BBStro

I haven't seen those BBStros, are they good?

1996 May 11, Tom Kalland, “The Gathering 1996”, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos (Usenet)

I found that little BBStro last week in cdrom.com and wondered, how it was done.

1996 June 12, Marcus May, “Dune BBS intro: how is it done ?”, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos (Usenet)

does anyone know where there is a large selection of these mods? they will most probably be used in future bbstros but mostly for my own enjoyment...

1996 July 5, scoopx, “OldAmigaGameMusic”, in comp.sys.amiga.games (Usenet)

there was this guy who made this site for cracktros and bbstros, but i don't remember the url, maybe he can post it again?

2000 October 12, ritz[rvl], “Some questions”, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos (Usenet)

bulletin board system
bulletin board system

(demoscene) An intro created to publicize a bulletin board system.


deathmatcher

(video games) One who plays in a deathmatch.


Pokédex

Blend of Pokémon + index, adapted from Japanese ポケモン図鑑 (Pokémon Zukan, “Pokémon illustrated encyclopedia”).
The English version was introduced in the dub of the pilot episode of the Pokémon anime, originally aired in September 8, 1998.

der

They're all able to make up new punny names based on their altmode without being told what they turn into--presumably their computers might even recognize the scanned Beast Mode immediately, like a Pokedex; "You've scanned a cheetah. Cheetahs are really fast."

2012 June 5, Onslaught Six, “Does Beast Wars Deserve a Revisit?”, in alt.toys.transformers (Usenet)

Entomologists use catalogues and checklists to record species, such as the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) online database. The ALA includes data like a Pokédex does, including species distribution and collection information.

2021, David Shaw, Jasmine Fellows, Puzzles and Projects, CSIRO PUBLISHING, page 5

(Pokémon) A fictional electronic encyclopedia with information about Pokémon.

Pokémon (TV series)
Pokémon, I Choose You!


COBOLer

COBOL software appears to be slightly outliving COBOL programmers. Thus, the need for COBOLers is likely to stay reasonable in the near term.

2002 December 17, Topmind, “The problem COBOL programmers have moving to objects”, in comp.object (Usenet), retrieved 2022-12-23


mh+

(jargon, social media) Initialism of mental health., positive; opposite of mh-


mh-

(jargon, social media) Initialism of mental health., negative; opposite of mh+


transmoding

(computer science) Conversion of one media form to another, for example text to audio.


Black Twitter

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Black Twitter.

The social media service Twitter as used by African-Americans.


query plan

(databases) The sequence of steps used to execute a given query in a SQL-based database.


despaghettify

en-verb

despaghettify (third-person singular simple present despaghettifies, present participle despaghettifying, simple past and past participle despaghettified)

despaghettifies (present singular third-person)
despaghettifying (participle present)
despaghettified (participle past)
despaghettified (past)

From de- + spaghetti + -ify, compare spaghetti code.

You could do, but I need to despaghettify the code first.

My program is not huge <5000 lines, but it has been hacked about since 1978, with dire results. I get a bad headache trying to follow the logic. I would be happy to upload and then download the despaghettified code so as not to infringe licence regulations. Please help!

1993 January 19, ro...@ruchem.ru.ac.za, “spaghetti”, in comp.lang.fortran (Usenet)

I just wanted to give kudos to the new(ish) PrepModules feature. I finally got around to implementing it, and it allowed me to considerably de-spaghettify some of my scripts. Thanks!

2004 May 17, Chip Seraphine, “PrepModules() rocketh mightily”, in gnu.cfengine.help (Usenet)

Still, some examples would be nice. I can't distribute claxmod, as is, 'cause there are passwords hard-coded into it. With a little work, a more "generic" example could be developed that could be used as an example (de-spaghettified, preferably).

2014 May 29, fbkotler, “Re: R.I.P. Nathan Baker”, in alt.lang.asm (Usenet)

(transitive, programming) To refactor spaghetti code.


GCal

Caps have a detailed GCal and five-year plan, and yep, they plan those same organization skills to the bedroom.

2022 December 8, Jake Register, “Everything You Need to Know About Dating a Capricorn Man”, in Cosmopolitan

Abbreviation of Google Calendar: a time-management and scheduling calendar service developed by Google.


CancerTok

In the process, she's built a loyal following in a corner of the Internet known as #CancerTok, where millions of users candidly open up every day about their own experiences with the disease.

2022 August 21, Kaitlin Stanford, “Woman Discovers Stage 4 Breast Cancer After Being Told She Was 'Too Young' for a Mammogram”, in mom.com

(Internet slang) The community of cancer patients on TikTok.


outswap

outswap (third-person singular simple present outswaps, present participle outswapping, simple past and past participle outswapped)

outswaps (present singular third-person)
outswapping (participle present)
outswapped (participle past)
outswapped (past)

Because a real-time process might idle for a considerable time waiting for an external event, a conventional operating system would outswap or outpage the process.

1983, Mini-Micro Systems, volume 16, page 255

(transitive, computing) Synonym of swap out


outpage

outpage (third-person singular simple present outpages, present participle outpaging, simple past and past participle outpaged)

outpages (present singular third-person)
outpaging (participle present)
outpaged (participle past)
outpaged (past)

To reduce this contention, which reduces inpaging and outpaging of the data, copy bits are provided for each page in the cache. This bit, when on, indicates that the data could reside in each storage controller's cache.

1981, International Business Machines Corporation, IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, page 1725

(transitive, computing) Synonym of page out


subpass

On the GPU, each subpass requires a SetRenderTarget() call, which incurs a small cost.

2005, Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH 2005, page 780

(programming) Part of a pass or iteration.


edtwt

The recent use of TikTok videos using fatspiration, and to a lesser extent thinspiration, on Twitter (@caloire, 2020) has brought a lot of negative attention to Eating Disorder Twitter (edtwt) and to a lesser extent other pro-ana and eating disorder communities on other platforms. There are those within edtwt who are arguing against TikTok users posting thinspiration and fatspiration content (@dietlix, 2020; @somehowatypical, 2020). However, this continues to be an issue across social media platforms.

2021 August, Kathrin S. Gibson, Thinspiration and Fatspiration on Body Dissatisfaction (thesis), Texas State University, page 7

Christ, what a shitshow that place is. Full of bullies shamefully spouting harmful tips and this constant sense of superiority coming from all of them. I know we’re all sick but coming back to this sub feels like a breath of fresh air; everyone’s nice, encouraging and willing to call out any harmful toxicity that pops up, while edtwt seems to fester in it.

2022, Remington M. Valdivia, quoting a Redditor, Unmuted: An intersectional approach to Latinx women with eating disorders (thesis), University of Nevada, Reno, page 40

More recently, thinspo has become a recurring theme on social media platforms. On edtwt, there are multiple accounts dedicated to frequent reblogging of thinspo content such as extreme weight loss progress pics, very thin people in poses that emphasise this like closing their fingers around their upper thighs, thematic groupings like #legs, and photo sets of recognisable thin celebrities such as KPop idols.

2022, Zoe Alderton, Preventing Harmful Behaviour in Online Communities, Routledge

For this thesis, I followed one account that was a mixture of pro-ana and media fandom content, which caused my otherwise fandom-oriented timeline to become full of dieting tips, edtwt [Eating Disorder Twitter] memes, and even intra-community arguments.

2023, Taylor Drake, How We Haunt Ourselves: The Pro-Anorexia Fandom Around Laurie Halse Anderson’s Wintergirls (master's thesis), Athens, GA: University of Georgia, page 26

Table 5 illustrates the top 10 keywords and hashtags associated with the classified categories. It enables comparisons between categories’ words and displays the most frequently used hashtags. […] The ED-user category has a significant relation with ED content such as proana, edtwt (twitter warning), body image, skinny, and fatspo.

2023 March, Mohammad Abuhassan, Tarique Anwar, Matthew Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, Hannah K. Jarman, Adrian Shatte, Chengfei Liu, Suku Sukunesan, “Classification of Twitter users with eating disorder engagement: Learning from the biographies”, in Computers in Human Behavior, volume 140, →DOI, article 107519, page 7

(Internet slang, neologism) A Twitter community for those with eating disorders.


transphile

(rare, chiefly Internet, derogatory) A person who has a positive attitude or an attraction towards transgender or transsexual people and/or transness.


Friendster

Count my Friendsters: 48 with 4 pending.

2003 October 1, Nora Koch, “Social networking a mouse click away”, in The Philadelphia Inquirer, 175th year, number 123, page E1

danah boyd, speaking about the social networking site Friendster, shows that users are aware that there is a difference between friends and Friends: “Overheard conversations might include statements such as ‘She’s not my friend, but she’s my Friendster’ and ‘Did you see that Alex is Drew’s Friendster? (boyd 2004).

2004, danah boyd, quoted in 2008, Cliff Landis, “Friending our Users: Social Networking and Reference Services”, in Sarah K. Steiner, M. Leslie Madden, editors, The Desk and Beyond: Next Generation Reference Services, Chicago, Ill.: Association of College and Research Libraries, page 81

DON’T MESS WITH ME OR MY 346 FRIENDSTERS / Is Friendster more addictive than crack? Shit, yeah (“Can We Still Be Friendsters?” November)! […] Todd Dalton […] “I’d love to give Dave Matthews a makeover to look like a goth singer circa 1983. Only then would I accept him as my Friendster.” Audrey Levy

2004 February, Spin, volume 20, number 2, page 18

Uma Thurman hugs me good-bye, and we agree to become Friendsters.

2005, Chuck Klosterman, Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story, Scribner, page 164

Do you want to be my Friendster?

2005 April 17, Laura Steele, “Do you want to be my Friendster?”, in South Bend Tribune, page A1

But once I’d clicked the acceptance button—and found out it was not Hippie but our other, Virginia connection that inspired Posse Pal’s overture—I found myself wondering whether I might find Poster Boy among his Friendsters. […] But when I responded by asking about those mission trips I’d heard about—and mentioning my own excursion to India—Poster Boy fell silent, though he added me to his Friendsters.

