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 #
gamer (n): A rather open denotion, a gamer is an individual who indulges on a regular basis in nonphysical activities which serve no intrinsic purpose outside the personal gratification or entertainment of those involved. Said activities are often mentally stimulating. Prominent examples include video games and role playing games (RPG's). Game Master (n): The logical evolution of Dungeon Master. The multitude of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) clones that cropped up shortly after it's rise in popularity often had little in common with the high fantasy setting of their forebear, and thus the generic cross-system title Game Master was coined. Serves the same purpose as Dungeon Master. Game Over (n): Message which appears on screen when the player character dies, effectively ending the videogame. gank (v): To take an object from something or someone else, often (but not necessarily) when you're not supposed to. "See if you can gank a T-shirt from their booty pile." Gaussian (adj) [Gauss distribution]: Having characteristics (like intelligence or length) that are normally distributed; to be normal in every sense of the word. geek (n): An intelligent, eccentric person with an interest in the perceptably useless and esoteric. A geek is not interested in the mainstream; their expertise is to be found in that which society scorns or misunderstands. They have many realms of interest, most of which coincide with computers or science fiction. The social life of a geek revolves around their particular interest or expertise, and they will organize gatherings based on their common interest. A geek is capable of normal socialization, but prefers the company of other geeks. geek code (n): A set of codes commonly used in signature blocks to broadcast the interests, skills, and aspirations of the poster. Features a G at the left margin followed by numerous letter codes, often suffixed with plusses or minuses. geekosphere (n): The physical ambiance around a geek and their workstation monitor, including the pasted-up notes, inspirational quotes, family photos, software cheat templates, coffee cup(s), old cans of Jolt, mouse pad, pencils, diskettes, more notes, and so forth. geek out (v) [Jargon File 3.0.0]: To temporarily enter techno-nerd mode while in a non-hackish context, for example at parties held near computer equipment. Especially used when you need to do or say something highly technical and don't have time to explain: "Pardon me while I geek out for a moment." gekiga (n) [Jp]: "Drama pictures." As its name implies, gekiga is straight, serious storytelling much like traditional theatre and cinema. It is characterised by direct, literal narrative, pictorial realism, and uncomplicated character drawing. gensaku-sha (n) [Jp]: Story writer; someone who writes a story or synopsis to be drawn by a manga-ka. Royalties are usually split 50/50 between gensaku-sha and manga-ka. Glass Ceiling of Magic (n): In role-playing video games, most (but not all) female characters are magic-users. glomp (v): To aggressively hug someone about the neck, usually from a running start resulting in the perpetuator smacking up against their victim. god game (n): A sub-genre of strategy videogames in which the player runs a civilization or small tribe, often with the tribe represented by tiny, on-screen animated people. The prototypical god game is Populous, although the definition has been stretched to include titles like Sim City. Usually the perspective is isometric or overhead. gofer (n) [go for/gopher]: At a convention, whether sci-fi, comic or anime, a volunteer performing generally mindless tasks as ordered by convention staff. A gofer is a step above the general attending public, and is granted certain rewards (crash space, food, free t-shirt) based on the number of hours served. Gofer-dom is essential if one is ever to become staff. gofer-wrangler (n) ["go for/gopher"]: At a convention, the staff member responsible for all matters pertaining to gofers, among them the official distribution of credit for hours served and of rewards. Golden Age (adj): Refers to comic books from the 1930s and 1940s and those superhero comics that continued into the 1950s. gonk (v): To prevaricate or to embellish the truth beyond any reasonable recognition. "You're gonking me. That story you just told me is a bunch of gonk." googol (n): The figure 1 followed by 100 zeroes equal to 10100. googolplex (n): The figure 1 followed by a googol of zeroes equal to 10googol. grok (v) [Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land, 1961] /1: A Martian word meaning literally 'to drink' and metaphorically 'to be one with'. The