Conference thebay::joyoflex

    Re .0:
    
    I have always imagined that YOG[H]URT was an onomatopoeic word,
    descriptive of the sound that accompanies tipping the substance
    out of its container and into a dish ...

    
    
    
    
    
    				GLOBULE
    
    
    
    

    This word has been appearing more and more on project progress memos
    around here. I hate it.
    
    Ian.

    ...in the context discussed in earlier notes.

    . . . particularly when used as an adverb.
    
    Clay

>                                   -< Puss >-

Puss?  Like "Puss In Boots?"    Or did you mean pus? (As in "All-purpose 
porpoise pus"?)
					>>>==>PStJTT

    Otherwise intelligent people seem to say it in like the wrong part
    of a sentence.  It drives me nuts!

    re:.9 re:.8
    
    He must be a cat-hater. :-)
    
    --- jerry

Various least favourite words:

(1) Whatever is the natural enemy of the halibut (see Favourite Word Note) 
unless it's another fish.

(2) TODAY.   I have a mild, intermittent stammer, and I find 'today' the most
difficult word to say.   It's tough to change the dentals.

(3) YES.   The 2nd most difficult word for me to say is 'No'.   But boy do I
regret uttering 'Yes' sometimes.

But if I was asked to pick my alltime most unsavoury nastiest least pleasant
word it would be...



(4) RATKING   
Meaning given after the next formfeed.   Do not read if you are about to eat
or have just eaten.   I feel bilious just contemplating it again.



It is a freakish naturally-occuring phenomenon, consisting of a number of dead
rats (up to a dozen) with their tails knotted together.   It is thought that
this accident occurs during winter when rats are crowded together in a nest 
for warmth.   And once the knot is formed, the more the rats pull...

Ugh!

    I am quite willing to delete this reply on the grounds that it isn't
    a word. But I hear it too often.
    
    (Is it possible to write-lock a note against descriptive linguistics?)
    
    	Andrew.

    In line with .7:
    
    ...as when used in, "We had a wicked good time!."

    Re .14:

    Formfeed response:
        
>It is a freakish naturally-occuring phenomenon, consisting of a number of dead
>rats (up to a dozen) with their tails knotted together.   It is thought that
>this accident occurs during winter when rats are crowded together in a nest 
>for warmth.   And once the knot is formed, the more the rats pull...
 
    Actually, "rat kings" (two words, ordinarily) are more usually found
    alive, or even semi-alive.  The tails may be pasrtially fused together
    by frozen waste products.  For those with a cultural bent, The "mouse
    king" or "king of the mice" in the ballet _The Nutcracker_, is just
    a scaled down rat king.  But this is seldom explained, making the
    action involved rather puzzling to a lot of folks.
       
    Steve Kallis, Jr.  

Steve Kallis, Jr is of course completely right.   However, I am an exile
from my land, and far from my encyclopedic resource.

    Re .18:
    
    The following might be a little icky, so a formfeed warning:
    
    A little more on rat kings:
    
    Are you sure you want to know this?
    
    Well, if you are:
    
    How did a fused-together bunch of rats get such a bizzarre name?
    
    In popular mythology, there was supposed to be a gigantic rat that
    was king of all rats.  And just as some ancient Oriental potentates
    were supposed to have (human) servants who acted as footstools,
    the king of the rats was supposed to have a footstool composed of
    his subjects (how the rat was supposed to sit properly to use it
    was never made clear).  When the bunches of rats were first discovered,
    the comon folk thought they might represent the footstools for the
    King of the Rats, and they were called something on the order of
    the "Rat King's footstool."   In time, the qualification was dropped,
    and the "object" took on the name "rat king."
    
    Large rat kings of well over a dozen rats have been reported.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    	Least favorite words.....hmmm
    
    	CAUCUS:  Sounds like something sick people cough up.
               
    	PAPAL:   I don't know why, I just don't like it.

>    	Least favorite words.....hmmm
>   
>    	CAUCUS:  Sounds like something sick people cough up.
             
