Ruzuzu, that's great! I'd never seen it before. Now I'll mark it for future reference. I wonder who would be considered "the respectable" in this day and age?
"n. 1. A consumer who is an amateur in a particular field, but who is knowledgeable enough to require equipment that has some professional features ("professional" + "consumer"). 2. A person who helps to design or customize the products they purchase ("producer" + "consumer"). 3. A person who creates goods for their own use and also possibly to sell ("producing" + "consumer"). 4. A person who takes steps to correct difficulties with consumer companies or markets and to anticipate future problems ("proactive" + "consumer")." --Word Spy
"n. A repetitive stress injury characterized by swelling and pain at the base of the thumb and caused by prolonged use of the thumb while operating a BlackBerry or other personal digital assistant." --Word Spy
"n. An online record of a person's daily activities, either via direct video feed or via aggregating the person's online content such as blog posts, social network updates, and online photos." --Word Spy
"Any link that is so compelling ("Click here to win a free iPhone") that you just have to click on it. In some cases, a linkbait is nefarious, taking you to Web site that infects your computer with a virus or displays inappropriate images" --"Mesofacts, Memes and More: 25 New Tech Words You Need to Know"
"(his.TAYR.i.cul ree.uh.liz.um) n. A literary genre characterized by exceptional length, frenetic action, offbeat characters, and long digressions on topics secondary to the story. (Cf. magical realism.)" --Word Spy
"n. A literary genre that features books written by men and focusing on young, male characters, particularly those who are selfish, insensitive, and afraid of commitment. Also: lad literature." --Word Spy
"(KAY.mart REE.uh.liz.um) n. A literary genre characterized by a spare, terse style that features struggling, working-class characters in sterile, bleak environments." --Word Spy
"n. A literary genre that features books written by men and focusing on young male protagonists who engage in drunkenness, promiscuity, and loutish behavior. Blend of fraternity and satire." --Word Spy
robot operating system. Open source software that provides "a common platform so developers can smoothly swap apps." --"Jargon Watch," Wired (17.12), 32
"Now, researchers and engineers are pulling graphics out of your television screen or computer display and integrating them into real-world environments. This new technology, called augmented reality, blurs the line between what's real and what's computer-generated by enhancing what we see, hear, feel and smell...Augmented reality adds graphics, sounds, haptic feedback and smell to the natural world as it exists. " --Kevin Bonser, "How Augmented Reality Works"
A Web site on which companies post problems, offering a prize for the person or company that solves the problem.
"Today, these companies are pioneers among thousands of businesses that participate in what we call "ideagoras"—places where millions of ideas and solutions change hands in something akin to an eBay for innovation." --Dan Tapscott, "Ideagora, a Marketplace for Minds"
"1. a volunteer doing tedious computer work for scientific research, usually in shortwork sessions. For an example, see http://clickworkers.arc.nasa.gov/top.
(more generally) a worker who manages information with the aid of a computer, typically without being especially knowledgeable about or interested in computing." --AllBusiness
A task only a human can accomplish, such as recognizing a performer on a music CD or categorizing products. HIT. Amazon.com offers Mechanical Turk, a system for assigning and completing HITs.
"Refers to content on a Web site that is either interactive, such as Internet polls or opt-in features, or dynamic, such as animated GIFs, stock tickers, weather maps, JavaScript applications, embedded objects, streaming video and audio or ActiveX applications. Streaming video and audio rely on browser plug-ins, such as RealPlayer, to display active content." --Webopedia
"Marked by an effect of comic or grotesque imitation or exaggeration usually with the intent of mocking or making ridiculous : derisively imitative " --Merriam-Webster Unabridged
"The ability to criticise someone and have them laugh about it; ... Cutting sarcasm cleverly masked as a lighthearted joke; the epitome of Oscar Wilde" --Urban Dictionary
"Ineffective green technology, particular equipment added on to an existing building that does little to reduce the building's use of natural resources." --Word Spy
When people duck your e-mails, never returning them.
"NOT too long ago, a magazine in Manhattan invited me, by e-mail, to interview for a job. After meeting with me, the managing editor and the director of human resources asked me to take home the standard editing test and return it ASAP. I dutifully obliged.
"And then I waited. One day. Two days. A week. A month. Two months. Three … well, you get the picture.
"Not only was there no word on whether I would be offered the job — nobody at the magazine even bothered to e-mail me to say that my completed test had been received!" --Neil Hirschfeld, "Complaint Box: The E-Snub"
My grandmother would say this all the time. Now I'm not so sure which meaning she was using.
"Frick and Frack has become an English slang term used in two ways. One is to refer to two people so closely associated as to be indistinguishable; the other way is as a term of derision for any two people, on par with calling one person a Bozo or three people Stooges." --Wikipedia
"A drilling rig used offshore whose platform is a barge from which legs are lowered to the bottom when over the drill site and which is raised above the water and supported on the legs to conduct drilling operations" --Merriam-Webster Unabridged
A process for burying cables into the seabed using high-powered jets of water. The cables for the Cape Wind project are slated to be laid in this manner.
"1. Sometimes known as a partial spinoff, a carve out occurs when a parent company sells a minority (usually 20% or less) stake in a subsidiary for an IPO or rights offering.
"2. Where an established brick-and-mortar company hooks up with venture investors and a new management team to launch an Internet spinoff...
"In most cases the parent company will spinoff the remaining interests to existing shareholders at a later date when the stock price is much higher." --Investopedia
Giles Corey utter these words during the Salem Witch Trials. Accused of being a warlock, Corey was arrested on April 18, 1692. At that time, a person could not be tried unless he entered a plea of "guilty" or "not guilty." When Corey refused to plea, he was tortured by the authorities, who laid a heavy board on top of him and placed large stones on the board. Every time they asked for a plea, Corey simply said, "More weight." Eventually Corey was crushed to death. Visitors to the Witch City can see Corey's grave marker, and the Witch Trials Memorial, in Salem Cemetery.
