Newspeak or More Dumbing Down of our Language

[k4kyv]

 Even highly intelligent people come off as idiots if they can't express their ideas clearly.  Things like slang, foul language, and certain self-imposed physical deformaties (tounge rings and laberttes make you sound like you have a mouth full of... something) all conspire to make a person sound like less than they are.

So much for putting the best foot forward...

Not only that, but certain words and expressions have made their way into the mainstream, but nevertheless still sound just plain dumb.

A couple of my pet peeve examples include:

Do-able. What's wrong with the perfectly good and far more intelligent sounding English word feasible?

Another is the ham radio jargon word elmer. Makes me think of Elmer Fudd or some chubby guy with coke-bottle-lens glasses and IQ in the mid double-digits range. Mentor leaves an image more becoming to what we at least would like to see as the image of amateur radio.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Problem is, they ain't Tung-Sols.

Not as we knew them, at least. IIRC, Someone here in the US bought the original equipment used by Tung-Sol and moved it all to Russia where they are now (were?) made. Others had been making the 6550As for years, but folks wanted the coke bottle envelope look.

Those original 6550s are my favorite looking tube - very well made, with that stocky 'I mean business' look to them. It looks like an old ST 45 or such on steroids. 

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

In the past few years I've heard this one more and more - productize. I saw an even more hideous one the other day - solutionize!

And now everyone wants to talk about "issues", usually a misnomer for problems.

 Even highly intelligent people come off as idiots if they can't express their ideas clearly.  Things like slang, foul language, and certain self-imposed physical deformaties (tounge rings and laberttes make you sound like you have a mouth full of... something) all conspire to make a person sound like less than they are.

So much for putting the best foot forward...

Not only that, but certain words and expressions have made their way into the mainstream, but nevertheless still sound just plain dumb.

A couple of my pet peeve examples include:

Do-able. What's wrong with the perfectly good and far more intelligent sounding English word feasible?

Another is the ham radio jargon word elmer. Makes me think of Elmer Fudd or some chubby guy with coke-bottle-lens glasses and IQ in the mid double-digits range. Mentor leaves an image more becoming to what we at least would like to see as the image of amateur radio.

[W2PFY]

The one I dislike the most over GO FIGURE is a Near miss. Is this expression made to lessen the thought of catastrophic air plane collision?  How can you near miss anything? You never hear that expression used with train wreck.

[K1JJ]

And now everyone wants to talk about "issues", usually a misnomer for problems.

Tranvestites with challenges, issues and "areas to work out" are people too.....


The jargon that gets me has more of a technical slant. I realize everyone's not an engineer or technician, but when I hear the word, "amperage" used for current, it makes me cringe. It's sometimes followed up by the word "juice."   Example:  "That FET is not amperage-rated for that kind of capability and juice."  (I hear it often too - Gawd help me ... )

 T

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Or current flow.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Main Entry: am·per·age
Pronunciation: \ˈam-p(ə-)rij, -ˌpir-ij\
Function: noun
Date: 1893

: the strength of a current of electricity expressed in amperes

do·able  \ˈdü-ə-bəl\ adjective

issues > noun > a matter that is in dispute between two or more parties b (1) : a vital or unsettled matter <economic issues> (2) : concern, problem <I have issues with his behavior> c : the point at which an unsettled matter is ready for a decision <brought the matter to an issue>

I started hearing "productize" back in the late 70's and early 80's in our product and marketing meetings. It's a favorite in the marketing arena. Now the "ize" tag is used on all sorts of words.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

We say Voltage, why not Amperage?

[Ed/KB1HYS]

If you lack a real vocabulary, No Problem!! Just make up your own words to fill in the blank spaces.  As long as they sound good, no one will mind, in fact if they sound really good, others like yourself will take up the new word you've created!! If enough people use them they will eventually be added to the dictionary, ensuring your place in history... 

It seems that there are groups of people who need to have new "Buzzwords" to rejunivate old ideas.

Lately a lot of process improvement stuff seems to have a Japanese tilt, the attitude being if a production philosophy comes from Japan, it must be great!  Like they have some ancient wisdom that we lack 

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Do-able. What's wrong with the perfectly good and far more intelligent sounding English word feasible?

Sounds too much like feeble. Not sure it sounds any more intelligent.

Another is the ham radio jargon word elmer. Makes me think of Elmer Fudd or some chubby guy with coke-bottle-lens glasses and IQ in the mid double-digits range. Mentor leaves an image more becoming to what we at least would like to see as the image of amateur radio.

Don, have you been to a hamfest lately? Take a look at the crowd. Those are definitely Elmers roaming the aisles. Not Mentors or Maximillians.

It's amateur radio, not professional radio. I'm not at all bothered by what someone might think about the standing of our hobby. Most of this crowd is playing with technology and circuitry considered obsolete by the mainstream. It would be different if we were building the next generation space shuttle. Then we'd have to worry about impressing others.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

mindshare
disintermediate cutting-edge deliverables
ahead of the curve
incentivize end-to-end e-business
low-hanging fruit
transform bleeding-edge web-readiness
leverage

[Ralph W3GL]

       Don:  Forever a teacher 

       Steves just shareing some of that "low-hanging fruit"

[K5UJ]

I've never been wild about the term "elmer."  I have long ago forgotten the details but someone around 35-40 years ago published a cloying sentimental essay in QST about the ham who got him started and his name was Elmer something.   This got so many readers misty-eyed that someone wrote a wistful piece, maybe a letter to the editor, about it and the next thing you knew, everyone was calling the guy who gave them a novice test their "elmer."  Yech.   I never had a real "elmer," -- the guy who gave me my novice test was a great guy (now SK) but mostly I read and was a juvenile delinquent ham.  Still am.

