16 lines
2.8 KiB
HTML
16 lines
2.8 KiB
HTML
|
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
|
|||
|
|
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>Comparatives</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="construction.html" title="Chapter 4. Jargon Construction"/><link rel="previous" href="anthropomorphization.html" title="Anthropomorphization"/><link rel="next" href="writing-style.html" title="Chapter 5. Hacker Writing Style"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Comparatives</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="anthropomorphization.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 4. Jargon Construction</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="writing-style.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><div class="sect1" lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="comparatives"/>Comparatives</h2></div></div><div/></div><p>Finally, note that many words in hacker jargon have to be understood as
|
|||
|
|
members of sets of comparatives. This is especially true of the adjectives
|
|||
|
|
and nouns used to describe the beauty and functional quality of code. Here is
|
|||
|
|
an approximately correct spectrum:</p><p>monstrosity brain-damage screw bug lose misfeature crock kluge hack win
|
|||
|
|
feature elegance perfection</p><p>The last is spoken of as a mythical absolute, approximated but never
|
|||
|
|
actually attained. Another similar scale is used for describing the
|
|||
|
|
reliability of software:</p><p>broken flaky dodgy fragile brittle solid robust bulletproof
|
|||
|
|
armor-plated</p><p>Note, however, that ‘dodgy’ is primarily Commonwealth
|
|||
|
|
Hackish (it is rare in the U.S., where ‘squirrelly’ may be more
|
|||
|
|
common) and may change places with ‘flaky’ for some
|
|||
|
|
speakers.</p><p>Coinages for describing <a href="L/lossage.html"><i class="glossterm">lossage</i></a> seem to call
|
|||
|
|
forth the very finest in hackish linguistic inventiveness; it has been truly
|
|||
|
|
said that hackers have even more words for equipment failures than Yiddish has
|
|||
|
|
for obnoxious people. </p></div><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="anthropomorphization.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="construction.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="writing-style.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Anthropomorphization </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> Chapter 5. Hacker Writing Style</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
|