   On a related theme, I am spectacularly unfond of:

GUBERNATORIAL 

(*so* ugly)

    
    I really hate the 'word' GUESSTIMATE. After all, what is an estimate
    if not an educated guess ?
    
    Paul V

    Re .21:
    
>   On a related theme, I am spectacularly unfond of:
>
>GUBERNATORIAL 
 
    Red Skelton, the comic, was the only person to handle this word
    properly.  One time, when politics was in full swing, he said:
    
    "I plan to enter the gubernatorial race.  I'd really like to be
    your next goober."
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.   

    re: .22

    A guesstimate isn't even educated.   It's just being made by
    someone who has the authority to include it in a marketing plan
    and make the rest of us live by it. 
    
    --bonnie 

    Re: .22, .24 ("guesstimate")
    
    There is a distinction, although a slight one, between "guess" and
    "estimate" that is blurred by "guesstimate."  A guess can be more
    or less random, but an estimate is supposed to be a rational
    approximation.  The legal consequences are that estimates are admissible
    in evidence but guesses are not.
    
Lew Lasher

    
    re .last
    
    Exactly, if a guesstimate is a more or less random selection, they
    why on earth bother inventing a word when "guess" will do. It is,
    to me at least, just a really horrible word which should be the
    first up against the wall along with its inventor when the revolution
    comes if not sooner.
    
    Paul V

    re .26:
    
    It's my opinion that whatever invented "iconify," "iconize," and their
    relatives is in line ahead of the inventor of "guesstimate." At least
    "guesstimate" is witty, being an eliding portmanteau. 
    
    	Jon 

    re: .26
    
    The distinction appears to be that a guess is more random and
    the guesstimate is less random.  It compares to the "educated
    guess" I used to get from professors who didn't know the answer
    to a tough question.
    
    I like the humor of guesstinate, especially when it's used
    by a management type who doesn't notice that he's just said
    his own numbers are meaningless.
    
    Incidentally, this is the first time I can remember seeing
    "guesstimate" written down.  
    
    --bonnie

    
>    the guesstimate is less random.  It compares to the "educated
>    guess" I used to get from professors who didn't know the answer

    And what is an estimate if not an educated guess ? Again I can see
    no justification for this pseudo word.
    
    Paul V
    groan grumble gripe spit.... :-)

    An estimate has a whole lot more behind it than an educated guess.
    If you're a wallpaper contractor, or a painter, or an auto
    repairman, and you give a customer an estimate, you had better
    come in with a bill that's at or below that estimate or else have
    an awfully good excuse.  Many states have laws requiring that if
    the cost of completing the work is going to run over the estimate,
    you get the customer's approval before you do it. 
    
    Flagging something as a guesstimate tells your listeners that,
    while your predictions are your best-faith appraisal of how much
    time, money, or whatever it's going to take, you could be wildly
    wrong and you are not responsible for the discrepency.  This is
    considerably more than a guess and considerably less than an
    estimate. 
    
    This shade of meaning justifies it as management jargon.  It warns
    you about how much credibility you can savely give the numbers.
    And since it has a shade of meaning that really isn't covered by
    any existing terms, and since that shade of meaning is often
    important in relations among people who have the power to commit
    to schedules and budgets, it will probably be around for a while. 
    
    But until and unless it does hang around, I wouldn't use it in a
    memo, spec, or proposal. 
    
    --bonnie

    
    
    
    
    Which is a quarter of an inch longer than a MOUSEshit.
    

    thanatophidia
    heldentenor
    eczematous
    gutturalize
    serpiginous
    bursiculate
    fissiparous
    pallesthesia
    monomachy
    edentulate
    lemniscate
    weddellite

	Synergy - overused and trite.

	Tax - of any sort

	Budget - takes the fun out of life

	-wise  - Madison Ave Nightmare

	Firmup - Your turn at the Nautalis

>	Synergy - overused and trite.