2008, Anna Broadway, Sexless in the City: A Memoir of Reluctant Chastity, Galilee, page 212

It was Abrams’ original intention to have a website that hosted pages for close friends and family to be able to connect, not as a virtual popularity contest to see who could get the most “Friendsters” (Milian, 2009).

2012, Rachel A. Sauerbier, “Social Networking”, in August E. Grant, Jennifer H[arman] Meadows, editors, Communication Technology Update and Fundamentals, 13th edition, Focal Press, section IV (Networking Technologies), page 276

(Internet) A friend on the social networking site Friendster.

Most Friendsters aren’t trying to meet anyone they don’t already know; […] Friendsters seem totally comfortable with strangers assuming they cheat on their wives and sketch portraits of unicorns in their free time, but they don’t want anyone to think they watch According to Jim unironically. […] For those unfamiliar with the site, the big draw within the Friendster universe is the testimonial, in which other Friendsters post enthusiastic endorsements of your relative awesomeness.

You also get your own email inbox on the site, as shown in Figure 17-1, which you can use to send notes to other Friendsters. (This is a safer way to meet new people than passing out your email address to online strangers.)

2006, David Pogue, J.D. Biersdorfer, The Internet: The Missing Manual, O’Reilly Media, Inc., page 332

Friendster also lets users create individual blogs, share photos and video, post to discussion boards, and chat with other Friendsters.

2007, Meredith G. Farkas, Social Software in Libraries: Building Collaboration, Communication, and Community Online, Medford, N.J.: Information Today, page 113

Most “Friendsters” – as the site’s members were called – had joined the site, in keeping with its name, to validate themselves socially by collecting a maximum number of “friends”.

2008, Matthew Fraser, Soumitra Dutta, Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom: How Online Social Networking Will Transform Your Life, Work and World, Wiley, page 36

The deal put a Friendster app on the Yahoo! website, promotional placements for Yahoo! products on Friendster, enchaned search results for Friendster user profiles and Friendster Fan Profiles within Yahoo! Search, and the ability of Friendsters to link their accounts on the social network with their Yahoo! accounts.

2010, John K. Waters, The Everything Guide to Social Media: All You Need to Lnow about Participating in Today’s Most Popular Online Communities, Adams Media

(Internet) A user of the social networking site Friendster.

Consider the hundreds of students from Singapore and Indonesia who create Friendsters for their teachers so that they can write testimonials about them.

2005, danah boyd, “Autistic Social Software”, in Joel Spolsky, editor, The Best Software Writing I, page 42

You are the profile picture in my Facebook; you are my only friend in my Friendster.

2010, Jasper Flores Aquino (Kuya Jap), Poems for You, Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, Inc.

I really, really want to go back in time and recycle my Friendster.

2011 May 19, Amy Bartner, quotee, “the burning question: If you could recycle/redo/reuse anything in this city, what would it be and how would you do it?”, in Metromix (The Indianapolis Star), page 4

(Internet) An account on the social networking site Friendster.


hardstuck

en-adj

hardstuck (comparative more hardstuck, superlative most hardstuck)

more hardstuck (comparative)
most hardstuck (superlative)

I've been hardstuck at diamond 4 for like 6 months.

You're not hardstuck, don't worry about how many games you've played, just keep going. You'll get there

2018 January 9, @MeteosLoL, Twitter, archived from the original on 2023-07-06

im playing Overwatch for the first time in more than a year and im hardstuck low masters at best, im so bad it's awful

2019 November 12, @Slasher, Twitter, archived from the original on 2021-01-28

Imagine being single on Valentine's Day AND hardstuck in Valorant

2022 February 4, @starriebun, Twitter, archived from the original on 2023-01-01

if u are hardstuck gold or lower in a video game my best advice is just start drawing or playing an instrument just find a new hobby this gaming shit isn't for you

2022 July 7, @funnysmartguy12, Twitter, archived from the original on 2022-07-07

I don't know who needs to hear this but your teammates aren't the reason you're hardstuck

2022 July 28, @HisWattson, Twitter, archived from the original on 2022-07-29

(video games, slang) Firmly stuck at a particular rank or Elo level; unable to progress in skill.


pisslow

pisslow (comparative more pisslow, superlative most pisslow)

more pisslow (comparative)
most pisslow (superlative)

If anyone wants any idea how pisslow my MMR is in Valorant, I just had a teammate say over voice comms "Finally my kid is asleep so I can play more"

2020 April 26, @IWDominate, Twitter, archived from the original on 2023-01-01

Can I please stop getting hardstuck pisslow teammates!?

2020 July 20, @NickichLoL, Twitter, archived from the original on 2020-07-23

ok 6 digit pisslow hivemind repeat after me: the pp changes suck

2021 January 16, @aetrna, Twitter, archived from the original on 2021-01-16

after losing 10 games in a row on PC league I decided to play wild rift and won 8 games in a row. I feel better about myself now. nothing like beating up a bunch of 12 year old pisslow zoomers while laying on my bed. nice.

2021 March 31, @IKeepItTaco, Twitter, archived from the original on 2021-03-31

this is the girl who flames you in your pisslow immortal valorant ranked games

2022 January 6, @cloudyerin_, Twitter, archived from the original on 2022-07-19

epic pisslow gaming moments

2022 April 10, @sarah_frags, Twitter, archived from the original on 2023-01-01

(video games, slang, vulgar, chiefly League of Legends) Having a low rank or Elo level; lacking in skill.


MAMAA

"Bye-bye FAANG, hello MAMAA," the "Mad Money" host said on Thursday's show. "What really matters here, as I always say about MAMAA, is that the secret of their valuation is that they're all in the habit of reinvention. That's why I love them so much."

2021 October 29, Kevin Stankiewicz, quoting Jim Cramer, “'Bye-bye FAANG, hello MAMAA' — Cramer reveals a new acronym after Facebook's name change”, in CNBC, archived from the original on 2022-11-03

While two big components of the MAMAA acronym, Apple and Amazon, both saw declines in their stock price on Thursday and Friday, Cramer said investors should focus on the bigger picture.]

[2021 October 29, Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, “Not FAANG but MAMAA: Jim Cramer reveals new acronym for the 5 largest tech giants”, in Fortune, New York, N.Y.: Fortune Media Group Holdings, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-09-23

Nevertheless, a number of tech stocks have returned handsomely this year and outperformed MAMAA's returns. These stocks have benefited from the stay-at-home trend that has driven demand for web-based services like e-commerce, contactless payment and delivery.

2021 December 22, Aniruddha Ganguly, “5 Tech Stocks That Have Crushed MAMAA in 2021”, in Nasdaq, Zacks Investment Research, archived from the original on 2023-03-06

With MANAMANA we capture an enormous swath of the American technology industry. With the addition of Adobe and Nvidia, this bellwether gains exposure to two segments of the technology that FANG, FAANG, FANAMA and MAMAA miss: creation and publication, and the power behind graphics processing units.]

[2021 November 5, Bill Mann, “FAANG is Dead. Long Live MANAMANA”, in The Motley Fool, archived from the original on 2022-08-07

Whether it's FANG, FAANG, MAMAA, MANAMANA or something else, the idea is to serve as a proxy to track something larger.]

[2021 November 17, Kevin Theissen, “What is MAMAA?”, in The Mountain Times, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-11-28

Instead in 2019, 7 out of the top 8 companies are digital platforms: all the USA GAFAM/MAMAA plus the two Chinese digital platforms.

2022 March 10, Antonio Manganelli, Antonio Nicita, Regulating Digital Markets: The European Approach, Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, page 10

These competitive advantages can make the FAANG (or MAMAA) stocks great potential investments. Still, investors may want to examine each stock’s valuation relative to its own historical value and that of comparable competitors before buying.

2022 July 21, Adam Levy, “Investing in FAANG or MAMAA Stocks”, in The Motley Fool, archived from the original on 2023-02-16

Why won't MAMAA companies *disclose* how many employees they have in the Greater Philadelphia region?

2023 February 27, Sarah Huffman, “How many Big Tech employees live in Philly?”, in Technical.ly, archived from the original on 2023-02-27

The five MAMAA stocks have a combined market cap of more than $6.6 trillion.

2023 March 1, Wayne Duggan, “What Happened To FAANG Stocks? They Became MAMAA Stocks”, in Benjamin Curry, editor, Forbes, New York, N.Y.: Forbes Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-01

(technology) Acronym of Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet.


pre-moderation

"We can't completely lock down creativity," says founder Michael Acton Smith, "But nor can we allow the Wild West. So we use tools like software filtering, pre-moderation and post-moderation and we track every communication on the site."

2010 September 8, Milo Yiannopoulos, “Moshi Monsters is leading the way on child safety”, in The Telegraph

Facebook does not allow for pre-moderation of comments on pages and comments cannot be turned off, however NSW supreme court justice Stephen Rothman had argued that the media companies could have used a word filter using extremely common words to pre-filter the majority of comments to only be visible to the page owner and that user and their friends.

2020 June 1, Josh Taylor, “Australian media companies face defamation liability for comments on Facebook after court dismisses appeal”, in The Guardian

(journalism, Internet) The practice of moderating comments before they appear online, with the goal of preventing the publication of offensive or dangerous material.


fitfluencer

The fitfluencers of the world will try to scare you about heavy weights and tell you you should be afwaid, that very light or bodyweight stuff is the same. It isn't.

2021 June 23, Casey Johnston, “If You're Scared of Lifting Heavy Weights, Here's What to Do”, in VICE, archived from the original on 2022-12-05

For us, the best motivator for hopping on a stairmaster is cute workout clothes. Specifically, we're talking about high-waisted leggings. With their high inseam and suck-you-in fabric, these fitted pants are a fitfluencer favorite.