emphatic form is 'grok in fullness'. /2: To understand, usually in a global sense. Connotes intimate and exhaustive knowledge. /3: Used of programs, may connote merely sufficient understanding. guru (n) [Unix]: An expert. Implies not only wizard skill but also a history of being a knowledge resource for others. Less often, used (with a qualifier) for other experts on other systems, as in 'VMS guru'. hack and slash (n): A form of role-playing where the character's goal is to fight. Often, hack and slash characters will get in a fight with every non-player character that they meet. Hack and slash involves very little character interaction. hacker (n) [Jargon File 3.0.0] /1: A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. /2: One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. /3: A person capable of appreciating hack value. /4: A person who is good at programming quickly. /5: An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in a 'Unix hacker'. /6: An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example. /7: One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations. /8: A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence 'password hacker', 'network hacker'. The correct term for this sense is cracker. Term connotes membership in the global community defined by the net. It also implies that the person described is seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic. hacker ethic (n) [Jargon File 3.0.0] /1: The belief that information-sharing is a powerful positive good, and that it is an ethical duty of hackers to share their expertise by writing free software and facilitating access to information and to computing resources wherever possible. /2: The belief that system-cracking for fun and exploration is ethically OK as long as the cracker commits no theft, vandalism, or breach of confidentiality. heat-seeking magic (n): In role-playing video games, magic never misses. In addition, it will never harm people on your side (even if a huge tidal wave just swept across the battlefield, only the opposing side is damaged). hello, world (interj) [Jargon File 3.0.0] /1: The canonical minimal test message in the C/Unix universe. /2. Any of the minimal programs that emit this message. Traditionally, the first program a C coder is supposed to write in a new environment is one that just prints "hello, world" to standard output (and indeed it is the first example program in K&R). Environments that generate an unreasonably large executable for this trivial test or which require a hairy compiler-linker invocation to generate it are considered too loose. /3: Greeting uttered by a hacker making an entrance or requesting information from anyone present. "Hello, world! Is the VAX back up yet?" hentai (n) [Jp]: Translates roughly to 'pervert' or 'perverted' and is sometimes used to describe a whole sub-genre of anime. You'll hear this often when watching anime in subbed form whenever one character finds something about another character to be perverted. For example, Akane Tendo often refers to Ranma as being hentai because of his gender changing curse in the series Ranma 1/2. holy wars (n) [Jargon File 3.0.0]: Arguments that involve certain basic tenets of faith, about which one cannot disagree without setting one of these off. Often occurs between users of different systems, such as Wintel and Macintosh. horrorshow (adj) [Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange, 1962]: Very good, excellent, or cool. "I thought the movie was horrorshow." hymen (n): The plastic seal placed across the top of all CD-ROM and DVD cases. Displays the title of the CD and is usually difficult to remove. idoru (n) [Jp]: A virtual (computer-created) media star. A 'real' idoru named Kyoko Date is currently being developed in Japan by the multimedia company, Horipro. IM hell (n): A state in which an AOL member or Instant Messenger user is deluged with five or more messages at the same time. Maintaining the independent conversations is extremely difficult and results in stilted and rushed responses that can be interpreted as rude. In-Character (adj): A role playing term, meaning that something is being done or said to affect the game as opposed to a natural reflex (i.e. stretching, reaching). Abbreviated as IC. infonesia (n): The inability of an individual to remember where they saw or heard an item of information. The condition is usually temporary but can recur frequently. It is more common in "information societies," with their flows of e-mail, seasonal catalogs, personal digital assistants, and trial magazine subscriptions. instafilk (n) ["instant filk"]: A filksong written on the spot. internesia (n): The inability of an individual to remember