"The global conflict predicted if the US adopts carbon caps and imposes protectionist tariffs on goods from nations with less-stringent environmental regulations." --Wired Magazine (p. 47, Sept. 2009)
"The average man, at least in England and America, has such rudimentary tastes in victualry that he doesn’t know good food from bad. He will eat anything set before him by a cook that he likes. The true way to fetch him is with drinks. A single bottle of drinkable wine will fill more men with the passion of love than ten sides of beef or a ton of potatoes. Even a Seidel of beer, deftly applied, is enough to mellow the hardest bachelor. If women really knew their business, they would have abandoned cooking centuries ago, and devoted themselves to brewing, distilling, and bartending." -- H.L. Mencken, via Wordnik
"A culture in which many people write about or display — and other people to take pleasure in reading or watching — the minutiae of their daily lives." --Word Spy
"The area around the center of mass of a bat, racket, or head of a club that is the most effective part with which to hit a ball." --Merriam-Webster Unabridged
"A place, often numerical as opposed to physical, where a combination of factors suggest a particularly suitable solution." --Wikipedia
"Meanwhile, in the jargon of town planners the word pepperpotting has been coined to refer to the practice of sprinkling social housing among areas of private housing, so that lower earners are not herded together in large estates." --Ian Brookes, "A different kettle of fish"
"Of a person, prone to stabbing or making a series of short slashing or poking motions; of a thing, able to prod, pierce, or cut. Also in figurative uses." --Double-Tongued Dictionary
"In computer science, canonicalization (abbreviated c14n, where 14 represents the number of letters between the C and the N) is a process for converting data that has more than one possible representation into a "standard" canonical representation. This can be done to compare different representations for equivalence, to count the number of distinct data structures, to improve the efficiency of various algorithms by eliminating repeated calculations, or to make it possible to impose a meaningful sorting order." --Wikipedia
"Also called a hyperlink trick, an obfuscated URL is a type of attack where the real URL that a user is directed to is obfuscated — or concealed — to encourage the user to click-through to the spoof Web site. For example, the attacker may use a cleverly misspelled domain name (e.g. PayPals.com instead of PayPal.com), or hide the actual URL in friendly text, such as "click here to verify your account now". Obfuscated URLs are commonly used in phishing attacks and other spam e-mails." --Webopedia
In computer software: "Loupe is a utility that displays a magnified view of whatever is beneath the mouse cursor, much like a jeweler or printer loupe. A loupe can be found in products like Adobe Acrobat, or it is available as a stand-alone desktop utility. The term is derived from a loupe magnifying glass, which is usually found to have a magnification of 10X" --Webopedia
"A website where headlines are collected, usually manually, by the website owner. Examples of this sort of website are the Drudge Report, The Political Simpleton and the Huffington Post. There are also websites like Google News, where aggregation is entirely automatic, using algorithms which carry out contextual analysis and group similar stories together." --Wikipedia
"Some scraper sites are created for monetizing the site using advertising programs. In such case, they are called Made for AdSense sites or MFA...This is also a derogatory term used to refer to websites that have no redeeming value except to get web visitors to the website for the sole purpose of clicking on advertisements." --Wikipedia
"Web scraping (or Web harvesting, Web data extraction) is a computer software technique of extracting information from websites. Usually, such software programs simulate human exploration of the Web by either implementing low-level Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), or embedding certain full-fledged Web browsers, such as the Internet Explorer (IE) and the Mozilla Web browser." --Webopedia
"An administrative approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants." --Wikipedia
"This colloquialism denotes a storm that brings high winds and rain or snow to the upper Atlantic Coast. The storm is so named because although the cyclonic storm itself moves northeasterly up the coast, the inland winds on its west side blow from out of the northeast.
"While the folksy pronunciation might evoke images of a Yankee seafarer in some, the contracted term is neither authentic nor accurate. New Englanders tend to drop their 'r' sounds and are more likely to pronounce 'northeaster' as /naw-THEES-tuh/. As Boston Globe wordsmith Jan Freeman noted, 'The facts, however, have not slowed the advance of "nor'easter." Even in print, where it's probably less common than in speech, it has practically routed "northeaster" in the past quarter-century or so. . . . It would take a mighty wind, at this point, to blow "nor'easter" back into oblivion.'" --Garner's Modern American Usage
And this New Englander finds herself pronouncing it /naw-EES-tuh/.
"Deemed by many as the 'Lion of the Senate,' Ted Kennedy was considered one of the most effective legislators of the past few decades, especially in his ability to cross party lines to get legislation passed." --Ed Hornick, "Ted Kennedy, 'Lion of the Senate,' helped shape American politics," CNN
"The capability to detect and record where you and other people are located, and to use the information to enhance the desktop using an Internet-connected computer or device. Geolocation information can be obtained in a number of ways including data bout a user's IP address, MAC address, RFID, Wi-Fi connection location, or GPS coordinates." --Webopedia
"Twishing is a combination of Twitter and phishing, uses the growing popularity of the microblogging service Twitter.com in an attempt to steal your identity." --Webopedia
"The name of a popular wireless networking technology that uses radio waves to provide wireless high-speed Internet and network connections....A trademarked term meaning IEEE 802.11x." --Webopedia
Also: Italian for sandwiches made from small bread rolls, often filled with meats and cheeses (singular: panino). In the US, it is often used in the singular sense for one of these sandwiches.
A vacation from Friday to Monday or time off the day before and after a holiday.
"Last week was memorable for me. I actually heeded a suggestion to take more than just a wraparound vacation. You know, the type of break we all take nowadays, fitting a Friday and Monday around a weekend or holiday and considering it a meaningful getaway." --James Hering, "Chasing the White Rabbit"
"A trap set to detect, deflect, or in some manner counteract attempts at unauthorized use of information systems. Generally it consists of a computer, data, or a network site that appears to be part of a network but which is actually isolated, (un)protected, and monitored, and which seems to contain information or a resource that would be of value to attackers." --Wikipedia
"A block of text that is appended to the end of an e-mail message you send. Generally, a signature is used to provide the recipient with your name, e-mail address, business contact information, or Web site URL. Some people, however, will use a signature to sign off their e-mail message with a closing statement, funny quote or other message. A signature file, or sig as it is often called, can easily be created in most e-mail clients. You will have the option to always attach the signature to all outgoing e-mails, or add the signature in specific outgoing e-mails." --Webopedia
"On the Twitter Web site "following" someone means you will see their tweets (Twitter updates) in your personal timeline. Twitter lets you see who you follow and also who is following you. Followers are people who receive other people's Twitter updates." --Webopedia
"Found on blogs it is a list of links to other blogs and Web sites that the blog author commonly references or is affiliated with. Blogrolls help blog authors to establish and build upon a their blogger community. In Web 1.0 terminology, a blogroll would be the equivalent of a list of hyperlinks on a personal Web page." --Webopedia
"A minor third is a musical interval of three semitones. It is the smaller of two commonly occurring musical intervals compounded of two steps of the diatonic scale. The prefix 'minor' identifies it as being the smaller of the two (by one semitone); its larger counterpart being a major third. The minor third is abbreviated as m3 and its inversion is the major sixth." --Wikipedia
"A major third is one of two commonly occurring musical intervals that span three diatonic scale degrees, the other being the minor third. It is denoted 'major' because it is the larger of the two: the major third is a leap of four semitones, the minor third three. The major third is abbreviated M3; its inversion is the minor sixth." --Wikipedia
I can't hear this word anymore without thinking of a scene from "Coupling" in which Jeff tries to pick up a girl and when he finds she doesn't speak English, he takes the opportunity to say some of his favorite words, "gusset" being among them.
"In Web advertising, the click rate is the number of clicks on an ad on an HTML page as a percentage of the number of times that the ad was downloaded with a page. Thus, the click rate on a particular page with an ad would be 10% if one in ten people who downloaded the page clicked on the ad." --WhatIs.com
In digital marketing: "In Web advertising, a click is an instance of a user pressing down (clicking) on a mouse button in an ad space. The term clickthrough is also sometimes used." --WhatIs.com
"A synonym for view, as in ad view. Online publishers offer and their customers buy advertising measured in terms of ad views or impressions. Since a single Web page can contain multiple ads (depending on its design), a site usually registers more ad views per unit of time than Web pages per unit of time. ( Hits is the term for any requested file, including each of a page's images. Although hits are of interest for traffic measurement purposes, they have no significance for advertisers.)
Page or ad impressions are logged in a log that is maintained by the site server. Programs like Web Trends read the log, abstract meaning from it, and generate a report about site usage. Other programs, such as Central Ad, can keep track of all ad impressions that have been sent and how many of these were clicked on by users." --Whatis.com
In the finance industry: "A risk-oriented method of establishing a two-sided position. Rather than entering into a simultaneous transaction to establish the position (a spread, for example), the trader first executes one side of the position, hoping to execute the other side at a later time and a better price. The risk materializes from the fact that a better price may never be available, and a worse price must eventually be accepted." --CBOE Dictionary
"A body of law or a specific principle of law that is held to be derived from nature and binding upon human society in the absence of or in addition to positive law.
