View Full Version : What the H-E- Double Hockey Sticks is....
tgreening
04-09-2010, 22:40
I've been around computers a longgg time. I had a computer when a 300 bd acoustical modem was the be-all. I've been on-line a longgg time. Online since before there was a real "internet" to be online, well, on. Heck, way back when I even ran a fairly popular BBS.
In all that time I have never EVER seen a more abbreviation and acronym obsessed group such as here! WHAT the heck does 90% of this stuff mean?
:confused:
I've seen haabs, kaqs, mwuq, baiacs, seeps, and my personal favorite, pp. Plus a cubic azz-load more. You guys definitely do NOT make it easy on the newcomers to figure out what the heck you're talking about!
Somewhere I ran across a member that had a list of some sort in their sig but silly me I forgot to mark it. The member was some kind of animally name. Rabid squirrel or angry chipmunk or raging raccoon, or something like that. No offense to you member if you are who I'm referencing! :)
Give us new guys a break will ya? Post a nice big fact sticky sign somewhere that reads DEFINITIONS OF GOBBLE-DY GOOK HERE!
Inquiring but overloaded smokey minds want to know. :D
Boris Losdindawoods
04-09-2010, 22:43
The goobledygook definition thread would get completely out of hand in no time and be impossible to wade through. Can we add a tab to the comparison spreadsheet instead?
Actually... I just realized we need a wiki.
A list of acronyms can be found here (http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=216).
A glossary of various hammocking terms is here (http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=192).
It can be confusing at times even for those of us who have been around for a while.
The glossary (http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=192) will help, but I doubt it will answer all of your questions. In fact, I only recognized MWUQ (http://www.jacksrbetter.com/Mt%20Washington.htm) and KAQ (http://arrowheadequipment.webs.com/kickassquilts.htm). I believe the member you alluded to was angryaparrow (http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/member.php?u=404).
glossary (http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=192)
acronyms and abbreviations (http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=216)
Welcome to the insanity. You'll soon be speaking the language like a native. :)
Here you go. It's under articles.
http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=216
Hawk-eye
04-09-2010, 22:56
Become a donating member and you get a secret decoder ring! :lol:
Boris Losdindawoods
04-09-2010, 23:00
All I got was a wedgie. :(
and I believe PP stands for a Speers PeaPod
and there is no such thing as an acoustical modem. I did have an asynchronous one, a long long time ago....
Hawk-eye
04-09-2010, 23:15
All I got was a wedgie. :(
Must have been during the great decoder ring shortage this very month!!!!
JohnSawyer
04-09-2010, 23:43
and there is no such thing as an acoustical modem. I did have an asynchronous one, a long long time ago....
OK, Technically, all phone-based modems are acoustical. The "Acoustic Coupler" was a 300 baud device that had rubber cups that you attached to the modem. Some were even part of the thermal-(aka Fax paper) line terminal...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_coupler
Crud, I'm showing my age... I used one of these in like 1980... A year before MS released MS-DOS 1.0...
Back in the day when the Zilog Z80 chip was king...
gargoyle
04-10-2010, 00:05
What ever you do, don't hit spellcheck. It'll crash your hard drive.
By the way, I do own the decoder ring!!
http://www.mom-zombie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/decoderring.jpg
:lol::lol::lol:
Boris Losdindawoods
04-10-2010, 00:13
OK, Technically, all phone-based modems are acoustical.
Nope. You were right the first time. Something is acoustic or acoustical only if you have a mechanical wave of compression and rarification in the air. Without an air gap, it's all just electrons and I don't know anybody who has sense organs that can gain anything meaningful from electrons in the 20-20k range. So, any modem that used an acoustic coupler was an acoustic modem and the rest were just modems.
Trivia: If you install a Z80 backwards (rotated 180 degrees) it will smell really funny when you power it up. If you then power it down and attempt to remove it, it will give you nasty burns on your fingers. Oddly, it will still work just fine once it's cooled down and has been installed correctly.
I never thought of those things as a modem in the first place.
Did you also have a tape drive that took programs off a cassette? We'd load up backgammon with one of those, go make us some mac n cheese, come back, and wait another few minutes before we could play.
Hawk-eye
04-10-2010, 05:47
Wanna feel old ... I got through college with a slide rule! Top that you young whipper snappers!