2022 February 10, Justine Carreon, “25 High-Waisted Leggings To Make You Look And Feel Like A Fitfluencer”, in Elle, archived from the original on 2022-11-21

(social media, neologism) An influencer who primarily creates content related to fitness.


fatfluencer

Blend of fat + influencer or fatness + influencer, modelled after fitfluencer.

Adele, from Nottingham, tells The Sun: "People call me an obesity time bomb, but I don't care. ¶ "Forget fit-fluencers, I'm a fat-fluencer - I am promoting body positivity. […] "I am showing the world what a real body looks like, free of filters and make-up."

2023 June 28, Alley Einstein, “I'm a fat-fluencer and love going shopping in my micro-bikini… people call me an obesity time bomb but I don't care”, in The Sun, London: News Group Newspapers Limited, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-07-23

(social media, neologism) An influencer who primarily creates content related to the acceptance of being overweight.


Softie

Many Softies believed and continue to believe that Microsoft employees are smarter than everyone else and that the company is a magnet for the brightest, most ambitious tech and marketing experts[…]

2008, Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft Plans to Stay Relevant in the Post-Gates Era, John Wiley & Sons, page 18


three-tap

en-verb

three-tap (third-person singular simple present three-taps, present participle three-tapping, simple past and past participle three-tapped)

three-taps (present singular third-person)
three-tapping (participle present)
three-tapped (participle past)
three-tapped (past)

The ban phase is a welcome touch to ranked play because, more often than naught, I'm not in the mood to get three-tapped by some Caveira player squatting in a seemingly inconsequential hallway.

2021 February 8, Calvin Edwards, “Rainbow Six: Siege Is Not as Fun as It Used to Be”, in KeenGamer, archived from the original on 2022-09-09

Since the falloff has been reduced, players still have to take close-range fights against other Guardians to three-tap them.

2022 July 23, Soumyadeep Banerjee, “Bungie has accidentally buffed The Last Word in recent Destiny 2 update”, in Sportskeeda, archived from the original on 2023-01-03

Some of these perks are absurd, mainly High-Caliber Rounds and Vorpal Weapon. With Vorpal, you can two-tap Golden Gun or three-tap every other Super in the game.

2022 September 7, Charles Burgar, “Destiny 2: The 10 Best Scout Rifles For PvP, Ranked”, in TheGamer, archived from the original on 2022-12-12

(video games, slang, transitive) To kill an enemy in three shots.


one-tap

one-tap (third-person singular simple present one-taps, present participle one-tapping, simple past and past participle one-tapped)

one-taps (present singular third-person)
one-tapping (participle present)
one-tapped (participle past)
one-tapped (past)

A reference to first-person shooter games in which a gun is fired by "tapping" the left click button on a mouse.

This guy is camping so hard that I can barely move off of spawn before getting one-tapped.

This was an issue during Valorant's beta, where players used to complain about getting one-tapped to the head before them being aware.

2020 December 20, Satyaki Das, “Should Valorant remove the delay before a player is accurate during strafing?”, in Sportskeeda, archived from the original on 2021-01-24

This allows players to instantly escape danger after one-tapping an enemy, making the difference in crucial situations.

2021 February 8, Jalen Lopez, “Lothar highlights binding Reyna's Dismiss ability to turn invulnerable after one-tapping in VALORANT”, in Dot Esports, archived from the original on 2021-05-10

The pistol is about one-tapping the enemy with headshots and taking them out before they have the time to turn around and spot you.

2022 October 25, Abhishek Mallick, “Modern Warfare 2 "Nessie" achievement guide: How to kill all guards unseen”, in Sportskeeda, archived from the original on 2022-10-25

Capable of "one-tapping" opponents and wiping them out before they can even react, this is the perfect setup for aggressive players who aren't afraid of getting into the thick of the action.

2022 November 14, Alex Garton, “Modern Warfare 2 expert claims "one-tap" shotgun dominates close-range”, in Dexerto, archived from the original on 2022-11-15

It only takes two shots to kill someone at all ranges, and you can one-tap enemies with a single headshot up to 30 meters.

2022 November 22, Charles Burgar, “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Best LM-S Loadout”, in TheGamer, archived from the original on 2022-11-22

(video games, slang, transitive) To kill an enemy in one shot.


two-tap

two-tap (third-person singular simple present two-taps, present participle two-tapping, simple past and past participle two-tapped)

two-taps (present singular third-person)
two-tapping (participle present)
two-tapped (participle past)
two-tapped (past)

Remember that you'll always be at a disadvantage if you aren't outnumbering humans by at least five individuals since you can easily get two-tapped with headshots.

2020 November 1, Gökhan Çakır, “How to play Zombies mode in PUBG”, in Dot Esports, archived from the original on 2022-05-21

This is an interesting PvP choice because Harmony on a 120 when activated should in theory be able to two-tap enemy guardians.

2022 July 21, Paul Tassi, “The 'Destiny 2' Solstice Weapon God Rolls You Should Be Hunting”, in Forbes, archived from the original on 2022-07-28

This setup allows the P890 to two-tap at close distances.

2022 November 26, Charles Burgar, “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Best P890 Loadout”, in TheGamer, archived from the original on 2022-11-29

(video games, slang, transitive) To kill an enemy in two shots.


keeb

Just finished building my first keeb; how does it look?

He decided it was time to slip into something bit more ergonomic and settled on building an Iris — a small split keeb with an ortholinear (non-staggered) key arrangement.

2020 July 23, Kristina Panos, “Ergo Keyboard Build Issue Becomes Crystal Clear”, in Hackaday, archived from the original on 2022-10-25

And now that I’m into mechanical keyboards, including customizing them, I’ve had to craft a cleaning routine to ensure every keeb in my vicinity is always ready for its closeup.

2021 August 6, Florence Ion, “It's Time to Clean Your Disgusting Mechanical Keyboard”, in Gizmodo, archived from the original on 2022-12-05

The key benefit of a smaller keeb is that your mouse and WSAD hands are closer together, and switching the numpad to the left means you still get to use the extra buttons and the extra desktop real estate for your gaming rodent.

2022 April 19, Dave James, “Mountain Everest 60 gaming keyboard review”, in PC Gamer, archived from the original on 2023-01-02

The keeb has been knocked down to very near its lowest price yet, with it running you £63.99 at the moment, providing a 20 percent discount on the £79.99 list price, and for it, you're getting a rather capable keyboard, it must be said.

2022 September 13, Reece Bithrey, “Nab a popular 60% mechanical keyboard for under £65 on Amazon right now”, in Eurogamer, archived from the original on 2022-09-13

(computing, slang) Clipping of keyboard.


post-moderation

"We can't completely lock down creativity," says founder Michael Acton Smith, "But nor can we allow the Wild West. So we use tools like software filtering, pre-moderation and post-moderation and we track every communication on the site."

2010 September 8, Milo Yiannopoulos, “Moshi Monsters is leading the way on child safety”, in The Telegraph

(journalism, Internet) The practice of moderating comments after they appear online, with the goal of removing the publication of offensive or dangerous material while allowing discussions to occur in real time.


formfactor

The formfactor between patches defines the fraction of energy (light) leaving a patch which arrives at the other. The formfactor has proven to be the most computationally expensive part of the radiosity computation for complex environments. The formfactor is purely a function of the geometric relationship between patches, and thus does not depend on viewer position or reflectivity attributes (color) of the surfaces.

2012, Gerald Garcia, Ivan Herman, Advances in Computer Graphics, page 95

Formfactor calculation is a very important but time-consuming step when determining a radiosity solution.

2012, Björn Engquist, Lennart Johnsson, Michael Hammill, Simulation and Visualization on the Grid, page 101

For all patches so called formfactors are calculated, that are needed to determine these intensities.

2013, Kadi Bouatouch, Christian Bouville, Photorealism in Computer Graphics, page 116

In the image, they have been distinguished by assigning a grayscale brightness to each feature that is proportional to a shape descriptor, the formfactor.

2017, John C. Russ, J. Christian Russ, Introduction to Image Processing and Analysis, page 287

(computer graphics) The ratio of energy radiating out from one patch to the energy absorbed by another patch, used in the calculation of radiosity.


-Tok

Luckily, TikTok – more specifically, ‘QueerTok’, stepped in to provide a little bit of joy and education while we were stuck inside. A quick scroll through QueerTok will offer you an abundance of all things digital bisexual culture.

2021 September 22, Alice Broster, “How 'QueerTok' is helping bisexual people overcome internalised biphobia”, in Cosmopolitan

It’s difficult to find content on TikTok, the short-form video platform, that romanticises personal sacrifice in the name of work. / Instead, “CorporateTok” — a genre that’s loosely organised around hashtags like “corporate” or “work” — showcases young employees who are critical of traditional workplace norms.

2022 June 29, Isabel Berwick, Sophia Smith, “The rise of the ‘slow work’ movement”, in Financial Times

People on TikTok can scroll past them, but the integrated nature means sponsored posts aren’t immediately registered as such. And for TikTok’s dedicated film-loving community, aka #FilmTok, trailers already pose an interest, with some members co-creating content that shares their reactions to new trailers.

2022 November 28, Annie Lyons, “TikTok’s Showtimes Ad Feature Aims to Accelerate Box-Office Sales”, in Variety

WellnessTok has done it again. After convincing people to shampoo once monthly and tan with nasal spray, it now has users asking: Is sunscreen bad for you?