"While natural law, based on a notion of timeless order, does not receive as much credence as it did formerly, it was an important influence on the enumeration of natural rights by Thomas Jefferson and others." --Lawyers.com
"Direct digital marketing is digital marketing method that is addressable—meaning you can identify the recipient of the marketing message being distributed. Traditional direct marketing is achieved using a customer's postal address and sending physical paper mail, such as a flyer or brochure. With the evolution of direct marketing to direct digital marketing, addressability comes in a variety of digital forms including an e-mail address, a Web browser cookie, or a mobile phone number." --Webopedia
"The term used by online marketers to describe the efforts of a company to keep their customer or client from defecting to the competition." --Webopedia
"In marketing terms it refers to a piece of marketing material, such as an e-mail newsletter, that goes beyond the original recipient. A pass along is 'passed along' to a second person by the recipient." --Webopedia
"In e-mail marketing, the churn is the percentage of your subscriber list e-mail addresses that unsubscribe or bounce over a set length of time." --Webopedia
Actually, "A/B split" (Wordie doesn't like slashes, I guess).
"In e-mail marketing, A/B split is a marketing test method where an e-mail subscriber list is split into two groups; every other name in the list is sent one e-mail message and vise versa. The open and response rates to each message are tracked." --Webopedia
"In e-mail marketing, the acquisition cost or cost of acquisition is the actual cost of generating one single lead, new subscriber or customer. The acquisition cost is usually determined by dividing the total cost of a single e-mail marketing campaign by the number of leads, subscribers or customers." --Webopedia
"In e-mail marketing, the open rate is the number of list subscribers who opened the e-mail message. The open rate is a percentage of the total number of e-mails sent." --Webopedia
"A popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are usually kept to a minimum, and blues elements are largely downplayed. Recordings tend to display production values that lean toward compression and a forceful drum beat. Instruments usually include one or more electric guitars, an electric bass guitar, a drum kit, and sometimes electric keyboards or synthesizers." --Wikipedia
"Microcopy is small yet powerful copy. It’s fast, light, and deadly. It’s a short sentence, a phrase, a few words. A single word. It’s the small copy that has the biggest impact. Don’t judge it on its size…judge it on its effectiveness." --Joshua Porter
"An imaginary argument of no substance advanced in order to be easily confuted or an imaginary adversary advancing such an argument." --Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary
"The action of organizations, businesses and individuals taking action to remove as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as each put in to it. The overall goal of carbon neutrality is to achieve a zero carbon footprint. For example, a business may plant trees in different places around the world to offset the electricity the business uses. This practice is often called carbon offset or offsetting." --Webopedia
In environmental science, "any manner of particularly large-scale wind, swirling vortex and ocean currents. Gyres are caused by the Coriolis effect; planetary vorticity along with horizontal and vertical friction, which determine the circulation patterns from the wind curl (torque)." --Wikipedia
"The idea of creating incentives to reduce demand for electricity to ease the load at peak times or alleviate the need to build more generation plants. In theory, these negawatts can be aggregated and an arbitrage market could be created to trade these." --Wikipedia
Diamond dealers in the Antwerp Diamond District. -- Wired (17.04)
"A diamantaire (French origin) is sometimes referred to as a 'gem-quality diamond manufacturer or producer', 'master diamond cutter' and a 'graduate gemologist (who specializes in diamonds).'
"Such individuals demonstrate considerable expertise in different types of gemstones, particularly when it comes to increasing the value and quality of a rough or raw diamond.
"They are highly-skilled craftsmen or artisans who are responsible for cutting, polishing and transforming a rough diamond into a finished gemstone ready for setting.
"Members of diamond dealing families who have established themselves in the upper echelons of the world diamond industry hierarchy are also often referred to as diamantaires as well." -- Wikipedia
"Link bait is any content or feature within a website that somehow baits viewers to place links to it from other websites. Matt Cutts defines link bait as anything "interesting enough to catch people's attention."7 Link bait can be an extremely powerful form of marketing as it is viral in nature." --Wikipedia
"A linkback is a method for Web authors to obtain notifications when other authors link to one of their documents. This enables authors to keep track of who is linking to, or referring to their articles." --Wikipedia
"Content inflation is the continuing trend of exponential growth of content on the internet. Whether this content is YouTube videos, social networking sites, independent games or blogs; the trend is undeniable." --Tech Progression
Ironically, Tech Progression isn't contributing to content inflation, having lasted just one post. One can only wonder if this is a good thing or not.
"Jargon that refers to the quality of a Web site's link power, as in page rank, number of link votes, etc. - that are obtained from backlinks. This expression was coined by SEO consultant Greg Boser, for example "I need to get some more link juice for my latest site." --NetLingo
"A microsite, also known as a minisite or weblet, is an Internet web design term referring to an individual web page or cluster of pages which are meant to function as an auxiliary supplement to a primary website. The microsite's main landing page most likely has its own domain name or subdomain.
They are typically used to add a specialized group of information either editorial or commercial. Such sites may be linked in to a main site or not or taken completely off a site's server when the site is used for a temporary purpose. The main distinction of a microsite versus its parent site is its purpose and specific cohesiveness as compared to the microsite's broader overall parent website.
Microsites used for editorial purposes may be a page or group of pages that, for example, might contain information about a holiday, an event or similar item which gives more detailed information than a site's general content area may provide. A community organization may have its main site with all of the organization's basic information, but creates a separate, temporary microsite to inform about a particular activity, event or similar." --Wikipedia
"In online marketing a landing page, sometimes known as a lead capture page, is the page that appears when a potential customer clicks on an advertisement or a search-engine result link. The page will usually display content that is a logical extension of the advertisement or link, and that is optimized to feature specific keywords or phrases for indexing by search engines." --Wikipedia
"The process of exchanging reciprocal links with Web sites in order to increase search engine optimization. The idea behind link farming is to increase the number of sites that link to yours because search engines such as Google rank sites according to, among other things, the quality and quantity of sites that link to yours. In theory, the more sites that link to yours, the higher your ranking in the search engine results will be because the more links indicate a higher level of popularity among users of the Internet. However, search engines such as Google consider link farming as a form of spam and have been implementing procedures to banish sites that participate in link farming, so the term link farming has garnered negative connotations across the Internet." --Webopedia
"Bad links can also be found in link farms...If your site has attracted link farmers' attention, get it removed from these communities. About 70 percent of link farm Webmasters will remove your site with a simple email request. The other 30 percent usually respond to a saber-rattling message from your attorney. If revenge is what you seek, report the link farm as spam to the search engines -- after links to your site have been removed." --P.J. Fusco, "Meta Tags and Link Deficiency Confusion"
Also scareware, rogue security software, smitfraud.
