Mystical jargon
This post was originally published at sinewalker.wordpress.com on 4 April 2006.
I'm sure this observation has been made elsewhere, but I can't find reference to it online.
Have you ever noticed the prolific use of mystical/fantastical words in computer jargon? I'm sure there is a significance, or at least a tongue-in-cheek pointing to the wizardly ways of early and contemporary computer experts. It is funny I suppose, and when you look at how wide-spread it is, it may be revealing of the hacker psych.
Anyway, here is a list I've compiled (mostly from the Jargon File) of mystical/fantastical terms used in computing:
- Angband
- ARPA-wocky
- avatar
- big-endian
- black magic
- burried treasure
- daemon
- deep magic
- demon
- Discordianism
- dragon
- DWARF
- elder days
- ELF
- elvish
- Eris
- Frankenputer
- GNOME
- Great Worm
- guru
- guru meditation
- heavy wizardry
- heisenbug
- hex
- incantation
- JINI
- line 666
- magic
- magic number
- magic smoke
- Oracle
- pixel (from pixie)
- pointy hat
- rain dance
- reaper
- reincarnation, cycle of
- religious issues
- runes
- sacred
- smurf
- spider
- sprite
- tentacle
- theology
- various uses of trees
- urchin
- voodoo programming
- web
- wheel
- wizard
- Wizard Book
- wizard hat
- xyzzy
- yggdrasil
- zen
- zombie
A similar list could be made of Lewis-Carrol references, or even Douglas Adams.