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 #

tachiyomi
TANSTAAFL
technobabble
techsploitation
tele-parablizing
terminal junkie
tester
territorial lockout
throw down
tokusatsu
trainspotter
transhumanism
Trekker
Trekkie
TrekPolitiks
troll
tuckerization
undernet
unix slut
upgrade fever
vaccinated time travel
video store auteurs
Vulcan nerve pinch
webhippie
Wesley Crusher Syndrome
xerophilia
XEROX PARC
yaoi
Zero Hour
zines
0wn
1-up
8-bit plot
16-bit plot
32-bit plot
404
616
 tachiyomi (v) [Jp]: "Browse", literally "Read while standing". Many Japanese bookstores frown on those who tachiyomi, and take precautions to stop customers stealing free reads. There will often be signs forbidding tachiyomi - if ignored, bookstores often respond by sealing their stock in plastic bags.

TANSTAAFL (acronym) [Robert Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, 1966]: "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch", often invoked when someone is balking at the prospect of using an unpleasantly heavyweight technique, or at the poor quality of some piece of free software, or at the signal-to-noise ratio of unmoderated Usenet newsgroups. "What? Don't tell me I have to implement a database back end to get my address book program to work!" "Well, TANSTAAFL you know."

technobabble (n): long strings of meaningless jargon tossed around by technical personnel. Speech of this manner sounds meaningful to outsiders but is devoid of any scientific accuracy or even grammatical meaning. A high incidence can be found throughout the "Star Trek" franchise.

techsploitation (n): a subgenre of science fiction cinema in which technology is the driving force behind the main plot. These movies usually include computers and may involve complex strings of pseudo-scientific explanation and technobabble.

tele-parablizing (n) [Douglas Coupland, Generation X, 1992]: Morals used in everyday life that derive from TV sitcom plots. "That's just like the episode where Jan lost her glasses!"

terminal junkie (n) [brit]: A wannabee or early larval stage hacker who spends most of his or her time wandering the directory tree and writing noddy programs just to get a fix of computer time. Variants include 'terminal jockey', 'console junkie', and 'console jockey'. The term 'console jockey' seems to imply more expertise than the other three, possibly because of the exalted status of the console relative to an ordinary terminal.

tester (n): Someone who is paid by a software company to play a game extensively to ensure that it is bug-free and that the gameplay is at the appropriate difficulty level.

territorial lockout (n): A feature on a videogame system that does not allow foreign games to be played on it.

throw down (v): To issue or to complete a challenge. "Think you got Ping Pong skillz? Throw down!"

tokusatsu (n) [Jp]: This translates roughly as "special effects" or "special photography" and is used to describe any film that makes ample use of either. Normally, this is limited to live action films with examples ranging from the venerable Godzilla franchise to the Sentai shows that were chopped up and turned into The Power Rangers for the U.S. market.

trainspotter (n) [brit]: Generally a usually intelligent but particularly anally retentive person; the person may be obsessed with an interest, like trainspotting, stamp collecting etc. Originates from the much ridiculed hobby of trainspotting.

transhumanism (n): A philosophy that seeks the continuation and acceleration of the evolution of intelligent life beyond its currently human form and human limitations by means of science and technology, guided by life-promoting principles and values.

Trekker (n) /1: A fan interested in the technical aspects of Star Trek, including ships, technology, and alien biology. /2: The unsociable aspect of Star Trek fandom. Trekkers often find themselves detached from society at large and emerge as outcasts. The term 'Trekker' is adopted defensively to isolate themselves from "obsessed" Trekkies. /3: Star Trek fans that acknowledge themselves as too cool to be called a 'Trekkie'.

Trekkie (n) /1: An obsessed fan of the Star Trek series. They will stress over internal history, wear elaborate costumes to conventions, and may find it hard to distinguish between fantasy and reality. /2: The more sociable aspect of Star Trek fandom. Trekkies are fans of the show and may attend conventions, but limit their obsession to such areas and are known to have lives outside of Star Trek. /3: Any fan of Star Trek.

TrekPolitiks (n) [Douglas Coupland, Microserfs, 1995]: The state of non-politics in the Star Trek future, in which concepts such as money, the party system, and accountability are obsolete.

troll (n) [Usenet]: Any newsgroup poster who posts deliberately inflammatory material in order to irritate other posters and, hopefully, trick them into making foolish spectacles of themselves. It is advised to avoid responding to an obvious troll at all costs, no matter how tempting a target they make themselves.

tuckerization (n): The act of using a real name as an in-joke (i.e. Mount Kirby in Kurt Busiek's Astro City comics). From Wilson "Bob" Tucker, a science fiction writer of the 50s who made a practicing of using his friends' names for minor characters in his stories.

undernet (n): that collection of technologies that run over the Internet and are motivated, at least in part, by a desire to subvert societal limitations. Undernet can also refer to the social movements and communities surrounding these technologies. Examples include Napster, Wrapster, Gnutella, and Mixmaster.