"Malware...designed specifically to damage or disrupt your computer system. In this case, not only is the software going to disrupt your system, it's going to try and trick you into making an unsecure credit card purchase." --Webopedia
"A destructive program that masquerades as a benign application. Unlike viruses, Trojan horses do not replicate themselves but they can be just as destructive. One of the most insidious types of Trojan horse is a program that claims to rid your computer of viruses but instead introduces viruses onto your computer." --Webopedia
"Power usage effectiveness...a calculation used to determine energy efficiency measurements. PUE is calculated by measuring the ratio of total energy consumption -— the combination of servers plus the cooling to 'useful' energy consumption (just servers)." --Webopedia
"The practice of recycling computers, computer components and other electronics through reusing or donating them until the end of their lifecycle. E-cycling encourages people to reduce, reuse and recycle rather than dispose of these items prematurely when upgrading to newer products. At the end of the electronics' life, people are then encouraged to dispose of the item at an electronics recycler to keep the electronics out of landfills and reduce the amount of electronic waste." --Webopedia
"A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding and/or decoding a digital data stream or signal. The word codec is a portmanteau of 'compressor-decompressor' or, most commonly, 'coder-decoder'." --Wikipedia
"A multilevel-marketing scam has 'reps' sell some product but entices them with commissions on sales of those they, in turn, recruit." --"How to Run a Scam," Wired (17.04, 30)
Comments by ecbrenner
ecbrenner commented on the word tempering
The act of heating then cooling chocolate to specific temperatures so that when the cooled chocolate becomes smooth with a glossy sheen to it.
July 8, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word dark chocolate
Dark chocolate contains 35% to 82% chocolate liquor, by weight.
July 8, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word milk chocolate
Milk chocolate contains 30%-49% cacao, or 10% chocolate liquor and 12% milk solids by weight.
July 8, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word bittersweet chocolate
Bittersweet chocolate contains 70%-100% cacao.
July 8, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word semisweet
Semisweet chocolate has 50%-69% cacao content (or 15% chocolate liquor by weight).
July 8, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word cuvee
Can also be used to indicate a blend of different cacao beans.
July 8, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word enrobing
To coat or cover candies with chocolate in a special machine.
July 8, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the list types-of-humor
Ruzuzu, that's great! I'd never seen it before. Now I'll mark it for future reference. I wonder who would be considered "the respectable" in this day and age?
June 30, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word portafilter
a basket with a handle that holds a tampered puck of coffee grounds, used on semi-automatic espresso machines
June 29, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word macchiato
espresso with a tiny amount of milk
June 29, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word americano
espresso and hot water
June 29, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word French roast
the darkest style of roasting coffee beans, producing a coffee that is extremely bold and smoky-tasting
June 29, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word Italian roast
a style of dark-roasting coffee beans that produces a coffee that is sweeter and less acidic than espresso and other dark roast
June 29, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word burr grinder
A grinder that uses abrasive surfaces to grind hard foods, such as coffee beans.
June 29, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word ISO
In the power industry, independent system operator.
May 21, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word FGD
In the power industry, flue gas desulphurization
May 21, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word WEC
In the power industry, wave energy converter.
May 21, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word MISO
In the power industry, Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator.
May 21, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word LSE
In the power industry, load-serving entity.
May 21, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word ISCC
In the power industry, integrated solar combined cycle.
May 21, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word DG
In the power industry, distributed generation.
May 21, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word prosumer
"n. 1. A consumer who is an amateur in a particular field, but who is knowledgeable enough to require equipment that has some professional features ("professional" + "consumer"). 2. A person who helps to design or customize the products they purchase ("producer" + "consumer"). 3. A person who creates goods for their own use and also possibly to sell ("producing" + "consumer"). 4. A person who takes steps to correct difficulties with consumer companies or markets and to anticipate future problems ("proactive" + "consumer")." --Word Spy
April 26, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word BlackBerry thumb
"n. A repetitive stress injury characterized by swelling and pain at the base of the thumb and caused by prolonged use of the thumb while operating a BlackBerry or other personal digital assistant." --Word Spy
April 26, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word lifestream
"n. An online record of a person's daily activities, either via direct video feed or via aggregating the person's online content such as blog posts, social network updates, and online photos." --Word Spy
April 26, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word linkbait
"Any link that is so compelling ("Click here to win a free iPhone") that you just have to click on it. In some cases, a linkbait is nefarious, taking you to Web site that infects your computer with a virus or displays inappropriate images" --"Mesofacts, Memes and More: 25 New Tech Words You Need to Know"
April 26, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word thumbo
"n. An error made while using the thumbs to type, particularly on a mobile device keypad. Blend of thumb and typo." --Word Spy
April 26, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word iambic pentameter
Most common meter in poetry and most like speech. It contains five ("penta") iambs per line.
April 12, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word hysterical realism
That's where I grabbed it from, yes. Maybe he's Southern? It sounds like it when I try to pronounce it.
March 29, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word hysterical realism
"(his.TAYR.i.cul ree.uh.liz.um) n. A literary genre characterized by exceptional length, frenetic action, offbeat characters, and long digressions on topics secondary to the story. (Cf. magical realism.)" --Word Spy
March 22, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word poop fiction
"n. A literary genre that uses potty humor and off-color jokes to appeal to young children." --Word Spy
March 22, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word issue literature
"n. A literary genre where each work takes as its central theme a social, cultural, or political issue." --Word Spy
March 22, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word lad lit
"n. A literary genre that features books written by men and focusing on young, male characters, particularly those who are selfish, insensitive, and afraid of commitment. Also: lad literature." --Word Spy
March 22, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word tart noir
"(tart NWAHR) n. Mystery or crime novels in which the main character is a woman who is tough, independent, and sexy." --Word Spy
March 22, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word kmart realism
"(KAY.mart REE.uh.liz.um) n. A literary genre characterized by a spare, terse style that features struggling, working-class characters in sterile, bleak environments." --Word Spy
March 22, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word fratire
"n. A literary genre that features books written by men and focusing on young male protagonists who engage in drunkenness, promiscuity, and loutish behavior. Blend of fraternity and satire." --Word Spy
March 22, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word chick lit
"n. A literary genre that features books written by women and focusing on young, quirky, female protagonists. Also: chick-lit." --Word Spy
March 22, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word misery lit
"n. A memoir or novel that focuses on extreme personal trauma and abuse. Also: misery-lit, mis lit, misery literature, misery memoir" --Word Spy
March 22, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word minovery
A legal term for poaching; a system for doing so.
March 22, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word cer
Certified emission reduction
March 2, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word cdm
Also: clean development mechanism
March 2, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word feed in tariff
Abbreviation: FIT
March 2, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word ROS
robot operating system. Open source software that provides "a common platform so developers can smoothly swap apps." --"Jargon Watch," Wired (17.12), 32
February 22, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word hyperlocal
"relating to a very specific and often small community or geographical area" --MacMillan Dictionary
February 20, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word augmented reality
"Now, researchers and engineers are pulling graphics out of your television screen or computer display and integrating them into real-world environments. This new technology, called augmented reality, blurs the line between what's real and what's computer-generated by enhancing what we see, hear, feel and smell...Augmented reality adds graphics, sounds, haptic feedback and smell to the natural world as it exists. " --Kevin Bonser, "How Augmented Reality Works"
February 20, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word ideagora
A Web site on which companies post problems, offering a prize for the person or company that solves the problem.
"Today, these companies are pioneers among thousands of businesses that participate in what we call "ideagoras"—places where millions of ideas and solutions change hands in something akin to an eBay for innovation." --Dan Tapscott, "Ideagora, a Marketplace for Minds"
February 5, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word clickworker
"1. a volunteer doing tedious computer work for scientific research, usually in shortwork sessions. For an example, see http://clickworkers.arc.nasa.gov/top.