Agreed.  No what we *do* need is an antonym.   Something to cover the much
commoner case when the whole is *less* than the sum of the parts.
Any suggestions?

    Re .34:
    
    "Asynergy," of course.  And "asynergistic" for the adjective.  Just
    like "symmetry," wouldn't you say?
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    Re .30, English law (if I understand it correctly) allows a contractor
    to present a bill which exceeds his estimate by a "reasonable" amount,
    without necessarily having to justify it. If you want to be sure
    that you're not going to have to pay out more than a known amount,
    you get a "quotation", which the contractor has to stick to. Needless
    to say, quotations tend to be higher than estimates.
    
    brian

    re .28
    
>        Incidentally, this is the first time I can remember seeing
>    "guesstimate" written down.  

    Perhaps you weren't around at that time, but it was actually
    written in Joyoflex 308.2.
    
    	roger        

                              DEPILATORY

        When I'm at home, commercials for these and other similar
        products always air just when I'm about to eat.

    There's a few words that make my flesh creep, but for some reason
    the one that really makes me bounce a brick off the TV screen is...
    IRREGARDLESS   ...... aaaaarrrrgggghhhhhh!!!!!! here I go again!!!
    
    BTW What is the cost of replacing a VAXstation screen?         
    						Regards,  Guy

    re: .38
    
    I noticed this phenomenon, too.  I think it must be a corollary
    of Murphy's law.
    
    I have, however, found a way around it.
    
    I turn the TV off . . .
    
    Protects me from all kinds of idiocies.
    
    --bonnie

    Re: .39   
    
    [Guy,  please don't press return, I'm going to use that word again...]
    
    
    IRREGARDLESS and ORIENTATE both fall into the same category.  They
    are good negative indicators of educational level. 

    Do I get a better price? I've now got two to fix!   ....Guy

    But is it oriented or orientated?  And does it mean "pointing east"?
    
    Jeff.

    Yep.  East is where everyone wanted to go in those days. An American
    who lost his way when told `Go West, young man' was disoccidented
    - but the word never caught on.

    The Portugese, who did a lot of navigating (and so risked losing
    their bearings more often than other people) have got two words
    for the same thing: `des_orient_ar' and `des_norte_ar'.
    
    Note: the second para is true.
    
    b

      re .41
      
      I think ADMINISTRATE falls into that category, too.
      
      Dave C.

    proactive (used as an antonym to reactive) and irregardless (ooooophf,
    even cringe to type it).
    
    Susan
    

'Disambiguate' drives me nuts.   I haven't yet heard or seen this used
where either 'distinguish,' 'define,' or 'clarify' wouldn't convey the
proper meaning.

Dave C.

    You could start the Antidisambiguation Society.

    
    Antidisambiguation? Sounds ambivalent.
    
    Richard.

This note has been transferred from the grammar conference (Ref: 143.*) as it
seemed more appropriate here in Joy of Lex.
================================================================================

Some of my pet hates in general computer texts and marketing documents are
listed below.  Please note that I am referring only to general texts, not
detailed technical documents where the reader might be expected to understand
the specialized meanings of some of these words.

"-ize" words   For example, productize.

"addressed"    Often over-used.
"advisories"   In the context where I found it, used to mean examples.

"blueprint"    For any plan or scheme.
"bottleneck"   For any sort of problem.

"concatenation"   For any act of joining or merging.
"criteria"        Often over-used for principles, standards, or guidelines.

"deadline"       When used for any sort of limit.
"deliverables"   When used to refer to software, documentation, and so on.
"domain"         For any area or topic.

"end-user"      For user.
"environment"   For area or location.
"escalate"      For refer or pass on.
"evolution"     For any change or development

"functionality"   For features or functions.

"impact"      For affect or effect.
"implement"   For install, carry out, or fulfill.
"initiate"    For start or begin.
"input" and "output"   When used as verbs, or when used metaphorically.
"integrate"   For combine or mix.
"interface"   For any sort of boundary, interaction, or relationship among 
              individuals or groups.

