Glossary
In the interest of keeping posts short, and knocking a few questions out of the way, this entry will serve as this blog’s glossary. These words are listed in alphabetical order, and not all are meant for old people. In fact, some are meant for people of all ages, while at least one is for dumb young people. When a better, more concise definition was found elsewhere, it has been provided. To skip to a specific letter, click on the corresponding character below. The glossary will be updated as needed. Have a suggestion? E-mail it to hill.katherinem [at] gmail [dot] com!
# | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
4chan – An imageboard (messageboard with images) created with the intention of discussing anime and manga. Users may post anonymously, as it lacks a registration system, which has led to debauchery. 4chan is also responsible for bringing us Rickrolling, LOLcats, and Project Chanology, an anonymous protest against Scientology. (Baltimore City Paper has a great article about the protest and group here.)
Anonymous – For the web group, see 4chan.
Avatar – From Wikipedia, "The graphical representation of a user." May also be called a user icon. The square graphic to the right under the About Me column is an example of an avatar. It is usually best for a user to use the same avatar for each account used./b/ – See 4chan.
Billabong – A stagnant body of water. See more here.
BitTorrent – As defined by Wikipedia, "is a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol used for distributing large amounts of data." BitTorrent allows a user to download an entire series of a TV show or an artist's catalogue with one click. Sometimes Torrent is used as a verb as a way of shortening the action.Cheddar/Cheese –Slang for cash (cheddar), or a combination of cold medicine and heroin (cheese).
Desktop – 1) The background a user sees on his or her monitor (the icons, documents, wallpaper). Files can be saved to the Desktop, but the files go to a folder on the harddrive with a desktop shortcut (so it's more practical to create a shortcut to the desktop and save elsewhere). 2) A personal computer meant to sit on one's desk (wiki).dooce – A very popular and successful personal blog written by Heather Armstrong. dooce is considered the standard or example of successful blogging, as Armstrong and her husband has made the blog her full-time through advertising revenue. dooce can also be used as a verb when a person is fired for the writing on one's personal blog. Example: "I was dooced because I wrote inappropriate missives about my co-workers."
Dropsy – Slang for dumping your contraband before running from the cops. Extension (filename) – The suffix of a filename: .doc (Word Document), (.html -- usually a web page, see below), .jpg and .gif (image files), .mp3 (music, see below) , pdf, .ppd, etc.Facebook – A wildly popular social networking website. Sometimes considered the successor to MySpace. Can be used as a verb (to Facebook, Facebooked, etc.) for actions or posting using or related to the site. (An in-depth article is planned for the future.)
First! – The asinine proclamation by the first commenter of a blog post to declare that he or she is the first commenter. These comments almost always fail to provide additional commentary. This is popular, but DEAR GOD, I have no idea why. (There are no G words at this time. If you have a suggestion, please leave a comment or e-mail me.)Hardware – The physical, tangeible components of technology. Includes the CPU, monitor, CD and CD-Rom drive, other drives (DVD, floppy disk, USB flash, Zip), mouse, keyboard, gaming components (joystick), etc.
Hoe, ho – A hoe is a tool for gardening. A ho is a demeaning and gender specific term, commonly misspelled, that should never be used. Glad we could clear this up. (This is a lesson for young people.)
HTML –Hypertext Markup Language, a system of annotating text for web pages. Also an extension for web pages. IP – Internet Protocol address. Think of it as your computer's street address. Each computer connected to the Internet has a unique numerical address. Addresses are four sets of two numbers (xx.xx.xx.xx.) 0–25. Many blogs and websites track IP addresses to monitor where visitors are coming from, and many comments are logged by IP addresses. A blog or website can turn IP logging off, and allow commenters to be completely anonymous, but I like to laud IP logging over a nasty commenter's head, if you want to know the truth. How much information is available through an IP address varies (There are no J words at this time. If you have a suggestion, please leave a comment or e-mail me.)(There are no K words at this time. If you have a suggestion, please leave a comment or e-mail me.) (There are no L words at this time. If you have a suggestion, please leave a comment or e-mail me.) Metadata, metatags – See tags. MP3 – From The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law 2009, "A popular audio compression format on the Internet." MP3 is the abbreviation for MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, and is file extension (.mp3) for most digital audio files. MP3s can play on most digital audio players, including iPods, can be burned to CDs, and played on computers and CD players. M4A and .mp4 are also common extensions. AP style calls for all capital letters, but I often forget and leave it lowercase, so my apologies in advance.MySpace – A once very popular social networking website. Formerly the most popular social networking website in the world, the website lost most of its data and content during a site migration in 2015. The company is now Myspace (notice the lowercase "s".)
