2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
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micro-
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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pref. 1. Very small; this is the root of its use as a quantifier prefix. 2.
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A quantifier prefix, calling for multiplication by 10 -6 (see quantifiers ).
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Neither of these uses is peculiar to hackers, but hackers tend to fling them
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both around rather more freely than is countenanced in standard English. It
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is recorded, for example, that one CS professor used to characterize the
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standard length of his lectures as a microcentury that is, about 52.6
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minutes (see also attoparsec , nanoacre , and especially microfortnight ).
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3. Personal or human-scale that is, capable of being maintained or
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comprehended or manipulated by one human being. This sense is generalized
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from microcomputer , and is esp. used in contrast with macro- (the
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corresponding Greek prefix meaning large ). 4. Local as opposed to global
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(or macro- ). Thus a hacker might say that buying a smaller car to reduce
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pollution only solves a microproblem; the macroproblem of getting to work
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might be better solved by using mass transit, moving to within walking
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distance, or (best of all) telecommuting.
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