which Web site they saw an item of information on. japanese minimalism (n) [Douglas Coupland, Generation X, 1992]: The most frequently offered interior design aesthetic used by rootless career-hopping young people. japonisme (adj) [Jp]: A term used to describe the influence of Japanese culture on the West. jarjar (v) ["The Phantom Menace"] /1: To add avatars or constructs to something as padding in a superfluous manner. "The new MSWord 2000 is so jarjared it takes me an hour to get a memo done up." /2: To be a superfluous part of something. "I have to jarjar at the trade show next week." /3 (n): A superfluous person. jedhead (n): A fan of the Star Wars movies. Will wait on line several days to buy movie tickets or new toys, and are unlikely to disperse once the coveted items have been obtained. Will often wear Jedi robes and carry a lightsabre, even when present in a non-Star Wars context. jiffy (n) [Jargon File 3.0.0] /1: The duration of one tick of the system clock on the computer. Often one AC cycle time (1/60 second in the U.S. and Canada, 1/50 most other places), but more recently 1/100 sec has become common. "The swapper runs every 6 jiffies" means that the virtual memory management routine is executed once for every 6 ticks of the clock, or about ten times a second. /2: A one-millisecond wall time interval. /3: Used by physicists in jest to mean the time required for light to travel one foot in a vacuum, which is close to one nanosecond. /4: Indeterminate time from a few seconds to forever. "I'll do it in a jiffy" means certainly not now and possibly never. Jolt (n): Sugary, super-caffeinated cola drink introduced in 1986. Each 12-ounce can contains 72 milligrams of caffeine, twice that of a regular Coke or Pepsi. Popular with workaholic computer programmers. jumper cable (n): Mixed drink, consisting of rum and Jolt. kindergoth (n) /1: A derogatory term indicating a poser Goth. /2: A very young Goth, usually 16 or younger. <- back next ->
Gaussian (adj) [Gauss distribution]: Having characteristics (like intelligence or length) that are normally distributed; to be normal in every sense of the word. geek (n): An intelligent, eccentric person with an interest in the perceptably useless and esoteric. A geek is not interested in the mainstream; their expertise is to be found in that which society scorns or misunderstands. They have many realms of interest, most of which coincide with computers or science fiction. The social life of a geek revolves around their particular interest or expertise, and they will organize gatherings based on their common interest. A geek is capable of normal socialization, but prefers the company of other geeks. geek code (n): A set of codes commonly used in signature blocks to broadcast the interests, skills, and aspirations of the poster. Features a G at the left margin followed by numerous letter codes, often suffixed with plusses or minuses. geekosphere (n): The physical ambiance around a geek and their workstation monitor, including the pasted-up notes, inspirational quotes, family photos, software cheat templates, coffee cup(s), old cans of Jolt, mouse pad, pencils, diskettes, more notes, and so forth. geek out (v) [Jargon File 3.0.0]: To temporarily enter techno-nerd mode while in a non-hackish context, for example at parties held near computer equipment. Especially used when you need to do or say something highly technical and don't have time to explain: "Pardon me while I geek out for a moment." gekiga (n) [Jp]: "Drama pictures." As its name implies, gekiga is straight, serious storytelling much like traditional theatre and cinema. It is characterised by direct, literal narrative, pictorial realism, and uncomplicated character drawing. gensaku-sha (n) [Jp]: Story writer; someone who writes a story or synopsis to be drawn by a manga-ka. Royalties are usually split 50/50 between gensaku-sha and manga-ka. Glass Ceiling of Magic (n): In role-playing video games, most (but not all) female characters are magic-users. glomp (v): To aggressively hug someone about the neck, usually from a running start resulting in the perpetuator smacking up against their victim. god game (n): A sub-genre of strategy videogames in which the player runs a civilization or small tribe, often with the tribe represented by tiny, on-screen animated people. The prototypical god game is Populous, although the definition has been stretched to include titles like Sim City. Usually the perspective is isometric or overhead. gofer (n) [go for/gopher]: At a convention, whether sci-fi, comic or anime, a volunteer performing generally mindless tasks as ordered by convention staff. A gofer is a step above the general attending public, and is granted