Natch – Slang for "naturally." See examples and more here. No Homo – A phrase used in the hip hop community to say, "I'm not gay! No gayness here! No gay, no way!"
Nom – An act of showing affection toward delicious food.
NSFW – "Not safe for work" Used as a warning when sharing content with nudity, violence, profanity, or anything that may cause awkwardness in the workplace.
(There are no O words at this time. If you have a suggestion, please leave a comment or e-mail me.) -porn – "porn" is often used as a suffix to a word or genre to emphasize the product's over-the-topness. "Torture porn" is often used to describe slasher films (Last House on the Left, for example), and "disaster porn" would refer to excessive news coverage or the film 2012. The suffix may also be used for pleasant topics as well. In general, its usage seems derogatory, even when used as something unrelated to its original meaning.RSS – From The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law 2009: "An abbreviation for Really Simple Syndication. A protocol for subscribing to and distributing feeds that notify people of new entries on news sites, blogs, podcasts or other online information sources. Also RSS feed. (See more here.)
Smashed a Homie – To have relations with a friend of your current partner.
Social Networking – As defined by Wiktionary: “A virtual community in which people with a shared interest may communicate.” Examples include Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, and Twitter. Social networking has proven instrumental for communicating in both personal lives and the workplace in addition to breaking and reporting news. The August issue of Simple Living defined Social Notworking as losing focus in the workplace by participating in social networking on office time. (An in-depth article is planned for the future.)
Software – The computer stuff you can't touch: Operating systems, programs, etc.
Sweat – To worry ("don't sweat it") or admire ("I sweat you").Twitter – A social networking platform where users share information in 140 characters or less. From The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law 2009: "A community-based message-distribution system that allows users to post continual status updates of up to 140 characters detailing their activities for followers. The verb is to Twitter or to Tweet. A Twitter message is known as a Tweet." (All articles on this blog about Twitter can be found here.)
Urban Dictionary – Web site where users submit and define slang. Definitions can be ranked by users and visitors. The downside is that many (many) will submit themselves as definition, definitions are often inflated, or wrong, and definitions are often more vulgar than necessary and often unnecessarily demeaning. (And therefore is not advised for my parents.)
URL – A web address, such as, www.google.com or http://lessonsforoldpeople.blogspot.com. Stands for Uniform Resource Locator. USB – Stands for Universal Serial Bus. Created in 1996 and credited to Compaq, Digital Equipment Corporation, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, and Northern Telecom, USB was invented to replace serial and parallel ports--that is, to create one standard for plugging your mouse, keyboard, scanner, digital camera, printer, MP3 player, external hard drive, flash drive (see above), and other technological devices to your computer.Viral Video – A video (often but not always from YouTube) that rises suddenly in popularity, often through the help of the Internet. The Wikipedia entry includes a thorough definition and examples.
W3C – The World Wide Web Consortium, the international standards organization for the World Wide Web, founded by Tim Berners-Lee (who is the president of the Internet). We can credit W3C for creating and protecting the Internet as a free entity for everyone.(There are no X words at this time. If you have a suggestion, please e-mail me.)
Yinz – An inclusive, second-person plural pronoun from Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania.
(There are no Z words at this time. If you have a suggestion, please e-mail me.)
Vocabulary Lesson: Internet Vocabulary Vocabulary Lesson: Web Jargon and Internet Slang (Abbreviations) Vocabulary Lesson: Tweet vs. Microblog