2024 June 21, Danielle Sinay, “Is Sunscreen Bad for You? TikTok’s Anti-SPF Movement, Explained”, in Glamour

(Internet) Combined with a noun or adjective to create a word for a specific community of users or a genre of videos on the social media platform TikTok.


hard return

Coordinate term: soft return

(computing) The type of newline that represents the semantic concept of a paragraph break (as opposed to the type that represents merely a line break in word wrap); sometimes represented visually with the pilcrow character (¶).


soft return

Coordinate term: hard return

(computing) The type of newline that represents either a natural line break resulting from word wrap, or one specifically inserted inside a paragraph (not between paragraphs); sometimes represented visually with a bent-arrow character (↲).

rivinvaihto

line break in general, but contrasting with kappaleenvaihto (“paragraph break, hard return”)


PoS

(cryptocurrencies) Initialism of proof of stake.


StudyTok

On StudyTok, people are pretending to study with celebs through fake but impressively realistic video calls.

2021 August 13, Koh Ewe, “I ‘Worked With’ Celebrities To See if It Will Make Me More Productive”, in Vice, archived from the original on 2021-08-13

Australian former medical student, newly minted doctor, and influencer Sarah Rav, MD, for example—known as the “Queen of StudyTok”—provides entertaining tips and hacks for students on subjects such as “The Best Way to Take Notes for Online Classes” and “The Best Music for Studying.”

2022, Brian Boxer Wachler, Influenced: The Impact of Social Media on Our Perception, Rowman & Littlefield, page 54

Do StudyTok hacks really help?

2022 March 15, Talia Kilot, “Do StudyTok hacks really help?”, in The Concordian, volume 39, number 21, page 6

We may have fallen down a StudyTok hole and realized that there are so many amazing ways to use these folders, from study journals to note keeping.

2022 August, bazaar staff, “Back to School with Muji: Class is in session”, in bazaar, page 94

The community of academic and studying-oriented accounts on TikTok.


StudyTuber

9/10 of the successful StudyTubers are straight-A/A* students.

2019 February, Rosie Wedge, “Studying”, in Student Life, number 25, page 59

As businesses have realised that there is a huge audience amongst the student body, many of these StudyTubers have become personalities and shot to small but rapidly growing levels of fame as they share their variety of experiences.

2019 October 8, Ellie Robson, “The great rise of ‘studytube’”, in Concrete, number 367, University of East Anglia, page 11

As UK schools closed and exams were cancelled, a group of educational YouTube vloggers — the Study Tubers — felt compelled to help their fellow students, writes Amy O’Brien.

2020 March 31, Jonathan Moules, “How remote study is changing business school life: The coronavirus crisis has created new ways to learn and collaborate”, in BusinessDay, volume 19, number 531, page 19

The lesson here is not that studytubers are terrible influences who intentionally push toxic productivity.

2020 December 3, Basilia Weir, “Studytube: you’re toxic, I’m slippin’ into a panic spiral about my productivity”, in The Glasgow Guardian, number 4, University of Glasgow, page 13

Many of these authors are StudyTubers who are well known online for giving academic advice.

2021, Jade Bowler, The Only Study Guide You’ll Ever Need, Blink Publishing

According to The Boar, StudyTubers have emphasized unhealthy coping mechanisms, such as rigorous studying, which cause students to feel pressured about how productive they seem in an academic setting.

2021 September 29, Nicole Mui, “Investigative Report: Toxic Positivity; Selling success: Influencers’ romanticization of school life”, in The Charger Account, volume T, number 1, Leland High School, page 10

Alternatively, as one StudyTuber suggests, some viewers find the revision tips and university vlogs made by their peers far more useful than online resources “made by someone who graduated years ago”.

2021 October 5, Tom Haynes, “What happens to studytubers once they stop studying?”, in i-D, archived from the original on 2021-10-06

Students are keen to learn from each other as highlighted by the rise of Studytubers on YouTube.

2022, Bradley Lightbody, Advancing Learning Within and Beyond the Classroom: Resetting Pedagogy for the Online Era, Routledge

Critics of StudyTube often use the idea of parasocial relationships to take issue with StudyTubers’ attempts at replacing study partners—particularly their livestreams and lifestyle/Study with Me videos—however, this is a misapplication of the concept.

2022 November, Anna-Marieke Lechner-Scott, “Study Partners for Sale”, in Bossy, 8th edition, ANU Women’s Department, page 55

A YouTuber whose account focuses on studying and academia.


WDYWT

The fashion concept was uploaded to a Reddit thread entitled "WDYWT" (What Did You Wear Today?) by r/streetwear, a community that welcomes all users to share their fashionable photos without being scorned.]

[2019 April 16, Hana Otsuka, “Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital gown turned into a fashion statement, compliments by netizens”, in The Independent Singapore News, archived from the original on 2021-05-12

(Internet slang, Reddit) Initialism of What Did You Wear Today?.


StudyTube

If you are not aware of the StudyTube community, there are several channels on YouTube dedicated to studying, with over 100k subscribers, which considering it is a rather new and niche audience, this is a substantial subscriber account in comparison to commentary, beauty and gaming channels.

The only downfall of StudyTube is that it can lead to what feels like productive procrastination.

I find StudyTube an overwhelming place at the best of times but UnJaded Jade is one of the nicest places on the Internet.

2019 September 23, Ella Somers, “Entertainment Guide”, in Canta, number 11, page 33

Therefore, I’ve brought together a list of my 5 favourite Study YouTube, or StudyTube, channels to help get you into that motivated mindset.

2020 January, Sabita Burke, “Sabby Studies”, in The Spark, Reading University Students’ Union, page 25

As UK schools closed and exams were cancelled, a group of educational YouTube vloggers — the Study Tubers — felt compelled to help their fellow students, writes Amy O’Brien.[…] Six hours later, the StudyTube Project channel was live.

When schools first began to close, I brought together 18 academics to collaborate on a shared platform called ‘The StudyTube Project’ which sought to provide escapism and education in these unprecedented times.

2020 July/August, Jack Edwards, “Why using social media to share my experience at Durham University changed my life”, in Cuthbert’s Chronicle, number 12, St Cuthbert’s Society, page 11

I have a confession to make: I have a mild obsesssion with StudyTube. One of my guilty pleasures is watching people plan their productive lives in beautiful bullet journals using pens that are more expensive than my jeans, while I procrastinate my own work.

2020 October 29, Angelina Zahajko, “The 6 Zoom Commandments: A How-To Guide to Surviving and Thriving through Midterm Season”, in The Innis Herald, volume VII, number 1, page 5

My friend recommended I check out Eve Bennett’s channel, a studytube staple, when I was in S6.

Zimbabwean-born student Vee Kativhu—part of the academic StudyTube community—has vlogged her way through degrees at Oxford and then Harvard, 300k viewers tuning in weekly to watch her write essays, sit through lectures, and revise in timelapse.

2021, Olivia Yallop, Break the Internet: In Pursuit of Influence, Scribe

She [Eve Bennett] was one of the pioneers of StudyTube and is well-known for her colourful wall of Post-it notes, time-management skills and advocacy of mental health.

Notion how-to videos, setups, and templates are the latest trend in the online productivity subculture known as Studyblr (the studying niche on Tumblr), Studygram (Instagram), Studytube (YouTube), and now Studytok (TikTok), where creators cover notetaking, organization, desk setups, and more.

2021 February 8, Bettina Makalintal, “Why We Can’t Get Enough of Watching Other People Organize Their Lives”, in Vice, archived from the original on 2021-02-08

Juliette Guéron-Gabrielle speaks to YouTuber Ibz Mo about his student experience at Cambridge, StudyTube and online learning in lockdown. […] Did you see YouTube change over the years? God, yes. When I started it, there was no studytube.

2021 February 26, ““Best three years of my life”: Ibz Mo on Cambridge”, in Varsity, number 888, page 15

We’ve seen the growth of studytube and studygram as motivational tools and platforms for students to help one another.

2021 March 30, Lucy Fitzsimmons, “PhD with Laura: Trinity geneticist shares the ins and outs of PhD life online”, in Trinity News, volume 67, number 8, page 23

The unrealistic habits of StudyTube have created counterproductive relationships with audiences to academia.

The paradox of StudyTube is you make a reputation around being a normal and relatable student. The thing is, once you start making money and having an audience, you’re no longer an ordinary student.

2021 October 5, Tom Haynes, quoting Jack Edwards, “What happens to studytubers once they stop studying?”, in i-D, archived from the original on 2021-10-06

Notion has become very popular among the studytube community.

2022 October 10, Sophie Revell, “The Best Productivity Apps for Students”, in Gair Rhydd, number 1183, page 23

StudyTube is weird. I jumped in, expecting Lo-Fi music and aesthetic bullet journaling tips. In horror, I travelled down a rabbit hole of self-help channels that finally led me to Jordan Peterson’s top tips on being a far-right wanker. I won’t lie, I fucking hate self-help, and StudyTube is no exception.

2022 November, Anna-Marieke Lechner-Scott, “Study Partners for Sale”, in Bossy, 8th edition, ANU Women’s Department, page 54

(Internet slang) The community of academic and studying-oriented channels on YouTube.


symbol table

This central repository, called a symbol table, becomes an integral part of the compiler's IR. The symbol table localizes information derived from potentially distant parts of the source code. It makes such information easily and efficiently available, and it simplifies the design and implementation of any code that must refer to information about variables derived earlier in compilation.

2004, Keith D. Cooper, Linda Torczon, Engineering a Compiler, Elsevier, page 239

(computing) A data structure where symbols (identifiers) are associated with information relating to their declaration or appearance in the source code.


classical cipher

en-noun

classical cipher (plural classical ciphers)

(cryptography) A cryptographic algorithm was used historically and are easy to solve by hand or using modern technology.


RLHF

ChatGPT and reinforcement learning with human feedback (RLHF) have revolutionized the AI landscape, providing an accessible and reliable platform for AI-enabled applications.

2023, Mohak Agarwal, Generative AI for Entrepreneurs in a Hurry, Notion Press

w:reinforcement learning from human feedback

(machine learning) Initialism of reinforcement learning from human feedback.