(more generally) a worker who manages information with the aid of a computer, typically without being especially knowledgeable about or interested in computing." --AllBusiness
February 5, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word human intelligence task
A task only a human can accomplish, such as recognizing a performer on a music CD or categorizing products. HIT. Amazon.com offers Mechanical Turk, a system for assigning and completing HITs.
February 5, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word active content
"Refers to content on a Web site that is either interactive, such as Internet polls or opt-in features, or dynamic, such as animated GIFs, stock tickers, weather maps, JavaScript applications, embedded objects, streaming video and audio or ActiveX applications. Streaming video and audio rely on browser plug-ins, such as RealPlayer, to display active content." --Webopedia
February 3, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word cyber disinhibition
"A temporary loss of inhibition while online" --Word Spy
January 29, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word Burlesque
"Marked by an effect of comic or grotesque imitation or exaggeration usually with the intent of mocking or making ridiculous : derisively imitative " --Merriam-Webster Unabridged
January 29, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word blue humor
humor that involves "adult" content: foul language, sexual remarks, scatalogical remarks, etc.
January 29, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word dry wit
"The ability to criticise someone and have them laugh about it; ... Cutting sarcasm cleverly masked as a lighthearted joke; the epitome of Oscar Wilde" --Urban Dictionary
January 29, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word robocall
"An automated phone call that plays a recorded message." --Word Spy
January 29, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word cosmophobia
"The strong and irrational fear that in the near future the earth will be destroyed by some cosmic event." --Word Spy
January 29, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word eco-bling
"Ineffective green technology, particular equipment added on to an existing building that does little to reduce the building's use of natural resources." --Word Spy
January 29, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word cash nexus
"an agglomerate of impersonal monetary factors specifically considered as the basis for human relations" --Merrriam-Webster Unabridged
January 26, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word e-snub
When people duck your e-mails, never returning them.
"NOT too long ago, a magazine in Manhattan invited me, by e-mail, to interview for a job. After meeting with me, the managing editor and the director of human resources asked me to take home the standard editing test and return it ASAP. I dutifully obliged.
"And then I waited. One day. Two days. A week. A month. Two months. Three … well, you get the picture.
"Not only was there no word on whether I would be offered the job — nobody at the magazine even bothered to e-mail me to say that my completed test had been received!" --Neil Hirschfeld, "Complaint Box: The E-Snub"
January 25, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word landraker
tramp, highwayman (obsolete)
January 25, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word social media hangover
What businesses get when they spend so much time on social media for marketing but don't know how it is (or isn't) increasing sales.
January 25, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word graphophobia
Fear of writing
January 20, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word vacation amnesia
"When you come back to school or work from your vacation and you can't remember what you did before your vacation." --Urban Dictionary
January 6, 2010
ecbrenner commented on the word incomunicado
Not in communication.
December 15, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word frick and frack
My grandmother would say this all the time. Now I'm not so sure which meaning she was using.
"Frick and Frack has become an English slang term used in two ways. One is to refer to two people so closely associated as to be indistinguishable; the other way is as a term of derision for any two people, on par with calling one person a Bozo or three people Stooges." --Wikipedia
December 15, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word jack-up
"A drilling rig used offshore whose platform is a barge from which legs are lowered to the bottom when over the drill site and which is raised above the water and supported on the legs to conduct drilling operations" --Merriam-Webster Unabridged
December 1, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word aha moment
A moment of inspiration or epiphany.
"A phrase that describes 'flashes of understanding,' which has been the subject of a curious copyright battle." --Ben Schott, "Aha Moment"
November 25, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word hydro-plow
A process for burying cables into the seabed using high-powered jets of water. The cables for the Cape Wind project are slated to be laid in this manner.
November 25, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word pull quote
Also, a quote pulled out of the text and graphically enhanced to draw the reader's attention to it. A call-out.
November 13, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word call-out
Also, a quote pulled out of the text and graphically enhanced to draw the reader's attention to it. A pull quote.
November 13, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word kicker
Also, a line of text above a headline intended to generate interest in the ensuing story.
November 13, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word ovigerous
"bearing eggs or modified for the purpose of bearing them" --Merriam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary
November 8, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word carve-out
"1. Sometimes known as a partial spinoff, a carve out occurs when a parent company sells a minority (usually 20% or less) stake in a subsidiary for an IPO or rights offering.
"2. Where an established brick-and-mortar company hooks up with venture investors and a new management team to launch an Internet spinoff...
"In most cases the parent company will spinoff the remaining interests to existing shareholders at a later date when the stock price is much higher." --Investopedia
November 6, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word more weight
Giles Corey utter these words during the Salem Witch Trials. Accused of being a warlock, Corey was arrested on April 18, 1692. At that time, a person could not be tried unless he entered a plea of "guilty" or "not guilty." When Corey refused to plea, he was tortured by the authorities, who laid a heavy board on top of him and placed large stones on the board. Every time they asked for a plea, Corey simply said, "More weight." Eventually Corey was crushed to death. Visitors to the Witch City can see Corey's grave marker, and the Witch Trials Memorial, in Salem Cemetery.
October 30, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word statusphere
The realm of status updates on the Web through different platforms and networking sites.
October 30, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word mumblement
mussitation.
October 29, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the user ecbrenner
Ha! Very clever, gangerh.
October 28, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word search engine
"A computer program that retrieves documents or files or data from a database or from a computer network (especially from the internet))" --WordNet
October 28, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word decision engine
Microsoft's marketing term for "search engine." Don't fall for it. Bing is a search engine.
October 28, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word green trade war
"The global conflict predicted if the US adopts carbon caps and imposes protectionist tariffs on goods from nations with less-stringent environmental regulations." --Wired Magazine (p. 47, Sept. 2009)
October 28, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word seidel
"The average man, at least in England and America, has such rudimentary tastes in victualry that he doesn’t know good food from bad. He will eat anything set before him by a cook that he likes. The true way to fetch him is with drinks. A single bottle of drinkable wine will fill more men with the passion of love than ten sides of beef or a ton of potatoes. Even a Seidel of beer, deftly applied, is enough to mellow the hardest bachelor. If women really knew their business, they would have abandoned cooking centuries ago, and devoted themselves to brewing, distilling, and bartending." -- H.L. Mencken, via Wordnik
October 26, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word avatar
Also, a computer user's graphic representation, often a picture, cartoon, or logo.
October 21, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word peep culture
"A culture in which many people write about or display — and other people to take pleasure in reading or watching — the minutiae of their daily lives." --Word Spy
October 20, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word sea change
"A profound transformation." --WordNet
October 20, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word sweet spot
"The area around the center of mass of a bat, racket, or head of a club that is the most effective part with which to hit a ball." --Merriam-Webster Unabridged
"A place, often numerical as opposed to physical, where a combination of factors suggest a particularly suitable solution." --Wikipedia
October 20, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word soppa
standard offer power purchase agreement
October 19, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word uez
urban enterprise zones
October 19, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word parabolic trough
"A type of solar thermal energy collector." --Wikipedia
October 19, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word srec
solar renewable energy certificate
October 19, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word kv
kilovolt
October 19, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word iou
Investor-owned utility
October 19, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word ipp
independent power producer
October 19, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word levelize
"to even out, to equalize a source" --Urban Dictionary
Because, you know, "level" just wasn't good enough.