certain rewards (crash space, food, free t-shirt) based on the number of hours served. Gofer-dom is essential if one is ever to become staff. gofer-wrangler (n) ["go for/gopher"]: At a convention, the staff member responsible for all matters pertaining to gofers, among them the official distribution of credit for hours served and of rewards. Golden Age (adj): Refers to comic books from the 1930s and 1940s and those superhero comics that continued into the 1950s. gonk (v): To prevaricate or to embellish the truth beyond any reasonable recognition. "You're gonking me. That story you just told me is a bunch of gonk." googol (n): The figure 1 followed by 100 zeroes equal to 10100. googolplex (n): The figure 1 followed by a googol of zeroes equal to 10googol. grok (v) [Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land, 1961] /1: A Martian word meaning literally 'to drink' and metaphorically 'to be one with'. The emphatic form is 'grok in fullness'. /2: To understand, usually in a global sense. Connotes intimate and exhaustive knowledge. /3: Used of programs, may connote merely sufficient understanding. guru (n) [Unix]: An expert. Implies not only wizard skill but also a history of being a knowledge resource for others. Less often, used (with a qualifier) for other experts on other systems, as in 'VMS guru'. hack and slash (n): A form of role-playing where the character's goal is to fight. Often, hack and slash characters will get in a fight with every non-player character that they meet. Hack and slash involves very little character interaction. hacker (n) [Jargon File 3.0.0] /1: A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. /2: One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. /3: A person capable of appreciating hack value. /4: A person who is good at programming quickly. /5: An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in a 'Unix hacker'. /6: An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example. /7: One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations. /8: A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence 'password hacker', 'network hacker'. The correct term for this sense is cracker. Term connotes membership in the global community defined by the net. It also implies that the person described is seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic. hacker ethic (n) [Jargon File 3.0.0] /1: The belief that information-sharing is a powerful positive good, and that it is an ethical duty of hackers to share their expertise by writing free software and facilitating access to information and to computing resources wherever possible. /2: The belief that system-cracking for fun and exploration is ethically OK as long as the cracker commits no theft, vandalism, or breach of confidentiality. heat-seeking magic (n): In role-playing video games, magic never misses. In addition, it will never harm people on your side (even if a huge tidal wave just swept across the battlefield, only the opposing side is damaged). hello, world (interj) [Jargon File 3.0.0] /1: The canonical minimal test message in the C/Unix universe. /2. Any of the minimal programs that emit this message. Traditionally, the first program a C coder is supposed to write in a new environment is one that just prints "hello, world" to standard output (and indeed it is the first example program in K&R). Environments that generate an unreasonably large executable for this trivial test or which require a hairy compiler-linker invocation to generate it are considered too loose. /3: Greeting uttered by a hacker making an entrance or requesting information from anyone present. "Hello, world! Is the VAX back up yet?" hentai (n) [Jp]: Translates roughly to 'pervert' or 'perverted' and is sometimes used to describe a whole sub-genre of anime. You'll hear this often when watching anime in subbed form whenever one character finds something about another character to be perverted. For example, Akane Tendo often refers to Ranma as being hentai because of his gender changing curse in the series Ranma 1/2. holy wars (n) [Jargon File 3.0.0]: Arguments that involve certain basic tenets of faith, about which one cannot disagree without setting one of these off. Often occurs between users of different systems, such as Wintel and Macintosh. horrorshow (adj) [Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange, 1962]: Very good, excellent, or cool. "I thought the movie was horrorshow." hymen (n): The plastic seal placed across the top of all CD-ROM and DVD cases. Displays the title of the CD and is usually difficult to remove. idoru (n) [Jp]: A virtual (computer-created) media star. A 'real' idoru named Kyoko Date is currently being developed in Japan by