Lenny Face

Of obscure origin; the name Lenny was possibly suggested arbitrarily in a thread on 4chan or Reddit.

unknown

obscure

Khotulev is far from alone in his interest in these characters. There’s a forum on Reddit, for example, dedicated to clarifying the meaning of emoticons and suggesting new ones. Some of the most popular emoticons have taken on meme status, such as “Lenny Face”.

2014 November 26, Chris Baraniuk, “:-o: The surprising power of emoticons”, in BBC Future

The internet has produced many strange fads throughout the years, from cats getting scared of cucumbers to the weirdly unsettling Lenny Face. But none of these memes have anything on the latest internet phenomenon — one that's literally described as a frog riding a unicycle.

2016 May 27, German Lopez, “Dat boi, explained”, in Vox

(Internet) The kaomoji-style emoticon ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) or any of its variations, mostly used to suggest mischief, imply sexual innuendo or a second hidden meaning behind a sentence, or pasted over and over to spam online discussions.


ferrite core

(computing) A magnetic core made of ferrite.


generative artificial intelligence

en-noun

generative artificial intelligence (countable and uncountable, plural generative artificial intelligences)

generative artificial intelligences (plural)

No area has created more excitement than generative artificial intelligence, the term for technology that can generate text, images, sounds and other media in response to short prompts.

2023 January 7, Erin Griffith, Cade Metz, “A New Area of A.I. Booms, Even Amid the Tech Gloom”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

By the end of 2022, generative artificial intelligence had sucked all the hype out of the room.

2023 June 6, Ian Bogost, “The Age of Goggles Has Arrived”, in The Atlantic

artificial intelligence
artificial intelligence

(artificial intelligence) A system that can produce realistic images, sounds, videos, or text in response to user prompts.


synthetic intelligence

synthetic intelligence (countable and uncountable, plural synthetic intelligences)

Man will be able to accelerate the rate of progress in every field when electronic synthetic intelligence is readily available to supplement the intellectual abilities of man's natural brain.

1967, Robert W. Prehoda, Designing the Future: The Role of Technological Forecasting, Chilton

Perhaps Artificial Intelligence should be called “Synthetic Intelligence” to accord better with commercial parlance. Thus artificial diamonds are fake imitations, whereas synthetic diamonds are genuine diamonds, only manufactured instead of dug up (compare also artificial maple flavoring versus, say, synthetic insulin).]

[1985, John Haugeland, Artificial Intelligence: The Very Idea, MIT Press, page 255

artificial intelligence
artificial intelligence#English


ICV

ICV (countable and uncountable, plural ICVs)

(computing) Abbreviation of integrity check value.


complexity function

complexity function (plural complexity functions)

It follows that
x5C;bullet The length function l#x3A;A#x2A;#x5C;longrightarrow#x5C;mathcalN is a complexity function on A#x2A;.

2002, A. V. Borovnik, A. G. Myasnikov, V. Shpilrain, “Measuring Sets in Infinite Groups”, in Robert H. Gilman, Alexei G. Myasnikov, Vladimir Shpilrain, editors, Computational and Statistical Group Theory, American Mathematical Society, page 27

2003, Julien Cassaigne, Constructing Infinite Words of Intermediate Complexity, Masami Ito, Masafumi Toyama (editors), Developments in Language Theory: 6th International Conference, 6th International Conference, DLT 2002, Revised Papers, Springer, LNCS 2450, page 173,
We present two constructions of infinite words with a complexity function that grows faster than any polynomial, but slower than any exponential.

(group theory, computing theory, of a string) A function that counts the number of distinct factors (substrings of consecutive symbols) in a string of symbols;

A function that counts the number of distinct factors (substrings of consecutive symbols) in a string of symbols;
(of a formal language) a function that counts the number of words of a given length.

2003, Roberto Segala, Verification of Randomized Distributed Algorithms, Ed Brinksma, Holger Hermanns, Joost-Pieter Katoen (editors), Lectures on Formal Methods and Performance Analysis, Springer, LNCS 2090, page 253,
Let ϕ be a complexity function.

2011, Richard Neapolitan, Kumarss Naimipour, Foundations of Algorithms, 4th Edition, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, page 31,
A complexity function need not have a quadratic term to be in O(n²). It need only eventually lie beneath some pure quadratic function on a graph. Therefore, any logarithmic or linear complexity function is in O(n²).

2014, R. Panneerselvam, Research Methodology, 2nd Edition, PHI Learning, page 512,
Hence, the worst case time complexity function of Floyd's algorithm is O(n³).

computational complexity
computational complexity

(computing theory, of an algorithm) A function representing the computational complexity an algorithm.


diavlog

Blend of dialogue + vlog, itself a blend of video and blog, itself a blend of web log.

(Internet) A weblog using video of a dialogue between two people as its primary presentation format.


VTubing

While vtubing as a phenomenon has grown sharply in popularity here in the United States within the last couple of months due to Hololive debuting several new vtubers who speak English on stream, it has existed in one way or another for at least a decade, with various vloggers on YouTube or streamers using face animation technology to hide their actual faces.

2020 December 22, Tyler Colp, “The Vtuber Industry: Corporatization, Labor, and Kawaii”, in Vice, archived from the original on 2020-12-22

Their backs coming up against the wall with every day that passed, the girl—who was sticking to her support role—found out about VTubing, which had only just started showing glimmers of the craze it would later become.

2022, Nana Nanato, translated by Alice Prowse, VTuber Legend: How I Went Viral after Forgetting to Turn Off My Stream, volume 3, J-Novel Club, published 2023

Popular in Asia for some years, VTubing has only recently gained traction in the U.S.

2022 September 26, Ann-Marie Alcántara, “They’re Internet Famous But Remain Anonymous”, in The Wall Street Journal

Despite the rapidly changing landscape and new challenges, the appeal of VTubing still shines through.

2022 December 24, Patrick St. Michel, “Pioneer’s departure marked new era for virtual stars”, in The Japan Times

“In the realm of VTubers, there appears to be a concept of a person behind the avatar, but in reality, that doesn’t exist. I am me. I undeniably exist!” Edo Lena said. She highlights the intriguing dynamic of VTubing, where the virtual persona captivates fans while the true identity of the VTuber remains distinct, showcasing how VTubing facilitates a multifaceted expression of self and creativity.

2023 September 20, Benoit Palop, “Virtual Personalities, Real Connections: The Impact of Virtual YouTubers”, in Vice, archived from the original on 2023-09-27

Obskur, an all-in-one broadcasting application, wants to make VTubing more accessible by letting users create 3D models and interactive environments without technical skills.

2023 November 13, Morgan Sung, “Obskur’s Character Creator and marketplace streamlines VTubing”, in TechCrunch, archived from the original on 2023-11-13

(neologism) The act of creating content as a VTuber.


turbo controller

turbo controller (plural turbo controllers)

(video games) A gamepad with an autofire facility.


Twitterism

What’s worse is the whole Twitionary, which encourages people to neologize new Twitterisms, making us all talk like we’re the progeny of Elmer Fudd.

2009, Janelle Randazza, Go Tweet Yourself: 365 Reasons Why Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and Other Social Networking Sites Suck, Adams Media

There are a few weird Twitterisms that are part of the Twitter shorthand.

2011, Michelle Golden, Social Media Strategies for Professionals and Their Firms: The Guide to Establishing Credibility and Accelerating Relationships, Wiley, page 192

The 140-character limit on messages has caused Twitter users to create and modify their own shorthand codes to help users better use the service and communicate with each other. To help get you up to speed, here are a few of the most common “twitterisms.”

2012, Brian J. Dixon, Social Media for School Leaders: A Comprehensive Guide to Getting the Most Out of Facebook, Twitter, and Other Essential Web Tools, Jossey-Bass

To use a Twitterism: facepalm!

2013, Jane Caro, Antony Loewenstein, Rachel Woodlock, Simon Smart, For God’s Sake, Macmillan

There are always newly coined slang terms, fresh idioms, and these days unexpected “twitterisms” to deal with.

2017, Rebecca L. Oxford, Teaching and Researching Language Learning Strategies: Self-Regulation in Context (Applied Linguistics in Action), 2nd edition, New York, N.Y., London: Routledge, page 266

There’s a lot of junk on the internet, but one Twitterism that I find worthwhile is #firstworldproblems.

2018, Lindsay Schlegel, Don’t Forget to Say Thank You and Other Parenting Lessons That Brought Me Closer to God, Ave Maria Press, page 16

Text speak and the rise of twitterisms like this one (In My Honest Opinion) are causing all sorts of difficulties for grammar and spelling purists.

2018, Tamara Bibby, The Creative Self: Psychoanalysis, Teaching and Learning in the Classroom (Foundations and Futures of Education), Routledge


dylib

Compiler flags of particular interest in Mac OS X are related to the peculiarities of building shared code, for example, the compiler flag –dynamiclib, which is used to build Mach-O dylibs.

2005, Brian Jepson, Ernest E. Rothman, Mac OS X Tiger for Unix Geeks, O'Reilly, page 199

(computing, Apple) Short for dynamic library.


unpaywalled

They also have not bothered to read the unpaywalled abstract of this new paper, which says […]

2014, Rud Istvan, Blowing Smoke: Essays on Energy and Climate

The correction is maximal in availability, as it appears unpaywalled online, but minimal in credit, since none of the authors whose works are unreferenced or under-referenced are identified.

2018, M. V. Dougherty, Correcting the Scholarly Record for Research Integrity, page 171

Today, Cornell LII serves over thirty million unique visitors each year as one of the main unpaywalled, comprehensive sources of legal information in the United States.


blorphing

(computing) The smooth transformation of one image into another using digital tweening.


two-factor authentication

(computer security) An identity and access management security method in which users provide two different authentication factors to verify themselves: first the user's password and then a (randomly generated and frequently changing) code generated by an app.


blorph

Blend of blend + morph. (coined by Ken Ralston/Sony Pictures Imageworks)

One way Jeremy approached that was purely procedural — he got in there and digitally grabbed the Brain Bug’s flesh and warped it all over the place. For the actual wriggling mounds of flesh, Jeremy used another shader, created by Doug Epps, called ‘Blorph’.

