You say MODE-EM, I say Modem

[Mailing List Account for Jason Runyan]

Brian Kelsay wrote:
>  >  If you haven't ever worked with electrical engineers,
> 
>> then someday you are in for a treat.  They are a whole breed all their 
>> own.  They have never been touched by their jobs being considered cool 
>> or cutting edge.  The pop culture has not embraced and retarded their 
>> lingo.  Yet they are most notably some of the most intelligent folks I 
>> have ever worked with.
> 
> 
> I don't think I understand what you mean by "embraced and retarded."
> 
> Brian
> 
>
When it became popular to be a little bit geek, everyone started using 
computer terms.  The problem is they only had the most rudementry 
understanding of the terms, and so they retarded the terms into 
something else.  One of the worst cased is the word hacker.  Another one 
is CPU.  Just ask someone average who has a computer about their cpu, 
and they will point to the black or grey box under their desk.  I could 
go on, but it would just be more of the same.  Pop culture has accepted 
computer terminology, but in the process has lost much of its meaning.