"logistics"   For any requirements.

"maximum"         For greatest or most
"methodologies"   For methods.
"metrics"         For statistics or data.
"migration"       For change or update.
"minimum"         For least or smallest.

"offerings"      For services or products.
"on-going"       For continuing.
"on/off-line"    For available/unavailable.
"optimization"   For any improvement.
"optimum"        For best.
"orientation"    For training or briefing.

"parameter"    When used to mean boundary, limit, or framework.
"peripheral"   When used figuratively.
"positioned"   As in, "This service is positioned in the networking space."

"resources"    For any materials or people.

"solution"     Have you noticed how everything is becoming one of these?
"space"        For any area of interest or involvement.
"start up"     For start.

"tangibles"     When used to mean documentation, programs, and so on.
"target"        For any aim, objective, or goal.
"terminate"     For end or finish.
"topology"      For configuration.
"transmitted"   For sent.

"utilization"   For use or usage.
"utilize"       For use.

Regards, Greg.

.50�< Note 517.50 by CLARID::TURNBULL "Another Computerised Junk Note!" >
.50�                              -< Some Pet Hates >-
.50�
.50�"escalate"      For refer or pass on.
    ^^^^^^^^^^
    
    This word is apparently a rather nasty (and quite recent)
    back-formation from 'escalator'.  Perhaps we could front-form it
    out of existence?
    
    Ian.
    

RE -1

>    (.....).Perhaps we could front-form it
>    out of existence?        ^^^^^^^^^^

Sorry Ian. Not today. I'm not in front-forming mode.

:-)

Arie

    I think that this is a personal weakness: I know that many people -- and 
    even my favorite Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary -- find it acceptable,
    but I have a deep aversion to the word _onto_. 
    
    Used in the sense of _on to_, that is, and not as a prefix: "ontological".
    
    Jim ... expatriate_Brit_suffering_from_ontophobia.

    Re .-1

    Good word. Presumably ontophobia is the fear of things that are.
    So, as long as some authority (like a reasonable dictionary) reports
    something as being a word, the fear of that word [which needn't be
    `onto'] is ontophobia.

    Personally, I have an aversion to the tacking of suffixes onto
    any old word to make a new one, but that's just a personal prejudice -
    phobophobia, perhaps.

    b

>    ...phobophobia, perhaps.

I thought that was when you had nothing to fear but fear itself.

				>>>==>PStJTT

    RE: ontophobia
    
    Speaking as a metaontophobic, I find this discussion disturbing.
    
    Richard.

    Re: .55
    
    No, I think phobophobia is where you have everything to fear - except
    perhaps fear itself -- or the fear of fear itself...
    
    Bernie

    Ugh. I'm becoming "phobophobia" phobic.

RE: .50, I forgot to add "-wise" to my list.

Greg.

    Here's a couple of "-ize" words:
    
    Heard at a Digital-sponsored Technology Forum in Australia:
    	"concretize"
    
    Heard on NOVA (documentary on chaotic dynamical systems):
    	"chaoticize"
    
    I'm only guessing at the spelling of the second one...
    
    	- Win
    

	Neo-

	adjusted - as in the price/premium will be adjusted

	From The Literary Life and Other Curiosities, Robert
	Hendrickson, Penguin, 1982 ...  According to a poll taken
	by the National Association of Teachers of Speech in 1946,
	the ten least popular words are: cacophony, crunch, 
	flatulent, gripe, jazz, phlegmatic, plump, plutocrat,
	sap, and treachery.

	As for me, I've always had a soft spot for phlegm.

		-- Cliff

    That over-stuffed feeling after you've eaten too much?

    An ugly word that means "beauty."
    
    When giving a compliment or describing an attractive individual, what
    good is a word that makes you want to brush your teeth?
    