October 19, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word pv
Photovoltaic
October 19, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word pepperpot
"Meanwhile, in the jargon of town planners the word pepperpotting has been coined to refer to the practice of sprinkling social housing among areas of private housing, so that lower earners are not herded together in large estates." --Ian Brookes, "A different kettle of fish"
October 8, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word digital nomad
"A person who uses technology, particularly wireless networking, to work without requiring an office or other fixed address." --Word Spy
October 8, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word stabby
"Of a person, prone to stabbing or making a series of short slashing or poking motions; of a thing, able to prod, pierce, or cut. Also in figurative uses." --Double-Tongued Dictionary
September 25, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word quick rinse
"A bankruptcy resolved in a short time." --Double-Tongued Dictionary
September 25, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word canonicalization
"In computer science, canonicalization (abbreviated c14n, where 14 represents the number of letters between the C and the N) is a process for converting data that has more than one possible representation into a "standard" canonical representation. This can be done to compare different representations for equivalence, to count the number of distinct data structures, to improve the efficiency of various algorithms by eliminating repeated calculations, or to make it possible to impose a meaningful sorting order." --Wikipedia
September 22, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word bleh
"State of mind usually caused by boredom or a annoying situation that doesn't really causes any heavy emotional reactions." --Urban Dictionary
September 22, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word obfuscate url
"Also called a hyperlink trick, an obfuscated URL is a type of attack where the real URL that a user is directed to is obfuscated — or concealed — to encourage the user to click-through to the spoof Web site. For example, the attacker may use a cleverly misspelled domain name (e.g. PayPals.com instead of PayPal.com), or hide the actual URL in friendly text, such as "click here to verify your account now". Obfuscated URLs are commonly used in phishing attacks and other spam e-mails." --Webopedia
September 21, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word loupe
In computer software: "Loupe is a utility that displays a magnified view of whatever is beneath the mouse cursor, much like a jeweler or printer loupe. A loupe can be found in products like Adobe Acrobat, or it is available as a stand-alone desktop utility. The term is derived from a loupe magnifying glass, which is usually found to have a magnification of 10X" --Webopedia
September 21, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word news aggregator
"A website where headlines are collected, usually manually, by the website owner. Examples of this sort of website are the Drudge Report, The Political Simpleton and the Huffington Post. There are also websites like Google News, where aggregation is entirely automatic, using algorithms which carry out contextual analysis and group similar stories together." --Wikipedia
September 18, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word mfa
Made for AdSense.
"Some scraper sites are created for monetizing the site using advertising programs. In such case, they are called Made for AdSense sites or MFA...This is also a derogatory term used to refer to websites that have no redeeming value except to get web visitors to the website for the sole purpose of clicking on advertisements." --Wikipedia
September 17, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word web scraping
"Web scraping (or Web harvesting, Web data extraction) is a computer software technique of extracting information from websites. Usually, such software programs simulate human exploration of the Web by either implementing low-level Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), or embedding certain full-fledged Web browsers, such as the Internet Explorer (IE) and the Mozilla Web browser." --Webopedia
September 17, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word scraper site
"A website that copies all of its content from other websites using web scraping." --Wikipedia
September 17, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word eps
In the energy industry, environmental portfolio standard
September 12, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word eia
In environmental science, Environmental Impact Assessment
September 12, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word idc
interest during construction
September 12, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word drawdown
"The state in which the borrower obtains some of the project financing, usually progressively according to construction expenditures plus IDC." --Campbell R. Harvey's Hypertextual Finance Glossary
September 12, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word financial close
"The time when the documentation has been executed and conditions precedent have been satisfied or waived. Drawdowns are now permissible." --Campbell R. Harvey's Hypertextual Finance Glossary
September 12, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word gwh
gigawatt hour
September 12, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word mwh
megawatt hour
September 12, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word twh
terrawatt hour
September 12, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word ets
Also called cap and trade.
September 11, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word cap and trade
"An administrative approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants." --Wikipedia
Also called emissions trading.
September 11, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word nor'easter
"This colloquialism denotes a storm that brings high winds and rain or snow to the upper Atlantic Coast. The storm is so named because although the cyclonic storm itself moves northeasterly up the coast, the inland winds on its west side blow from out of the northeast.
"While the folksy pronunciation might evoke images of a Yankee seafarer in some, the contracted term is neither authentic nor accurate. New Englanders tend to drop their 'r' sounds and are more likely to pronounce 'northeaster' as /naw-THEES-tuh/. As Boston Globe wordsmith Jan Freeman noted, 'The facts, however, have not slowed the advance of "nor'easter." Even in print, where it's probably less common than in speech, it has practically routed "northeaster" in the past quarter-century or so. . . . It would take a mighty wind, at this point, to blow "nor'easter" back into oblivion.'" --Garner's Modern American Usage
And this New Englander finds herself pronouncing it /naw-EES-tuh/.
September 9, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word ratchet
I love this word. I can almost hear the wheel moving.
September 9, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word lion of the senate
"Deemed by many as the 'Lion of the Senate,' Ted Kennedy was considered one of the most effective legislators of the past few decades, especially in his ability to cross party lines to get legislation passed." --Ed Hornick, "Ted Kennedy, 'Lion of the Senate,' helped shape American politics," CNN
August 26, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word hyacinth bucket syndrome
"Nickname for the middle class desire to maintain pre-recessionary appearances at any cost." --Schott's Vocab
I love this one; I know far too many Hyacinth Buckets who aren't as funny in real life.
August 25, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word microhoo
MicroHoo: "Slang term adapted by the media to describe the Yahoo and Microsoft search partnership." --Webopedia
August 19, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word geolocation
"The capability to detect and record where you and other people are located, and to use the information to enhance the desktop using an Internet-connected computer or device. Geolocation information can be obtained in a number of ways including data bout a user's IP address, MAC address, RFID, Wi-Fi connection location, or GPS coordinates." --Webopedia
August 19, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word google blip
"A slang phrase used to describe flawed Google search engine results. " --Webopedia
August 19, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word twish
"Twishing is a combination of Twitter and phishing, uses the growing popularity of the microblogging service Twitter.com in an attempt to steal your identity." --Webopedia
August 19, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word wi-fi
"The name of a popular wireless networking technology that uses radio waves to provide wireless high-speed Internet and network connections....A trademarked term meaning IEEE 802.11x." --Webopedia
August 19, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word panini
Also: Italian for sandwiches made from small bread rolls, often filled with meats and cheeses (singular: panino). In the US, it is often used in the singular sense for one of these sandwiches.
August 13, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word wraparound vacation
A vacation from Friday to Monday or time off the day before and after a holiday.
"Last week was memorable for me. I actually heeded a suggestion to take more than just a wraparound vacation. You know, the type of break we all take nowadays, fitting a Friday and Monday around a weekend or holiday and considering it a meaningful getaway." --James Hering, "Chasing the White Rabbit"
July 30, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word mancation
A men-only vacation.
July 30, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word rif
Yup, that's what I think of, too. And it's a much better program than HR's RIF.
