
ornaments. "I paid three grand for that Mac SE, and now it's nothing but chip
jewelry."
Crapplet
A badly written or profoundly useless Java applet. "I just wasted 30 minutes
downloading this stinkin' crapplet!"
Plug-and-Play
A new hire who doesn't need any training. "The new guy, John, is great. He's
totally plug-and-play."
World Wide Wait
The real meaning of WWW.
CGI Joe
A hard-core CGI script programmer with all the social skills and charisma of
a plastic action figure.
Dorito Syndrome
Feelings of emptiness and dissatisfaction triggered by addictive substances
that lack nutritional content. "I just spent six hours surfing the Web, and
now I've got a bad case of Dorito Syndrome."
Glazing
Corporate-speak for sleeping with your eyes open. A popular pastime at conferences
and early-morning meetings. "Didn't he notice that half the room was glazing
by the second session?"
404
Someone who's clueless. From the World Wide Web message "404, URL Not Found,"
meaning that the document you've tried to access can't be located. "Don't bother
asking him...he's 404, man."
Dead Tree Edition
The paper version of a publication available in both paper and electronic forms,
as in: "The dead tree edition of the San Francisco Chronicle..."
Egosurfing
Scanning the net, databases, print media, or research papers looking for the
mention of your name.
Graybar Land
The place you go while you're staring at a computer that's processing something
very slowly (while you watch the gray bar creep across the screen). "I was in
graybar land for what seemed like hours, thanks to that CAD rendering."
Open-Collar Workers
People who work at home or telecommute.
Cobweb Site
A World Wide Web Site that hasn't been updated for a long time. A dead web page.
It's a Feature
From the adage "It's not a bug, it's a feature." Used sarcastically to describe
an unpleasant experience that you wish to gloss over.
Career-Limiting Move
(CLM)
Used among microserfs to describe an ill-advised activity. Trashing your boss
while he or she is within earshot is a serious CLM
Elvis Year
The peak year of something's popularity. "Barney the dinosaur's Elvis year was
1993."
Alpha Geek
The most knowledgable, technically proficient person in an office or work group.
"Ask Larry, he's the alpha geek around here."
Adminisphere
The rarified organizational layers beginning just above the rack and file. Decisions
that fall from the adminisphere are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant
to the problems they were designed to solve.
Tourists
People who are taking training classes just to get a vacation from their jobs.
"We had about three serious students in the class; the rest were tourists."
Blowing Your Buffer
Losing one's train of thought. Occurs when the person you are speaking with won't let you get a word in edgewise or has just said something so astonishing that your train gets derailed. "Damn, I just blew my buffer!"
Gray Matter
Older, experienced business people hired by young entrepreneurial firms looking
to appear more reputable and established.
Bookmark
To take note of a person for future reference (a metaphor borrowed from web
browsers). "I bookmarked him after seeing his cool demo at Siggraph."
Nyetscape
Nickname for AOL's less-than-full-featured Web browser.
Beepilepsy
The brief siezure people sometimes suffer when their beepers go off, especially
in vibrator mode. Characterized by physical spasms, goofy facial expressions,
and stopping speech in mid-sentence.