    Bill

    �	When giving a compliment or describing an attractive individual, 
    
    
    you'd be more likely to use the even nastier `pulchritudinous' (adj),
    wouldn't you?
    
    b

    
    The famous seaside retirement town of Bournemouth, where I spent
    my formative, has, as its motto, beneath an appallingly contrived
    shield, the words "Pulchritudo et Salubritas". *
    
    I had to walk under this shield every morning, at school, so the
    very mention of the word Pulchritude (or even "Salubrity"?) gives
    me the shudders, not just because it's a nasty word in its own right.
    
    Ian
                                                    
    * "Beauty and Health"
    

two ugly (non-)verbs I've seen recently in memos:
  " so as to better program-manage the..."
  (+10 malus points for split infinitive)
  " decided that they would not DECproductize it."
  (emphasis theirs)

John.

In a recent DIS journal, the process of assetizing is described...

    I can't believe I'm about to type this...
    
    Normalcy
    
    Ugh!  It felt even worse than I expected.
    
    Ray

    
    	I never liked "doily".
    
    							Shawn L.
    

    >  I never liked "doily".
    
    I suppose that makes you antimacassar.
    
    Bernie

    Re .71 (Bernie):
    
    >>  I never liked "doily".
    >
    >I suppose that makes you antimacassar.
     
    Or at least crewel.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    Now that's tit for tat!
    
    Bernie

    re: .70 - .73
    
    You guys sure are crotchety today . . .
    
    --bonnie

     Now Bonnie! Don't needle
     them to make your point.

             Mike

    I'm glad that these responses have a common thread!

    re: .75
    
>    You guys sure are crotchety today . . .

Such mild criticism will hardly make them quaver!

    Sew, is this the start of sewing puns?  That's something
    I can cotton to.  As much as I try to control myself,
    puns twill emerge.  I'm knot lying.
    
    Butt-on another topic, such pun'sleave me in stitches although
    some are so bad they should be put in a sew-er.  They're the worsted.

    
    	Button it up, eh?
    
    	There's not a thread of intelligence in these replies.
    
    
    							Shawn L.
    

Call the Cavalry back from Jersey to-knit-e for the king has satin some mud.
The queen has been silking about all day, she needs a serge of energy.
The knave was a broadcloth they deported him for lithping. The princesses
poly and ester cordoroy-al cold.  The youngest prince was playing with his gun,
but he layed a ray on the nurse, den'im went to bed.  The chauffeur was changing
the oil in the royal limmo and declared, "this oil is too viscose, I'll have
to change to a synthetic"

And so it was for the royals as we bring another bad pun to a clothes.

    I think I see a pattern in all of this.  You may think it's all the
    vogue, but I think you're embroidering the truth.
    
    Bernie

We are all hostiches to fashion!

    Why are we being so crewel to one another?
    
    --b

>    Why are we being so crewel to one another?

Yeah, it's leaving me in tat ters

    
    
    
    Ahhhh it's enough to stop one interfacing....
    
    One more and we'll end up on the rick-rack, but to one side, due to a
    bias-binding, no doubt.
    
    ohhh I'd better slipstitch away before someone tells me to 
    get knitted............
    
    
    derek

    Gee, all you guys hate puns?  "LEAST" favorite words.  What a bunch
    of spoilsports!  I like puns!
    
    However, I once wanted to throw a dictionary through the window,
    when I found "orientate" in it.  And another one had "administrate."
    Incredible.
    
    Well, in the old days, when rubbers were worn on feet, I disliked
    the word "rubbers" for them, preferring "boots."  Somehow other
    uses of "rubber" did not bother me, and in fact for its modern
    meaning, maybe it is even preferable to its synonyms.
    
    Oh, let's see.  How about "backup"?
    
    How about "leftovers"?
    
    Maybe "dentist"?

    I have always hated OBVIOUSLY, because I hear it as an egotistical
    attitude towards one's listeners.

    The two expressions from MIT that were a sure sign of some ungodly
    obscure hair about to be perpetrated on the students were:
    
    1.  "It's intuitively obvious to the most casual observer."
    
    2.  ... the demonstration "is left as an exercise for the reader."