[k4kyv]

It's amateur radio, not professional radio. I'm not at all bothered by what someone might think about the standing of our hobby. Most of this crowd is playing with technology and circuitry considered obsolete by the mainstream.

That's probably more true with AM than with most other modes.

But many, if not most of us in the AM community are on the air by virtue of understanding what's inside the box, and fixing it when something goes wrong if we didn't design and build it ourselves.  Most of those "Elmers" you see roaming the aisles at hamfests are on the air by virtue of spending money to purchase boxes and gadgets of which many don't even have a clue to what is inside or how it works, and couldn't care less. And the same is true with the majority of the mainstream public playing with their iPads, gaming grade computers and other high-tech gadgets; they fall in this same exact category.

I'd like to think that the AM community is made up more of Maximillians than of Elmers. Even if our technology is "obsolete" by mainstream standards, we at least grasp the basic fundamentals of electricity, electronics and RF, which leaves a solid foundation on which to build knowledge and skills in the domains of "state of the fart" technology.

If you read any of the broadcast rags, you will regularly see laments over the dearth of competent engineers and technicians who are capable of working with RF. The technical schools that are turning out prospective broadcast engineers placed all the emphasis on digital and didn't even touch on RF.  When the present generation goes SK, who will keep the big transmitters on the air?  Many of those in middle age or approaching retirement who are working at the cutting edge of present day digital technology, got their start via amateur radio, then progressed to broadcast engineering or some other older analogue type of technology before they ventured into digital circuitry and software.

It's those "Elmers" who have turned amateur radio into a faintly embarrassing hobby. I recall some time ago, a message was posted on one of the CW mailing lists, in which the author said he never told a new acquaintance that he was a ham raidio operator; he always said his hobby was "amateur telegraphy".

[KB2WIG]

My favorite,

"close proximity"

An essay of interest,

"Politics and the English Language". George Orwell, 1946

found at     http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm


klc

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

past history
the future is ahead
small cadre
for free

[w3jn]

boots on the ground
battle buddy
downrange

I've been watching WAY too much AFRTS lately

[W9GT]

And now everyone wants to talk about "issues", usually a misnomer for problems.

The jargon that gets me has more of a technical slant. I realize everyone's not an engineer or technician, but when I hear the word, "amperage" used for current, it makes me cringe. It's sometimes followed up by the word "juice."   Example:  "That FET is not amperage-rated for that kind of capability and juice."  (I hear it often too - Gawd help me ... )

 T

I just love it when I hear someone say that they "ohmed it out" to check continuity.
Also often hear "old" radio engineers talking about Viz Sware.  

Of course, if you really want to sound intelligent, you can use "pop" management terminology.  Throw around terms like proactive and root cause analysis.

I guess everyone has their favorite lingo

73,  Jack, W9GT

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

in the box
on the X

In the corpspeak realm:

     On a company-wide basis, mindshare (as the ball is now in our court) promotes deploying widely-distributed the next generation systems. In order to obtain the economically sound graphical user interfaces, we took a close look at a 90% solution to understand what it means. The protocols close the loop on the issue of the World-Wide Web, which leads us to believe that an effective user interface maintains an I/O intensive opportunity. Each and every one of you (as you will hear at the next Company dinner) must get up to speed on customer disclosure.  You should be thinking all of the time about implementing the high-payoff schedules worldwide.

boots on the ground
battle buddy
downrange

I've been watching WAY too much AFRTS lately

[K1JJ]

in the box
You should be thinking all of the time about implementing the high-payoff schedules worldwide.

Hey, I AM thinking about it all the time.  I could use a whirlwide high-payoff schedule in the box too! Where do I sign up?

[ke7trp]

Damn progressive smug people

[W9GT]

Damn progressive smug people

Yeah, they probably run Flex radios  

73,  Jack, W9GT

[k4kyv]

I have seen the terms "amperage" and "current flow" in old publications dating back to the 20s and 30s.

Current flow is kind of like wet water, frozen ice and hot heat.

We find it OK to say "voltage", but the equivalent term that would be analogous to current is "tension", as in high-tension power lines. I occasionally run into schematics, usually of early equipment, which use "+HT" instead of "B+".

Actually, voltage and amperage could be said to have more clarity in meaning since they are electricity-specific, while tension could refer to mechanical force and current could refer to the flow of a liquid.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Current flow is incorrect. Current does not flow - the water or electrons flow.

The Brits used HT instead of HV.

Potential or potential difference and pressure would also be possible analogs of current.


Tom, if olive oil is made from olives, what do they make baby oil from? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

[N8UH]

I have seen the terms "amperage" and "current flow" in old publications dating back to the 20s and 30s.

Current flow is kind of like wet water, frozen ice and hot heat.

We find it OK to say "voltage", but the equivalent term that would be analogous to current is "tension", as in high-tension power lines. I occasionally run into schematics, usually of early equipment, which use "+HT" instead of "B+".

Actually, voltage and amperage could be said to have more clarity in meaning since they are electricity-specific, while tension could refer to mechanical force and current could refer to the flow of a liquid.

Good points Don.

I have also seen the use of Tension in old schematics. Europeans also use the term, typically referring to residential and commercial electricity: "High-Tension transmission lines."

Another term to throw in there, is one I use with my students that just cannot grasp the concept of voltage and current: Potential. When voltage is described as potential or, more properly, potential difference, things seem to click.