the multimedia company, Horipro. IM hell (n): A state in which an AOL member or Instant Messenger user is deluged with five or more messages at the same time. Maintaining the independent conversations is extremely difficult and results in stilted and rushed responses that can be interpreted as rude. In-Character (adj): A role playing term, meaning that something is being done or said to affect the game as opposed to a natural reflex (i.e. stretching, reaching). Abbreviated as IC. infonesia (n): The inability of an individual to remember where they saw or heard an item of information. The condition is usually temporary but can recur frequently. It is more common in "information societies," with their flows of e-mail, seasonal catalogs, personal digital assistants, and trial magazine subscriptions. instafilk (n) ["instant filk"]: A filksong written on the spot. internesia (n): The inability of an individual to remember which Web site they saw an item of information on. japanese minimalism (n) [Douglas Coupland, Generation X, 1992]: The most frequently offered interior design aesthetic used by rootless career-hopping young people. japonisme (adj) [Jp]: A term used to describe the influence of Japanese culture on the West. jarjar (v) ["The Phantom Menace"] /1: To add avatars or constructs to something as padding in a superfluous manner. "The new MSWord 2000 is so jarjared it takes me an hour to get a memo done up." /2: To be a superfluous part of something. "I have to jarjar at the trade show next week." /3 (n): A superfluous person. jedhead (n): A fan of the Star Wars movies. Will wait on line several days to buy movie tickets or new toys, and are unlikely to disperse once the coveted items have been obtained. Will often wear Jedi robes and carry a lightsabre, even when present in a non-Star Wars context. jiffy (n) [Jargon File 3.0.0] /1: The duration of one tick of the system clock on the computer. Often one AC cycle time (1/60 second in the U.S. and Canada, 1/50 most other places), but more recently 1/100 sec has become common. "The swapper runs every 6 jiffies" means that the virtual memory management routine is executed once for every 6 ticks of the clock, or about ten times a second. /2: A one-millisecond wall time interval. /3: Used by physicists in jest to mean the time required for light to travel one foot in a vacuum, which is close to one nanosecond. /4: Indeterminate time from a few seconds to forever. "I'll do it in a jiffy" means certainly not now and possibly never. Jolt (n): Sugary, super-caffeinated cola drink introduced in 1986. Each 12-ounce can contains 72 milligrams of caffeine, twice that of a regular Coke or Pepsi. Popular with workaholic computer programmers. jumper cable (n): Mixed drink, consisting of rum and Jolt. kindergoth (n) /1: A derogatory term indicating a poser Goth. /2: A very young Goth, usually 16 or younger. <- back next ->
god game (n): A sub-genre of strategy videogames in which the player runs a civilization or small tribe, often with the tribe represented by tiny, on-screen animated people. The prototypical god game is Populous, although the definition has been stretched to include titles like Sim City. Usually the perspective is isometric or overhead. gofer (n) [go for/gopher]: At a convention, whether sci-fi, comic or anime, a volunteer performing generally mindless tasks as ordered by convention staff. A gofer is a step above the general attending public, and is granted certain rewards (crash space, food, free t-shirt) based on the number of hours served. Gofer-dom is essential if one is ever to become staff. gofer-wrangler (n) ["go for/gopher"]: At a convention, the staff member responsible for all matters pertaining to gofers, among them the official distribution of credit for hours served and of rewards. Golden Age (adj): Refers to comic books from the 1930s and 1940s and those superhero comics that continued into the 1950s. gonk (v): To prevaricate or to embellish the truth beyond any reasonable recognition. "You're gonking me. That story you just told me is a bunch of gonk." googol (n): The figure 1 followed by 100 zeroes equal to 10100. googolplex (n): The figure 1 followed by a googol of zeroes equal to 10googol. grok (v) [Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land, 1961] /1: A Martian word meaning literally 'to drink' and metaphorically 'to be one with'. The emphatic form is 'grok in fullness'. /2: To understand, usually in a global sense. Connotes intimate and exhaustive knowledge. /3: Used of programs, may connote merely sufficient understanding. guru (n) [Unix]: An expert. Implies not only wizard skill but also a history of being a knowledge resource for others. Less often, used (with a