July 28, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word honeypot
"A trap set to detect, deflect, or in some manner counteract attempts at unauthorized use of information systems. Generally it consists of a computer, data, or a network site that appears to be part of a network but which is actually isolated, (un)protected, and monitored, and which seems to contain information or a resource that would be of value to attackers." --Wikipedia
July 28, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word e-mail signature
"A block of text that is appended to the end of an e-mail message you send. Generally, a signature is used to provide the recipient with your name, e-mail address, business contact information, or Web site URL. Some people, however, will use a signature to sign off their e-mail message with a closing statement, funny quote or other message. A signature file, or sig as it is often called, can easily be created in most e-mail clients. You will have the option to always attach the signature to all outgoing e-mails, or add the signature in specific outgoing e-mails." --Webopedia
July 24, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word twitter following
"On the Twitter Web site "following" someone means you will see their tweets (Twitter updates) in your personal timeline. Twitter lets you see who you follow and also who is following you. Followers are people who receive other people's Twitter updates." --Webopedia
July 24, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word blogroll
"Found on blogs it is a list of links to other blogs and Web sites that the blog author commonly references or is affiliated with. Blogrolls help blog authors to establish and build upon a their blogger community. In Web 1.0 terminology, a blogroll would be the equivalent of a list of hyperlinks on a personal Web page." --Webopedia
July 24, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word folderol
This is one of my favorite replacements for the f-word. Why I have no idea. It's not harsh, nor is its meaning related. Go figure.
July 23, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word rif
reduction in workforce
July 23, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word minor third
"A minor third is a musical interval of three semitones. It is the smaller of two commonly occurring musical intervals compounded of two steps of the diatonic scale. The prefix 'minor' identifies it as being the smaller of the two (by one semitone); its larger counterpart being a major third. The minor third is abbreviated as m3 and its inversion is the major sixth." --Wikipedia
July 21, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word major third
"A major third is one of two commonly occurring musical intervals that span three diatonic scale degrees, the other being the minor third. It is denoted 'major' because it is the larger of the two: the major third is a leap of four semitones, the minor third three. The major third is abbreviated M3; its inversion is the minor sixth." --Wikipedia
July 21, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word dooh
digital out of home (ads)
July 9, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word gusset
I can't hear this word anymore without thinking of a scene from "Coupling" in which Jeff tries to pick up a girl and when he finds she doesn't speak English, he takes the opportunity to say some of his favorite words, "gusset" being among them.
July 8, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word cps
cost per sale
July 6, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word cpl
cost per lead
July 6, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word click rate
"In Web advertising, the click rate is the number of clicks on an ad on an HTML page as a percentage of the number of times that the ad was downloaded with a page. Thus, the click rate on a particular page with an ad would be 10% if one in ten people who downloaded the page clicked on the ad." --WhatIs.com
July 6, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word click
In digital marketing: "In Web advertising, a click is an instance of a user pressing down (clicking) on a mouse button in an ad space. The term clickthrough is also sometimes used." --WhatIs.com
July 6, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word ad impression
"A synonym for view, as in ad view. Online publishers offer and their customers buy advertising measured in terms of ad views or impressions. Since a single Web page can contain multiple ads (depending on its design), a site usually registers more ad views per unit of time than Web pages per unit of time. ( Hits is the term for any requested file, including each of a page's images. Although hits are of interest for traffic measurement purposes, they have no significance for advertisers.)
Page or ad impressions are logged in a log that is maintained by the site server. Programs like Web Trends read the log, abstract meaning from it, and generate a report about site usage. Other programs, such as Central Ad, can keep track of all ad impressions that have been sent and how many of these were clicked on by users." --Whatis.com
July 6, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word post-roll ad
Online, a short video ad that runs after the video the user requested to see.
July 6, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word pre-roll ad
Online, a short video ad that runs before the video the user requested to see.
July 6, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word ron
In digital advertising: run of network
July 6, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word ros
run of site
July 6, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word mroi
Marketing return on investment
July 6, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word leg
In the finance industry: "A risk-oriented method of establishing a two-sided position. Rather than entering into a simultaneous transaction to establish the position (a spread, for example), the trader first executes one side of the position, hoping to execute the other side at a later time and a better price. The risk materializes from the fact that a better price may never be available, and a worse price must eventually be accepted." --CBOE Dictionary
July 6, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word natural law
"A body of law or a specific principle of law that is held to be derived from nature and binding upon human society in the absence of or in addition to positive law.
"While natural law, based on a notion of timeless order, does not receive as much credence as it did formerly, it was an important influence on the enumeration of natural rights by Thomas Jefferson and others." --Lawyers.com
July 1, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word parallel cousin
"A cousin who is the child either of one's mother's sister or of one's father's brother." --Dictionary.com
July 1, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word direct digital marketing
"Direct digital marketing is digital marketing method that is addressable—meaning you can identify the recipient of the marketing message being distributed. Traditional direct marketing is achieved using a customer's postal address and sending physical paper mail, such as a flyer or brochure. With the evolution of direct marketing to direct digital marketing, addressability comes in a variety of digital forms including an e-mail address, a Web browser cookie, or a mobile phone number." --Webopedia
June 26, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word aov
average order value
June 26, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word retention
"The term used by online marketers to describe the efforts of a company to keep their customer or client from defecting to the competition." --Webopedia
June 26, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word pass along
"In marketing terms it refers to a piece of marketing material, such as an e-mail newsletter, that goes beyond the original recipient. A pass along is 'passed along' to a second person by the recipient." --Webopedia
June 26, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word sea grape
It's from issue 17.04 on p. 24.
June 26, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word megrim
According to Dictionary.com, it also means "a fancy; a whim" and "in the plural: lowness of spirits -- often with 'the'."
June 23, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word smorgasboard
"1. A buffet meal featuring a varied number of dishes.
2. A varied collection" --"American Heritage Dictionary"
June 19, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word witch's brew
Odd. I clicked on the link and it brought me to the entry page.
June 18, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word witch's brew
"a fearsome mixture." --WordNet Search
June 17, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word churn
"In e-mail marketing, the churn is the percentage of your subscriber list e-mail addresses that unsubscribe or bounce over a set length of time." --Webopedia
Though I like fearraigh's definition better.
June 13, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word a b split
Actually, "A/B split" (Wordie doesn't like slashes, I guess).
"In e-mail marketing, A/B split is a marketing test method where an e-mail subscriber list is split into two groups; every other name in the list is sent one e-mail message and vise versa. The open and response rates to each message are tracked." --Webopedia
June 13, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word acquisition cost
"In e-mail marketing, the acquisition cost or cost of acquisition is the actual cost of generating one single lead, new subscriber or customer. The acquisition cost is usually determined by dividing the total cost of a single e-mail marketing campaign by the number of leads, subscribers or customers." --Webopedia
June 13, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word open rate
"In e-mail marketing, the open rate is the number of list subscribers who opened the e-mail message. The open rate is a percentage of the total number of e-mails sent." --Webopedia
June 13, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word power pop
"A popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are usually kept to a minimum, and blues elements are largely downplayed. Recordings tend to display production values that lean toward compression and a forceful drum beat. Instruments usually include one or more electric guitars, an electric bass guitar, a drum kit, and sometimes electric keyboards or synthesizers." --Wikipedia
June 12, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word microcopy
"Microcopy is small yet powerful copy. It’s fast, light, and deadly. It’s a short sentence, a phrase, a few words. A single word. It’s the small copy that has the biggest impact. Don’t judge it on its size…judge it on its effectiveness." --Joshua Porter
June 9, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word oem
original equipment manufacturer
June 9, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word roc
Also: Renewable Obligation Certificates
June 9, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word res
As an abbreviation: Renewable Energy Systems
June 9, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word rep
Also: renewable energy plan
June 9, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word straw man
"An imaginary argument of no substance advanced in order to be easily confuted or an imaginary adversary advancing such an argument." --Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary
June 9, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word soupçon
a trace, a little bit
June 6, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word carbon neutral
"The action of organizations, businesses and individuals taking action to remove as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as each put in to it. The overall goal of carbon neutrality is to achieve a zero carbon footprint. For example, a business may plant trees in different places around the world to offset the electricity the business uses. This practice is often called carbon offset or offsetting." --Webopedia
June 6, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word ramp up
"Increase, as with activity or production." --InvestorWords.com
June 6, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word gin up
According to "The Phrase Finder":
1. to excite or enliven
2. to drink, particularly gin
June 6, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word gyre
In environmental science, "any manner of particularly large-scale wind, swirling vortex and ocean currents. Gyres are caused by the Coriolis effect; planetary vorticity along with horizontal and vertical friction, which determine the circulation patterns from the wind curl (torque)." --Wikipedia
June 4, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word negawatt power
"The idea of creating incentives to reduce demand for electricity to ease the load at peak times or alleviate the need to build more generation plants. In theory, these negawatts can be aggregated and an arbitrage market could be created to trade these." --Wikipedia
June 4, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word diamantaire
Diamond dealers in the Antwerp Diamond District. -- Wired (17.04)
"A diamantaire (French origin) is sometimes referred to as a 'gem-quality diamond manufacturer or producer', 'master diamond cutter' and a 'graduate gemologist (who specializes in diamonds).'