unix slut (n) [unixsluts.org]: A woman so driven by a need for information on and skills in Unix, she uses her body and/or feminine influence to seduce knowledge from the hands of techs and system administrators.

upgrade fever (n) [Jargon File 3.0.0]: The almost uncontrollable, compulsive urge to upgrade hardware and/or software, with little or no consideration extended to a real need or want.

vaccinated time travel (n) [Douglas Coupland, Generation X, 1992]: To fantasize about traveling backward in time, but only with proper vaccinations.

video store auteurs (n): Filmmakers who learned the art of filmaking by working behind the counter at a video store rather than through attending film school or art house showings. Famous examples include Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith.

Vulcan nerve pinch (n) /1 [Star Trek]: A Vulcan technique in which finger pressure is applied to certain nerves at the base of the neck, instantly and nonviolently rendering that individual unconscious. /2 [Commodore Amiga hackers]: The keyboard combination that forces a soft-boot or jump to ROM monitor (on machines that support such a feature). On many micros this is Ctrl-Alt-Del; on Suns it is L1-A; and on some Macintoshes it is Cmd-Power switch.

webhippie (n): One who is immersed in the new culture of the World Wide Web, which emphasizes freedom of information and the access to it; technology and its effects on the future of our culture; and individual freedom and freedom of expression.

Wesley Crusher Syndrome (n) ["Star Trek: The Next Generation"]: a common science fiction trap in which a juvenile character is shoehorned into the plot by making them more technically proficient than any adults present. Intervention by this character is then necessary in many tight situations.

xerophilia (n) ["xerox"]: The love of copying and the ability of everything to be copied.

XEROX PARC (n) [Jargon File 3.0.0]: The famed Palo Alto Research Center. For more than a decade, from the early 1970s into the mid-1980s, PARC yielded an astonishing volume of groundbreaking hardware and software innovations. The modern mice, windows, and icons style of software interface was invented there. So was the laser printer and the local-area network; and PARC's series of D machines anticipated the powerful personal computers of the 1980s by a decade. Sadly, the prophets at PARC were without honor in their own company, so much so that it became a standard joke to describe PARC as a place that specialized in developing brilliant ideas for everyone else.

yaoi (n) [Jp]: Male-male stories, usually in cartoon format, drawn by fans using other people's characters. Found in the fan publications called doujinshi. Yaoi is an acronym for 'yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi' - no mountain (ie peak), no point, no meaning. As the acronym suggests, fannish yaoi tends to emphasize the sex over the emotions and can do without plot entirely. Yaoi takes any kind of relationship and sexualizes it - "These guys are brothers, let's put them in bed together." "These guys are on the same soccer team, let's put them in bed together." "These guys are sworn enemies, let's put them in bed together- or even better, have one guy tie the other guy up and rape him."

Zero Hour (n) [DC Comics, 1994]: A five issue comic miniseries published by DC intended to fix problems resulting from inconsistent post-Crisis DC continuity. As with Crisis, people now speak of 'pre-ZH' and 'post-ZH' continuity.

zines (n) ["fanzine"]: Idiosyncratic, self-published titles whose name comes from an abbreviation of the punk-era 'fanzine'. Many of these small, idiosyncratic hand-crafted publications departed from the fan idea to focus on the zine creators themselves. Zines appeal to particular and often peculiarly intimate tastes.

 0wn (v): To dominate, to destroy. "We 0wn them at Counter-Strike." (When using it in past tense, spell it with a 3, example: "0wn3d!")

1-up (n) /1: In videogaming refers to an extra life, or chance to complete the game. /2: The first player.

8-bit plot (n): Oldest RPG plot. You are the legendary hero. Kill the Big Bad Demon. Most 8-bit RPGs (and some 16 and 32-bit ones) use this plot.

16-bit plot (n): Standard RPG plot. The Corrupt Empire rules the world. You're the leader of a small rebel band. Overthrow the Empire. Usually the hero is a soldier for the Empire at the start of the game (as in Suikoden, Vandal~Hearts, or FF6), but soon realizes that the Empire is evil and joins the fight against them. General standard for RPG plots.

32-bit plot (n): Similar to a 16-bit plot, but somehow religion is involved.

404 (adj): Something that should be there but isn't, from the error 404- document not found. "The remote control is 404. I can't find it anywhere."

616 (n) [rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks]: This is an identifier for the Marvel Comics universe adopted from Alan Davis' stint on "Excalibur". Roma, in her role as the omniversal guardian, and the people working under her adopted a numbering system for the multiple parallel Earths that exist throughout crosstime. The mainstream Marvel Universe and its associated continuity are numbered "616" - Earth 616, Captain Britain 616, and so forth. Often used when comparing mainstream Marvel continuity to that of alternate timelines.

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