qualifier) for other experts on other systems, as in 'VMS guru'. hack and slash (n): A form of role-playing where the character's goal is to fight. Often, hack and slash characters will get in a fight with every non-player character that they meet. Hack and slash involves very little character interaction. hacker (n) [Jargon File 3.0.0] /1: A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. /2: One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. /3: A person capable of appreciating hack value. /4: A person who is good at programming quickly. /5: An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in a 'Unix hacker'. /6: An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example. /7: One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations. /8: A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence 'password hacker', 'network hacker'. The correct term for this sense is cracker. Term connotes membership in the global community defined by the net. It also implies that the person described is seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic. hacker ethic (n) [Jargon File 3.0.0] /1: The belief that information-sharing is a powerful positive good, and that it is an ethical duty of hackers to share their expertise by writing free software and facilitating access to information and to computing resources wherever possible. /2: The belief that system-cracking for fun and exploration is ethically OK as long as the cracker commits no theft, vandalism, or breach of confidentiality. heat-seeking magic (n): In role-playing video games, magic never misses. In addition, it will never harm people on your side (even if a huge tidal wave just swept across the battlefield, only the opposing side is damaged). hello, world (interj) [Jargon File 3.0.0] /1: The canonical minimal test message in the C/Unix universe. /2. Any of the minimal programs that emit this message. Traditionally, the first program a C coder is supposed to write in a new environment is one that just prints "hello, world" to standard output (and indeed it is the first example program in K&R). Environments that generate an unreasonably large executable for this trivial test or which require a hairy compiler-linker invocation to generate it are considered too loose. /3: Greeting uttered by a hacker making an entrance or requesting information from anyone present. "Hello, world! Is the VAX back up yet?" hentai (n) [Jp]: Translates roughly to 'pervert' or 'perverted' and is sometimes used to describe a whole sub-genre of anime. You'll hear this often when watching anime in subbed form whenever one character finds something about another character to be perverted. For example, Akane Tendo often refers to Ranma as being hentai because of his gender changing curse in the series Ranma 1/2. holy wars (n) [Jargon File 3.0.0]: Arguments that involve certain basic tenets of faith, about which one cannot disagree without setting one of these off. Often occurs between users of different systems, such as Wintel and Macintosh. horrorshow (adj) [Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange, 1962]: Very good, excellent, or cool. "I thought the movie was horrorshow." hymen (n): The plastic seal placed across the top of all CD-ROM and DVD cases. Displays the title of the CD and is usually difficult to remove. idoru (n) [Jp]: A virtual (computer-created) media star. A 'real' idoru named Kyoko Date is currently being developed in Japan by the multimedia company, Horipro. IM hell (n): A state in which an AOL member or Instant Messenger user is deluged with five or more messages at the same time. Maintaining the independent conversations is extremely difficult and results in stilted and rushed responses that can be interpreted as rude. In-Character (adj): A role playing term, meaning that something is being done or said to affect the game as opposed to a natural reflex (i.e. stretching, reaching). Abbreviated as IC. infonesia (n): The inability of an individual to remember where they saw or heard an item of information. The condition is usually temporary but can recur frequently. It is more common in "information societies," with their flows of e-mail, seasonal catalogs, personal digital assistants, and trial magazine subscriptions. instafilk (n) ["instant filk"]: A filksong written on the spot. internesia (n): The inability of an individual to remember which Web site they saw an item of information on. japanese minimalism (n) [Douglas Coupland, Generation X, 1992]: The most frequently offered interior design aesthetic used by rootless career-hopping young people. japonisme (adj) [Jp]: A term used to describe the influence of Japanese culture on the West. jarjar (v) ["The Phantom