I have been on here a while and I still have to look up the abreviations. The HF ones I know pretty well. It is the ones from teh outside world that get me confused. FWIW I don't ususally abreviate. It's more likely a mispelled word. There should be list of common mispelled words.:rolleyes:
oldgringo
04-10-2010, 06:52
Many times, I just skip over posts that are full of abbreviations, acronyms, and arcane references (alliterations are okay ;)). I know I miss a lot by doing that, but some times, I just don't have the patience.
MacEntyre
04-10-2010, 07:11
and there is no such thing as an acoustical modem.
Submarines use them.
:cool:
Some members are addicted to acronyms.
I've waded through posts where the writers have literally made them up as they write. They use acronyms and then throw them away and never use the same one again.
The one thing that I am really thankful about is that it is mostly just about 1 or 2 people that really, really, really abuse the use of acronyms in this manner. I have gotten to the point with them that I very rarely bother reading anything they post. Just not worth the time spent decoding their stuff. Too bad because a lot of the time I think they have something useful to impart.
A lot more use acronyms like they are English.
The only people I have seen that abuse acronyms more are those who write military manuals/reports/technical articles/well anything for the military.
Of course, I don't do "texting" on the phone, but I suspect from I have seen that I never will either. :lol:
Wanna feel old ... I got through college with a slide rule! Top that you young whipper snappers!
Yeah and we didn't have to contend with batteries that crapped out in the lab or on the test.
Just Jeff
04-10-2010, 16:11
The mods have links to the glossary and acronym list in their sig blocks.
Sometimes acronyms make sense...other times this forum is worse than the military. :jj:
tgreening
04-10-2010, 16:17
and there is no such thing as an acoustical modem. I did have an asynchronous one, a long long time ago....
I respectfully disagree. An acoustic modem allowed a computer to connect to a network via the phone system. You dialed your access number and placed your handset into the coupler. The modem "spoke" into the mouthpiece and "listened" through the ear piece, just like you and I do. It had a speaker and a microphone in the coupler which is how it spoke and listened. Why it was done this way instead of a direct electrical connection I don't know. Soon enough standard direct connect modems became available and I never cared enough to investigate.
As far as the asynchronous modem goes, before cable broadband almost everyone that was online had one. I topped out at a 28.8 before broadband became available in my area.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/tgreening/My%20Photos/Acoustic_coupler.jpg
Like I said, a pretty long time. :)
Cannibal
04-10-2010, 16:17
I think I peed myself a little when I read "angry chipmunk" :lol::laugh::lol:
I think I peed myself a little when I read "angry chipmunk" :lol::laugh::lol:
It just doesn't carry the same meaning, does it? I would have gone with Disgruntled Bird.
Now that I think of it he does have some chipmonk qualities.
tgreening
04-10-2010, 16:25
The glossary (http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=192) will help, but I doubt it will answer all of your questions. In fact, I only recognized MWUQ (http://www.jacksrbetter.com/Mt%20Washington.htm) and KAQ (http://arrowheadequipment.webs.com/kickassquilts.htm). I believe the member you alluded to was angryaparrow (http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/member.php?u=404).
Angrysparrow, that's the one!
I feel better about the acronyms since members a lot more senior than I mentioned troubles with them.
rigidpsycho
04-10-2010, 16:32
other times this forum is worse than the military. :jj:
That was exactly what I was thinking as I was reading this.
BillyBob58
04-10-2010, 20:36
I've been around computers a longgg time. I had a computer when a 300 bd acoustical modem was the be-all. I've been on-line a longgg time. Online since before there was a real "internet" to be online, well, on. Heck, way back when I even ran a fairly popular BBS.
In all that time I have never EVER seen a more abbreviation and acronym obsessed group such as here! WHAT the heck does 90% of this stuff mean?
:confused:
I've seen haabs, kaqs, mwuq, baiacs, seeps, and my personal favorite, pp. Plus a cubic azz-load more. You guys definitely do NOT make it easy on the newcomers to figure out what the heck you're talking about!