2013 March 4, “Phil Tippett – Monster Legacy”, in MonsterLegacy.net, archived from the original on 2023-01-30

Meanwhile, Digital Domain crafted its own blorph for the final long shot in Titanic where the camera dives down into the sunken ship and then transitions from the murky deck into a pristine 1912 ship. The studio combined miniatures, motion control footage, live-action plates, and cg elements to make the shot possible.

2016 December 11, Ian Failes, “10 Unforgettable Morphs in Film, TV, and Music Videos”, in Cartoon Brew, archived from the original on 2023-01-07

But anyway, the blorph was, we were in Socorro, we’re up in the satellite area. We come down, we’re on a crane if I remember right, we drop down with Jodie in the frame, we start to follow her on the crane arm. And as it touches down, there’s a Steadicam operator on that crane who steps off and he just keeps going, and he chases her towards the door.

2017 July 10, Aidan Roberts, “The famous mirror shot in ‘Contact’ was almost something else entirely”, in vfxblog.com, archived from the original on 2023-01-27

(computer graphics, animation) A visual effects technique in which an entire setting morphs from one appearance into another (as opposed to the morphing of an object or character within that setting).


blorph

en-verb

blorph (third-person singular simple present blorphs, present participle blorphing, simple past and past participle blorphed)

blorphs (present singular third-person)
blorphing (participle present)
blorphed (participle past)
blorphed (past)

(computer graphics, animation) To transition from one setting to another by morphing the entire image, so that it appears as a smooth transition within a single shot.


interforest

(computing) Between forests (groups of domains).


intraforest

(computing) Within a single forest (group of domains).


parallel computing

Some of the most impressive applications of massively parallel computing have been in the context of wide-area distributed platforms.

2003, Ananth Grama, Vipin Kumar, Anshul Gupta, George Karypis, Introduction to Parallel Computing, 2nd edition, Pearson Education, page 4

A type of computation in which many calculations or processes are carried out simultaneously.


mobik

Borrowed from Russian мо́бик (móbik), from моб(илизо́ванный) (mob(ilizóvannyj), “mobilized”) + -ик (-ik, diminutive suffix).

af

мобилизо́ванный

моб(илизо́ванный)

"The video was posted on and being reposted by pro-Wagner channels, which matches Prigozhin's 'Fire Shojgu' narrative...Also some Wagner patches are visible on it. Nearly all 'poor mobiks' (mobilized men) on the video wear balaclavas," Krutov wrote.

2022 October 6, Isabel van Brugen, “Putin Has 'Lost Control' as Infighting Breaks Out Among Russia's Elite”, in Newsweek

The Defense Ministry has pumped out a stream of videos showing happy "mobiks," as the recruits are known in Russian slang, learning to shoot, attack tanks, tie a tourniquet, plant a land mine and other military tasks.

2022 October 16, Neil MacFarquhar, “'Coffins Are Already Coming': The Toll of Russia's Chaotic Draft”, in The New York Times

(informal, derogatory, Internet, military, sometimes humorous) A Russian conscript during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, especially a young man with little to no fighting experience.


macroinfluencer

From macro- (“large”) + influencer (“influential person on social media”).

Coordinate term: microinfluencer

The events of that year […] were “ultimately accelerations to industrial shifts that had been percolating for some time — long overdue bookends, perhaps, to an era wherein the thin, white, heterosexual, wealthy and apolitical macroinfluencer set the standards,” Hund writes.

2023 February 1, Jessica Grose, “Tired: Organized Fridges. Wired: Shoe Boxes in the Kitchen.”, in The New York Times

(social media) An Internet celebrity with a large following on a social media platform.


cascading style sheet

en-noun

cascading style sheet (plural cascading style sheets)

Conversely, one cascading style sheet can be applied to a potentially infinite number of Web pages, giving Web page authors heretofore unknown ease of application of style across that potentially infinite number of pages.

1998, Peter Belesis, Dynamic HTML Unleashed, 2nd edition, Sams.net Publishing, page 62

His prose is a cascading style sheet of aperçus.

2006 May 20, Toby Litt, “In with IT crowd”, in The Times, archived from the original on 2021-10-21

You will also need to add a cascading style sheet (CSS) by producing the following file in an editor and saving it in the same file as your “hello.xml”: hello {display: block; font-size: 30pt; font-weight: bold;}

2009, J.D. Applen, Rudy McDaniel, The Rhetorical Nature of XML: Constructing Knowledge in Networked Environments, New York, N.Y., London: Routledge, page 47

In addition to cookies, advertisers can use a computer’s IP address to determine a user’s geographic location, can use invisible “web bugs” to monitor activity and can look at an individual’s browser history by using JavaScript or a cascading-style-sheet technique.

2011 November 21, Deborah M. Todd, “Internet tracking: As more advertisers monitor every click of your mouse, should someone monitor the monitoring?”, in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, volume 85, number 113, page A-8

A theme must have at least one cascading style sheet.

2013, Brad Williams, David Damstra, Hal Stern, Professional WordPress® Design and Development, 2nd edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., page 214

(web design) A stylesheet in Cascading Style Sheets format.


TLM

TLM (countable and uncountable, plural TLMs)

transaction-level modeling
w:transaction-level modeling

(computer science) Initialism of transaction-level modeling.


border gore

From border + gore (“murder, bloodshed, violence”), jokingly suggesting that such borders are so gruesome they might cause someone to become physically ill.

com

You started a world war, killing millions, just to fix some of your border gore?

For the most part, you can enjoy a game of Crusader Kings II without ever playing as a merchant republic. Although, it's worth noting that their trade posts can cause quite the border gore when using its specific map mode.

2018 November 27, Jason Rodriguez, “Crusader Kings II: Best And Worst DLC Expansions”, in PCInvasion, archived from the original on 2022-12-04

The Kingdom of France can end up having more Finnish land than French. The Spanish King might decide to conquer just the north of Ireland. An Indian prince may end up ruling Poland. This delightful phenomenon is known 'bordergore' and adds a flavour to the game that many others struggle to replicate.]

[2020 October 11, Robert Macilraith, Joshua Walker, “Tutorial Level: Crusader Kings 2- More Than Just a Colourful Map”, in The Oxford Student, archived from the original on 2022-06-26

The developers add that this new feature "will allow you to ask for things directly without resorting immediately to war, which will remain a last resort when you need to topple a king whose tolerance of border-gore clearly proves their illegitimacy".

2021 September 22, Andy Brown, “Royal Court DLC for 'Crusader Kings 3' will let players formally beg for help”, in NME, archived from the original on 2021-10-22

France, but the shape of a giraffe, with a number of its counties belonging to Wales, with an odd little exclave far up North in Norway? That's border gore.

2022 August 24, Ruth Cassidy, “Crusader Kings 3 update looks to tone-down the 'border gore' of endless conquest”, in PC Gamer, archived from the original on 2022-10-03

I will be blunt dear reader, I was never a fan of the Peace Conference system in Hearts Of Iron IV up until this point; it felt underdeveloped, was prone to border gore, and it was hard to get a decent settlement for your efforts.

2022 November 4, Chris Hall, “Hearts Of Iron IV: By Blood Alone Review: Planes and More!”, in KeenGamer, archived from the original on 2023-01-19

South Georgia could unite with Florida. Eastern Colorado could join Kansas. We might end up with some ugly boundary lines — what map-based video game enthusiasts call "border gore" — but that's a small price to pay for a little more harmony.

2023 January 18, Grayson Quay, “One State Unveils Crazy Plan That Just Might Save America”, in The Daily Caller, archived from the original on 2023-01-23

grand strategy games
grand strategy game#Noun

(grand strategy games, slang) Political borders which appear extremely messy and unaesthetic when viewed on a map, typically due to being extremely jagged or involving many enclaves.


DWARF

A play on the related ELF object file format. The backronym “Debugging With Arbitrary Record Formats” has been suggested.

In debug mode, a compiled binary will include debugging symbols in the DWARF debugging format.

2019, Rahul Sharma, Vesa Kaihlavirta, Mastering Rust, 2nd edition, Packt Publishing Ltd, page 500

(file format) A standardized debugging file format.


ISC

ISC License

Internet Systems Consortium
w:Internet Systems Consortium

(Internet) Initialism of Internet Systems Consortium.


keystring

(computing) Any string of characters that has key (high) importance, such as a keyword or a keyphrase, but not necessarily a word in all senses of that term (as for example a phone number, an alphanumeric or numeric sequence, or string of symbols).


nruling

(video games) In some roguelike games, a type of fictional demon composed of many tiny sparks, each wielding a whip of flame.


BeReal

From be real, intended as a play on words: its primary reference relates to its focus on users uploading unpolished photos, while also being a pun on the term B-reel. The app was developed by Alexis Barreyat, a former employee of GoPro, and Kevin Perreau.

A French programmer and entrepreneur created the social media app BeReal in 2020 to combat what he saw as an increasingly unhealthy and materialistic social media landscape. Seemingly out of nowhere, BeReal has made its way to college campuses.

2022 April 6, Carson Lott, “New social media app asks users to ‘BeReal’”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), archived from the original on 2023-09-30

And it’s been successful, with about 40 million installs of BeReal this year alone, according to data from Apptopia, which tracks and analyzes mobile app performance.

2022 October 13, “On BeReal, is it possible to actually be real?”, in CNN

But on BeReal this is much harder to do as users will be notified how many retakes it took to get the perfect shot. They will also be notified if the photographs are late in being posted.

