Jargon File

Jargon File

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backronym n. [portmanteau of back + acronym] A word interpreted as an acronym that was not originally so intended.
This is a special case of what linguists call `back formation'. Example...
backspace and overstrike interj. [rare] Whoa! Back up.
Used to suggest that someone just said or did something wrong....
backward combatability /bak'w*rd k*m-bat'*-bil'*-tee/ n.
[CMU, Tektronix...
BAD /B-A-D/ adj. [IBM: acronym, `Broken As Designed'] Said of a program that is bogus because of bad design and misfeatures rather than because of bugginess.
See working as designed....
Bad and Wrong adj. [Durham, UK] Said of something that is both badly designed and wrongly executed.
This common term is the prototype of, and is used by contrast with, three less common te...
Bad Thing n. [very common; from the 1930 Sellar &
Yeatman parody "1066 And All That"] Something that can't possibly result in improvement of the subject....
bag on the side n. [prob. originally related to a colostomy bag] An extension to an established hack that is supposed to add some functionality to the original.
Usually derogatory, implyi...
bagbiter /bag'bi:t-*r/ n. 1. Something, such as a program or a computer, that fails to work, or works in a remarkably clumsy manner.
This text editor won't let me make a file with a line...
bagbiting adj. Having the quality of a bagbiter.
"This bagbiting system won't let me compute the factorial of a negative number....
baggy pantsing v. [Georgia Tech] A "baggy pantsing" is used to reprimand hackers who incautiously leave their terminals unlocked.
The affected user will come back to find a post from them...

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