Somewhere I ran across a member that had a list of some sort in their sig but silly me I forgot to mark it. The member was some kind of animally name. Rabid squirrel or angry chipmunk or raging raccoon, or something like that. No offense to you member if you are who I'm referencing! :)
Give us new guys a break will ya? Post a nice big fact sticky sign somewhere that reads DEFINITIONS OF GOBBLE-DY GOOK HERE!
Inquiring but overloaded smokey minds want to know. :D
That cracks me up! " Plus a cubic azz-load more. Raging Racoon, rabid squirrel angry chipmunk!" :lol:
As already pointed out, probably AngrySparrow. Any way, there is a sticky for acronyms, hopefully you have found it by now.
Well, sometimes it's a little confusing, especially when you are new here, no doubt. But hey, mostly we are not new(and you won't be new long) and mostly, from the context, we usually have some idea what is being discussed and can mostly figure out what is meant by the acronym. I think that most folks here are only going to type out " Hennessy hammock Ultra light Explorer Super Shelter or Jack r better Mount Washington four under quilt so many times in a given thread or post. It won't be long before we go to the acronyms.
I'm OK with it myself. There is always the glossary, and if worse comes to worse I can just ask, as I occasionally have to. I'm trying to do better myself, and use the actual word at least the 1st time in a thread. But my apologies, I often forget to do that. FWIW! ;)
Disgruntled Bird:lol::lol::lol:
message too short blah blah blah!
trouthunter
04-10-2010, 22:29
You guys are very funny, I just joined the other day and I can already tell I'm probably gonna like it here.
I used to have a Commodore 64 with cassette drive. No games:(
millarky
04-10-2010, 22:36
Pong, nuff said
Shadowmoss
04-10-2010, 22:47
Still have my slide rule. An acoustic modem got me talking to my XDH (former husband) a couple of years after the divorce because I wanted to borrow his, along with his terminal, so I could do my homework from home which was 65 miles from the computer lab. He let me borrow it, and we got back on speaking terms again. We are still friends, 28 years later. I also used to hang out on my share of BBS and discovered the reality that you don't know who the person on the other end of the 'chat' really is. Turns out I was coming on to the 13yo son of my flight instructor. The original chat rooms, and original text messages. Well, that is if you don't allow for ham radio. Now there is a hobby with a lot of alphabets, and theirs don't make logical sense. QSL, XYL and , well, you youngsters just don't know how good you have it. 73's
/me wanders off remembering the good 'ol days
Oh, and welcome to the boards.
Cannibal
04-11-2010, 00:53
I used to have a Commodore 64 with cassette drive. No games:(
I once wrote a basic 'Pakman' (woka-woka) program on punch cards and I even once had a compuserve email account. :scared::laugh:
Just Jeff
04-11-2010, 01:11
Haha - I had CompuServe once upon a time! And my friend had an acoustic modem, but it was probably after they were already cool.
cwayman1
04-11-2010, 13:00
I've been around computers a longgg time. I had a computer when a 300 bd acoustical modem was the be-all. I've been on-line a longgg time. Online since before there was a real "internet" to be online, well, on. Heck, way back when I even ran a fairly popular BBS.
In all that time I have never EVER seen a more abbreviation and acronym obsessed group such as here! WHAT the heck does 90% of this stuff mean?
:confused:
I've seen haabs, kaqs, mwuq, baiacs, seeps, and my personal favorite, pp. Plus a cubic azz-load more. You guys definitely do NOT make it easy on the newcomers to figure out what the heck you're talking about!
Somewhere I ran across a member that had a list of some sort in their sig but silly me I forgot to mark it. The member was some kind of animally name. Rabid squirrel or angry chipmunk or raging raccoon, or something like that. No offense to you member if you are who I'm referencing! :)
Give us new guys a break will ya? Post a nice big fact sticky sign somewhere that reads DEFINITIONS OF GOBBLE-DY GOOK HERE!
Inquiring but overloaded smokey minds want to know. :D
This gave me a REALLY good laugh reading this :lol:!
Become a donating member and you get a secret decoder ring! :lol:
"...be... sure... to... drink... your... OVALTINE?! A crummy commercial!? Son of a b!^@#!"
All I got was a wedgie. :(
you OBVIOUSLY didn't drink your Ovaltine!
and the "angry chipmunk" really had me going too!
just finding out how to multi-quote :cool:,
cway