2022 April 8, “Five Facts to Know About BeReal App”, in Yahoo! Sports

People may have grown tired of BeReal’s authenticity facade. […] BeReal held a mirror – or at least a front-facing camera – up to its users, encouraging reflection on our self-presentations.

2023 May 4, Ysabel Gerrard, “BeReal is now in freefall. Why are new social media apps doomed to fail?”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 2023-05-04

(social media) A French social media app, released in 2020, which prompts users once each day to take photos of whatever they are doing using the front and back cameras of their phones, that received Apple's iPhone App of the Year in 2022.


BeReal

Once a day you get a notification from the app. It tells you that it's time to post your BeReal for the day and you have two minutes to do so. […] Users can also see where their friends are on a map and discover other publicly posted BeReals.

2022 April 16, Wynne Davis, “BeReal is Gen Z's new favorite social media app. Here's how it works”, in NPR

While scrolling through BeReals in the past few weeks, I’ve occasionally felt gripped by loneliness. Seeing others partying, hanging out with friends, or curled up on the couch with their significant others, framed as everyday slices of life, elicited a more intense fear of missing out than I’ve ever felt on Instagram.

2022 May 13, R. E. Hawley, “BeReal and the Fantasy of an Authentic Online Life”, in The New Yorker

BeReal is driven by the desire to be "authentic" online, which is oxymoronic even on the app itself. For example, you can post late BeReals when you actually want to document your current surroundings, and you can retake photos as well.

2022 August 13, Anna Iovine, “Why are BeReal selfies so unflattering?”, in Mashable

This BeReal is going to be epic. Worshippers in the seats around me swipe open the app, hold their phones high, and angle for the perfect two-way shot that will frame their selfies with the famous figure who brought them here tonight: Sadie Robertson Huff—reality star, mega-influencer, and America’s foremost spiritual ambassador for feminine submission.

2022 November 8, Allison Theresa, “Sadie Robertson Huff Preaches Submissive Womanhood. Her Message Is Uncomfortably Compelling.”, in Cosmopolitan

What happens to your BeReal after you post it?
All of your BeReals are archived for you to see. One of the best features of BeReal is being able to see a collection of your daily posts.

2024 January 26, Sabrina Ortiz, “What is BeReal? Everything to know about this unfiltered social media app”, in ZDNet Business, archived from the original on 2024-01-26

(social media, Internet, neologism) A post published on the French social media app BeReal, consisting of photos from both the front and back cameras of a user's phone, providing a visual depiction of what they are doing in that moment.


QBE

(databases) Initialism of Query by Example.


metasite

(Internet) A website consisting of hyperlinks to, or commentary on, other websites.


nilable

(computing) Able to be set to nil, or no value.


fluffle

Added to the Wikipedia article Rabbit on 30 July 2007.

Overhead, the late-day sky wore a ruby blush and puffy clouds scurried east like a fluffle of pink rabbits.

2017, D. Wallace Peach, Kari's Reckoning

the camera follows Tate leaping into the arms of Steve McQueen, then floating through a fluffle of bunnies before joining a gyrating throng of revelers on the grotto pool deck

2021, Scott R. Burson, All about the Bass

(informal, collective) A group of rabbits.


fluffle

en-verb

fluffle (third-person singular simple present fluffles, present participle fluffling, simple past and past participle fluffled)

fluffles (present singular third-person)
fluffling (participle present)
fluffled (participle past)
fluffled (past)

Graham fluffled his fur and gave Baggly a weak smile.

2013, Tony Beck, The Quest of Millie Blackbeard, page 69


system unit

(computing) The main unit of a desktop computer, consisting of the chassis and hardware.


Voice over NR

Short for Voice over New Radio, from 5G New Radio, fifth-generation radio access technology. Compare VoIP, from Voice over Internet Protocol.

Though voice services will be made available initially via Voice over LTE (VoLTE) service on 4G network, eventually voice services in 5G, referred to as Voice over NR (VoNR), is expected to be next revenue stream for the operator.

2019, Kashmira Kapoor, Dandra Prasad Basavaraj, Shrinath Ramamoorthy, Tushar Vrind, “Novel method for increased power conservation in voice over nr (vonr) devices”, in EAI Endorsed Transactions on Cloud Systems, volume 5, page e7

Voice over NR is voice over IP incorporating the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) infrastructure previously introduced in LTE.

2021 July 14, “Why voice over 5G relies heavily on LTE”, in 5G Technology World

Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and Voice over NR (VoNR), are two similar technologies that have been widely deployed by operators to provide a better calling experience in LTE and 5G networks, respectively.

2023 January 6, Zishuai Cheng, Mihai Ordean, Flavio D. Garcia, Baojiang Cui, Dominik Rys, “Watching your call: Breaking VoLTE Privacy in LTE/5G Networks”, in arXiv

(Internet, mobile telephony) A 5G high-speed wireless communication standard for mobile phones and data terminals, including Internet of things (IoT) devices and wearables.


Gettr

Blend of get + together, coined by company founder Jason Miller in 2021.

A writer for Salon posted screenshots on Twitter of several GETTR profiles, including those of former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and Miller himself, that were altered to read “JubaBaghdad was here, follow me in twitter :), ^^ free palestine ^^.”

2021 July 5, Aaron Reich, “Trump-affiliated Twitter rival ‘GETTR’ hacked on launch day”, in The Jerusalem Post, online edition

Twitter look-alike app Gettr bills itself as a platform which is “defending free speech” & has become a safe space for divisive personalities & those spreading conspiracies about COVID-19 & President Joe Biden’s family.

2022 May 15, Echo Hui, Ariel Bogle, “Inside the secret chat rooms censoring critics on a pro-Trump ‘free speech’ social media app”, in ABC Premium News (wire feed), Sydney

Gettr has proven to be popular in Brazil, and the platform may have played a role in the lead-up to a recent attack on Brazil’s Congress by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who has an account on the platform.

2023 February 1, “Key facts about Gettr”, in Pew Research Center

An exiled Chinese tycoon indicted in New York earlier this month in a billion-dollar fraud case controls the conservative social media platform Gettr and used it to promote cryptocurrencies and propaganda, former employees have told The Washington Post.

2023 March 26, Joseph Menn, “Indicted Chinese exile controls Gettr, ex-employees say”, in The Washington Post, page A3

(Internet, social media, politics, neologism) An alt-tech social media platform and microblogging site targeting American conservatives.


Wrath Month

Originated as a Twitter meme in 2018, as a play on pride and wrath as two of the seven deadly sins.

Now that you know it exists, you might be wondering how to celebrate. Lucky for you, we’ve assembled a handy list of activities for Wrath Month newcomers to dig into, so you can celebrate and frighten as many Trump supporters as possible.

2018 July 5, John Paul Brammer, “After Pride Comes Wrath Month — Here's How to Celebrate”, in Them

July 1 marks the beginning of the lesser-known but increasingly-relevant Wrath Month. In the face of so much hate, queer folks are fighting back on their own terms.

2022 July 3, Erin Rook, “This Week on LGBTQ Twitter: Prepare for Queer Wrath Month”, in LGBTQ Nation

(Internet, social media, neologism) The month after Pride Month; an occasion to call attention to LGBT issues.


e-postcard

(Internet) A computerized postcard, sent by electronic means; an e-card.


parallelizer

(programming) A process or algorithm that parallelizes code.


baksmal

baksmal (third-person singular simple present baksmals, present participle baksmaling, simple past and past participle baksmaled)

baksmals (present singular third-person)
baksmaling (participle present)
baksmaled (participle past)
baksmaled (past)

(computer science) Converting a Dalvik executable file (.dex file) to smali language (a human-readable representation of the binary Dalvik bytecode)


AUR

Arch User Repository
w:Arch User Repository

(computing) Initialism of Arch User Repository.


Fleabag era

Coined with reference to Fleabag, a British dark comedy television series centering on an angry, impulsive anti-heroine, in combination with the TikTok trend of referring to a life phase as an era (compare flop era).

Coming out of my own ‘Fleabag era’ was the best thing I’ve done for my mental health.

2022 January 25, Saskia Kirkegaard, “Why Being In Your 'Fleabag Era' Isn't A Flex: The Romanticisation Of Women's Suffering On TikTok”, in That's What She Said

A cheekily named “era” undercuts whatever hardship gives it shape: Why say you’re overwhelmed by grief, money troubles or loneliness (sad, embarrassing) when you could be in your “Fleabag era” (chic, cool)?

2022 August 22, Jessica M. Goldstein, “Down and out and extremely online? No problem: Just enter a new ‘era.’”, in The Washington Post

I will no longer be in my Fleabag era, and I refuse to be a woman deranged. I will love this world. I implore you to do the same.

2023 February 6, Menal Siddiqui, “The End of My Fleabag Era”, in Unpublished Zine

(Internet slang) A period in a woman's life characterized by cynicism, despondency, and self-destructive behaviour.


dead internet theory

Obviously, the internet is not a government psyop, even though the Department of Defense had a role in its invention. But if it were, the most compelling evidence to me is the dead-internet theory's observation that the same news items about unusual moon-related events seem to repeat year after year.

2021 August 31, Kaitlyn Tiffany, “Maybe You Missed It, but the Internet 'Died' Five Years Ago”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 2023-02-13

The Dead Internet theory never said that humans do not have accounts. It made an entirely different point: that most accounts are bot accounts.

2022, David Sinclair, The Church of the Serpent: The Philosophy of the Snake and Attaining Transcendent Knowledge, Morrisville, N.C.: Lulu.com

He told me about the dead internet theory, and about how some German hackers in 2016 found out that only 3% of humans get 90% of all internet traffic.

2022, Thorsten J. Pattberg, The Menticide Manual: How To Destroy The Mind, New York, N.Y.: LoD Press, page 37

And not only does Dead Internet Theory suggest that the internet is slowly being controlled by bots, but also that it learns your habits and thoughts, tailoring an echo chamber for you. It could even include reactionary bots to craft a digital world of opposing opinions.

