Do You Speak Geek?

“Ah but then the 386 came out and I thought I was STYLIN’….”

“When I got that first hard drive with one gig, I thought, man I’ll NEVER use all that…”

“So I replaced that whole startup song Windows used to have…remember it? With an 8 minute long Dr. Who theme….it had to play ALL the way through before the machine would boot. She was SO mad…”

I enjoyed a total Geek Lunch the other day with a couple of friends who have been into computers since they (the computers, not my friends) were monstrous things taking up an entire room. You know you’re in Geek Heaven when we’re talking reverently of Univac and Eniac and any other –ac you can come up with.

While I go back as far as a tape drive to store data, and the thrill of being able to go from 16K to a 32K computer (yes, that’s K as in kilobyte…) these guys are the ultimate geeks. We laughed for two hours over hacks and practical jokes, lowering voices to talk about a virus written to change the graphics settings on a machine twenty years go…because revenge is best served, apparently, on a black screen with black text…

I marvel at the language and how easily we speak it. I don’t remember absorbing this technology and I suspect it’s been a gradual thing over the years. Was there truly a time when I didn’t know the difference between ROM and RAM? Between bits and bytes? But then I started early, programming in basic by the age of twelve (and freezing the machine because I had this dream of putting music WITH graphics WITH animation into a computer game. Yes, on that aforementioned 32K machine.

What I tend to forget though, is not everyone speaks my language. No more than the non anime fan looks at me quizzically when I mutter ‘baka’ under my breath or say ‘moshi moshi’ when I answer the phone (a habit I’m currently trying to break). So an anime like Yokuwakaru Gendai Maho might be something I totally get (and love, but then anytime you can code in a computer and have it manifest as magic in the real world is beyond sugoi…), but that the average person is going to look at and say, “What??”

So for today, I shall strive for clarity of speech. No more Geek Speak in mixed company....Well, unless I run across one of my programmer or otaku friends. In which case all bets are off. Ja ne!

What is YOUR language?