Menace"] /1: To add avatars or constructs to something as padding in a superfluous manner. "The new MSWord 2000 is so jarjared it takes me an hour to get a memo done up." /2: To be a superfluous part of something. "I have to jarjar at the trade show next week." /3 (n): A superfluous person. jedhead (n): A fan of the Star Wars movies. Will wait on line several days to buy movie tickets or new toys, and are unlikely to disperse once the coveted items have been obtained. Will often wear Jedi robes and carry a lightsabre, even when present in a non-Star Wars context. jiffy (n) [Jargon File 3.0.0] /1: The duration of one tick of the system clock on the computer. Often one AC cycle time (1/60 second in the U.S. and Canada, 1/50 most other places), but more recently 1/100 sec has become common. "The swapper runs every 6 jiffies" means that the virtual memory management routine is executed once for every 6 ticks of the clock, or about ten times a second. /2: A one-millisecond wall time interval. /3: Used by physicists in jest to mean the time required for light to travel one foot in a vacuum, which is close to one nanosecond. /4: Indeterminate time from a few seconds to forever. "I'll do it in a jiffy" means certainly not now and possibly never. Jolt (n): Sugary, super-caffeinated cola drink introduced in 1986. Each 12-ounce can contains 72 milligrams of caffeine, twice that of a regular Coke or Pepsi. Popular with workaholic computer programmers. jumper cable (n): Mixed drink, consisting of rum and Jolt. kindergoth (n) /1: A derogatory term indicating a poser Goth. /2: A very young Goth, usually 16 or younger. <- back next ->
idoru (n) [Jp]: A virtual (computer-created) media star. A 'real' idoru named Kyoko Date is currently being developed in Japan by the multimedia company, Horipro. IM hell (n): A state in which an AOL member or Instant Messenger user is deluged with five or more messages at the same time. Maintaining the independent conversations is extremely difficult and results in stilted and rushed responses that can be interpreted as rude. In-Character (adj): A role playing term, meaning that something is being done or said to affect the game as opposed to a natural reflex (i.e. stretching, reaching). Abbreviated as IC. infonesia (n): The inability of an individual to remember where they saw or heard an item of information. The condition is usually temporary but can recur frequently. It is more common in "information societies," with their flows of e-mail, seasonal catalogs, personal digital assistants, and trial magazine subscriptions. instafilk (n) ["instant filk"]: A filksong written on the spot. internesia (n): The inability of an individual to remember which Web site they saw an item of information on. japanese minimalism (n) [Douglas Coupland, Generation X, 1992]: The most frequently offered interior design aesthetic used by rootless career-hopping young people. japonisme (adj) [Jp]: A term used to describe the influence of Japanese culture on the West. jarjar (v) ["The Phantom Menace"] /1: To add avatars or constructs to something as padding in a superfluous manner. "The new MSWord 2000 is so jarjared it takes me an hour to get a memo done up." /2: To be a superfluous part of something. "I have to jarjar at the trade show next week." /3 (n): A superfluous person. jedhead (n): A fan of the Star Wars movies. Will wait on line several days to buy movie tickets or new toys, and are unlikely to disperse once the coveted items have been obtained. Will often wear Jedi robes and carry a lightsabre, even when present in a non-Star Wars context. jiffy (n) [Jargon File 3.0.0] /1: The duration of one tick of the system clock on the computer. Often one AC cycle time (1/60 second in the U.S. and Canada, 1/50 most other places), but more recently 1/100 sec has become common. "The swapper runs every 6 jiffies" means that the virtual memory management routine is executed once for every 6 ticks of the clock, or about ten times a second. /2: A one-millisecond wall time interval. /3: Used by physicists in jest to mean the time required for light to travel one foot in a vacuum, which is close to one nanosecond. /4: Indeterminate time from a few seconds to forever. "I'll do it in a jiffy" means certainly not now and possibly never. Jolt (n): Sugary, super-caffeinated cola drink introduced in 1986. Each 12-ounce can contains 72 milligrams of caffeine, twice that of a regular Coke or Pepsi. Popular with workaholic computer programmers. jumper cable (n): Mixed drink, consisting of rum and Jolt. kindergoth (n) /1: A derogatory term indicating a poser Goth. /2: A very young Goth, usually 16 or younger. <- back next ->
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