"Such individuals demonstrate considerable expertise in different types of gemstones, particularly when it comes to increasing the value and quality of a rough or raw diamond.
"They are highly-skilled craftsmen or artisans who are responsible for cutting, polishing and transforming a rough diamond into a finished gemstone ready for setting.
"Members of diamond dealing families who have established themselves in the upper echelons of the world diamond industry hierarchy are also often referred to as diamantaires as well." -- Wikipedia
June 4, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word link bait
"Link bait is any content or feature within a website that somehow baits viewers to place links to it from other websites. Matt Cutts defines link bait as anything "interesting enough to catch people's attention."7 Link bait can be an extremely powerful form of marketing as it is viral in nature." --Wikipedia
May 29, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word linkback
"A linkback is a method for Web authors to obtain notifications when other authors link to one of their documents. This enables authors to keep track of who is linking to, or referring to their articles." --Wikipedia
May 29, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word content inflation
"Content inflation is the continuing trend of exponential growth of content on the internet. Whether this content is YouTube videos, social networking sites, independent games or blogs; the trend is undeniable." --Tech Progression
Ironically, Tech Progression isn't contributing to content inflation, having lasted just one post. One can only wonder if this is a good thing or not.
May 26, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word link juice
"Jargon that refers to the quality of a Web site's link power, as in page rank, number of link votes, etc. - that are obtained from backlinks. This expression was coined by SEO consultant Greg Boser, for example "I need to get some more link juice for my latest site." --NetLingo
May 26, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word microsite
"A microsite, also known as a minisite or weblet, is an Internet web design term referring to an individual web page or cluster of pages which are meant to function as an auxiliary supplement to a primary website. The microsite's main landing page most likely has its own domain name or subdomain.
They are typically used to add a specialized group of information either editorial or commercial. Such sites may be linked in to a main site or not or taken completely off a site's server when the site is used for a temporary purpose. The main distinction of a microsite versus its parent site is its purpose and specific cohesiveness as compared to the microsite's broader overall parent website.
Microsites used for editorial purposes may be a page or group of pages that, for example, might contain information about a holiday, an event or similar item which gives more detailed information than a site's general content area may provide. A community organization may have its main site with all of the organization's basic information, but creates a separate, temporary microsite to inform about a particular activity, event or similar." --Wikipedia
May 26, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word landing page
"In online marketing a landing page, sometimes known as a lead capture page, is the page that appears when a potential customer clicks on an advertisement or a search-engine result link. The page will usually display content that is a logical extension of the advertisement or link, and that is optimized to feature specific keywords or phrases for indexing by search engines." --Wikipedia
May 26, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word link farming
"The process of exchanging reciprocal links with Web sites in order to increase search engine optimization. The idea behind link farming is to increase the number of sites that link to yours because search engines such as Google rank sites according to, among other things, the quality and quantity of sites that link to yours. In theory, the more sites that link to yours, the higher your ranking in the search engine results will be because the more links indicate a higher level of popularity among users of the Internet. However, search engines such as Google consider link farming as a form of spam and have been implementing procedures to banish sites that participate in link farming, so the term link farming has garnered negative connotations across the Internet." --Webopedia
"Bad links can also be found in link farms...If your site has attracted link farmers' attention, get it removed from these communities. About 70 percent of link farm Webmasters will remove your site with a simple email request. The other 30 percent usually respond to a saber-rattling message from your attorney. If revenge is what you seek, report the link farm as spam to the search engines -- after links to your site have been removed." --P.J. Fusco, "Meta Tags and Link Deficiency Confusion"
May 26, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word rogue anti-virus software
Also scareware, rogue security software, smitfraud.
"Malware...designed specifically to damage or disrupt your computer system. In this case, not only is the software going to disrupt your system, it's going to try and trick you into making an unsecure credit card purchase." --Webopedia
May 22, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word trojan horse
"A destructive program that masquerades as a benign application. Unlike viruses, Trojan horses do not replicate themselves but they can be just as destructive. One of the most insidious types of Trojan horse is a program that claims to rid your computer of viruses but instead introduces viruses onto your computer." --Webopedia
May 22, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word malware
"Short for malicious software, software designed specifically to damage or disrupt a system, such as a virus or a Trojan horse." --Webopedia
May 22, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word avast
"a nautical command to stop or cease" --Merriam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary
May 21, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word bemaul
"To maul thoroughly." --Merriam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary
May 21, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word porn cops
"Facebook employees who remove inappropriate images from the social networking site." --Schott's Vocab
May 19, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word pue
"Power usage effectiveness...a calculation used to determine energy efficiency measurements. PUE is calculated by measuring the ratio of total energy consumption -— the combination of servers plus the cooling to 'useful' energy consumption (just servers)." --Webopedia
May 16, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word e-cycle
"The practice of recycling computers, computer components and other electronics through reusing or donating them until the end of their lifecycle. E-cycling encourages people to reduce, reuse and recycle rather than dispose of these items prematurely when upgrading to newer products. At the end of the electronics' life, people are then encouraged to dispose of the item at an electronics recycler to keep the electronics out of landfills and reduce the amount of electronic waste." --Webopedia
May 16, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word medicable
treatable, curable
May 15, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word mib
mebibyte
May 14, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word codec
"A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding and/or decoding a digital data stream or signal. The word codec is a portmanteau of 'compressor-decompressor' or, most commonly, 'coder-decoder'." --Wikipedia
May 14, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word pii
personally identifiable information
May 13, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word swot
In marketing: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
May 7, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word pryamid scheme
"In a pyramid scheme, every 'investor' lures a new batch of suckers for a cut of all the future entry fees." --"How to Run a Scam," Wired (17.04, 30)
May 1, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word pyramind scheme
Yikes! Slip of the keyboard, though I do like gangerh's definition. :-)
May 1, 2009
ecbrenner commented on the word multilevel-marketing scam
"A multilevel-marketing scam has 'reps' sell some product but entices them with commissions on sales of those they, in turn, recruit." --"How to Run a Scam," Wired (17.04, 30)
April 30, 2009
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