2022 September 24, Isaiah McCall, “"The Dead Internet Theory" is New and Spreading Everywhere”, in Medium, archived from the original on 2022-12-23

A conspiracy theory claiming that the vast majority of content that people interact with on the Internet has been produced by bots rather than actual humans.


Soulsborne

Blend of souls + bloodborne, after the Dark Souls trilogy and Bloodborne.

As the director of each of the Soulsborne games, Miyazaki is a strong influence on all aspects of the final product, including visual design, gameplay, and narrative content.

2019, “Introduction”, in Matthew Wilhelm Kapell, editor, Narrative Design and Authorship in Bloodborne: An Analysis of the Horror Videogame, page 4

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was created by FromSoftware, the developers behind the Soulsborne titles.

2020, James Palmer, "Why did UK games sales drop in 2019?", The Boar (University of Warwick), 13 February 2022, page 32

Sure, “Death's Door” does little to hide its love for both the Zelda and Soulsborne franchises, cramming in dense lore to creepy dungeons filled with puzzles and enemies galore, but it manages to take the best part of these series and form something wholly unique.

2021 July 29, M. Deitz, “Fighting against your death in 'Death's Door'”, in The Michigan Daily, University of Michigan, page 9

(fandom slang, video games) A loose series of dark fantasy action role-playing video games developed by FromSoftware, generally held as including Demon's Souls (2009), the Dark Souls trilogy (2011-2016), Bloodborne (2015), and Elden Ring (2022).


Soulsborne

en-noun

Soulsborne (countable and uncountable, plural Soulsbornes)

Because FromSoftware's Demon's Souls is the granddaddy of the soulsborne genre, and one of the PlayStation 3's overlooked classics.

2020 October, “Have Your Say: Demon's Soul”, in PlayStation Official Magazine, page 27

“Blasphemous” is a masterfully crafted game that would entice hardcore fans of Soulsborne and Metroidvania games.

2022, Gabrielle Cabello Torres, "From The International: Video Games From Different Cultures", Mace & Crown (Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA), Spring 2022, page 36

The Soulsborne formula has been imitated countless times but mastered by few apart from FromSoftware, the original pioneers.

2022 December 29, Cameron Rasmusson, “Elden Ring recaptures magic of video game discovery”, in Reader, page 17

(fandom slang, video games, uncountable) A video game subgenre influenced by this series, characterized by high difficulty, trial-and-error progression, esoteric enemy movesets, environmental storytelling, and complex lore.

Do you have room for another Soulsborne in your life?

2018, "Team Ninja's Nioh 2 is back for more", PlayStation Official Magazine (UK), August 2018, page 11 (image caption)

Diagrammatics allows us to properly think about how something like a “soulsborne” can be created: It is a set of mechanics, modes of storytelling, and player expectations that branch out and proliferate from the original object.

2020, Cameron Kunzelman, "How we deal with dark souls: The aesthetic category as a method", in Hybrid Play: Crossing Boundaries in Game Design, Players Identities and Play Spaces (eds. Adriana de Souza e Silva & Ragan Glover-Rijkse), unnumbered page

Lee confirms it offers the challenge of a soulsborne but with a greater level of flexibility in how you approach that challenge.

2020 December, “Godfall”, in PlayStation Official Magazine, UK, page 56

(fandom slang, video games, countable) An individual game of this genre.


farm sim

A PlayStation update of the SNES and Game Boy cult smash, this is essentially a farm sim in which you have to milk cows, herd sheep, feed chickens and pull up oodles of home-grown veggies.

2000, "Orient Express", Official PlayStation Magazine (Australia), August/September 2000, page 16

The Playstation 2 is quickly becoming a harbor for sequels to nearly every genre that you can come up with—even super-odd, farm sims that only people like ECM and Shidoshi can love.

2001, Haohmaru, "Harvest Moon 3", GameGo! Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 2 (2001), page 21

Jenga is by all means a greater tragedy, but in a way, Jenga would never have happened if literally every other possible thing weren't already a game. And farm sims certainly had a role in that.

2008, Seanbaby, "Nintendo's Party of Pain", Electronic Gaming Monthly, July 2008, page 93


raising sim

Thankfully, it was fan-translated in 2001, and should be familiar enough even for those who've never dabbled in raising sims.

2011 June, “Wonder Project J”, in Retro Gamer, number 91, page 59

The long-running Princess Maker series is a good example of a raising sim, requiring the character to raise a daughter to become a princess.

2021, Matt Barnes, Dazz Brown, Greg S-C, Region Locked: The Key To Gaming's Buried Treasure, page 208

Those who play these Raising sims are responsible for characters’ clothing, as well as their battle training.

2021, Selen Çalık Bedir, “Combinatory Play and Infinite Replay: Underdefined Causality in the Neon Genesis Evangelion Anime Series and Games”, in Jose Andres Santiago Iglesias, Soler Baena, editors, Anime Studies: Media-Specific Approaches to Neon Genesis Evangelion, page 316

non-player character
non-player character

(video games) A life simulation game in which the player acts as the custodian of a subordinate non-player character (typically a child, student, pet, etc.) and manages and develops this character's stats with the goal of achieving a specific outcome.


city-building game

city-building game (plural city-building games)

(video games) A genre of simulation game in which the player builds and manages a city.


town-building game

town-building game (plural town-building games)

city-building game
city-building game#English

(video games) Synonym of city-building game.


life sim

Although there are other life sims such as Theme Park, Sim City and so on, they've all had a gameplay objective, a purpose for playing.

2003 November, “The Usual Suspects”, in Cube, UK, page 35

In fact, as far as full-fledged life sims go, The Sims has pretty much been it for most gamers.

2005, Sean Carton, 2005 Gamer's Almanac, page 282

Kynseed: The most Fable-y of the games on this list, Kynseed is a life sim currently in early access, from ex-Fable devs PixelCount Studios.

2019 November 21, Jack Yarwood, “Leaving Albion: The epic making of Fable”, in Wireframe, page 25

(video games) Synonym of life simulation.


life simulation

life simulation (plural life simulations)

Activision's Autumn titles were up and running, and some Winter games were previewed, including Alter Ego, a "life simulation" game, and Fast Tracks, a slot car racing program.

1985 November, Chris Jenkins, “PCW Show: promises, promises!”, in Commodore Horizons, page 10

Life simulations and dating games also influenced Yasuhiro Wada, the designer of the gentile farming sim series Harvest Moon, which first appeared in 1996 on the Super NES.

2010, Tristan Donovan, Replay: The History of Video Games, page 157

While the mechanics changed very little in the DS version, Nintendo's snarky little life-simulation title [Animal Crossing] found its perfect ally.

2010, “Animal Crossing: Wild World”, in 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die, page 610

(video games) A subgenre of simulation game that replicates real-world systems or experiences (such as businesses, communities, ecosystems, or social relationships).


city sim

Caesar II stands a step above common city sims by adding the war element to game play.

1996, "Et tu, Build Rome!", InterAction, Spring 1996, page 32

Most modern city sims content themselves with jazzing up some core element, offering a simpler, more accessible experience, or transplanting the production to an unconventional setting.

2006 September, “City Life”, in Computer Gaming World, page 98

This is exactly the kind of playfulness I expect from Tropico—it may be a city sim, but it’s never been about building by the book.

2010 September, Evan Lahti, “Totalitariani-sim”, in PC Gamer, page 84


farming sim

Down on the farm... Clear your land, till the soil, plant some seeds – there aren't many farming sims out there, but Harvest Moon proves that they should be more popular than Lara.

1999 December, “Arcade's Top 10 Game Boy games”, in Arcade, page 119

While many millions of people are wasting away their life on social game Farmville, many of us have been there, done that with the master of the farming sim, Harvest Moon.

2010, "The Cheat Mistress, The Games of the Decade, unnumbered page

Created by Eric 'ConcernedApe' Barone, Stardew Valley is an inspiration to indie developers everywhere. Not only did Barone create his much-loved farming sim entirely by himself, but the game's also gone on to become a storming success, with over ten million copies sold to date.

2020 February, “Interactive: Spirittea”, in Wireframe, page 25

(video games) A simulation game which centers on running a farm and/or raising crops and livestock.


tile-matching game

tile-matching game (plural tile-matching games)

(video games) A type of puzzle game in which tiles arranged in columns and rows are shifted or eliminated by the player in order to align a set number (usually three or four) of the same type.


match-three game

match-four game (plural match-three games)

match-four game (canonical)
match-three games (plural)

A match-three game built into a very basic RPG framework, Infinite Interactive's title was a sleeper hit, sucking people in before they'd realized they were even in danger.

2010, “Puzzle Quest”, in 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die, page 741

This enjoyable match-three game features warriors with different special moves to help you clear a path on each grid.

2015, “Quick Hits”, in Android Magazine, number 55, UK, page 85

This great match-three game offers dozens of modes and hundreds of levels, so I'm sure it will keep me busy for quite some time.

2016, "Around The IPhone Life Office", iPhone Life, Spring 2016, page 12

(video games) A tile-matching game in which sets of three must be matched.


city-builder

Impressions Games' line of historic city-builders like CAESAR and PHARAOH have long appealed to hardcore gamers.

2000 August, Robert Coffey, “Where All All the Strat Games?”, in Computer Gaming World, page 131

The Tropico series takes the best elements of strategic titles, city builders and manager games and thrusts players into a beautiful tropical paradise where you’ll work to improve the quality of life for your citizens.

2009 September, Mike Griffin, “Tropico 3”, in Play, page 76

Cities: Skyline excels and delivers the new gold standard of modern city-builders.

2015 May, Brian Shea, “Cities: Skylines”, in Game Informer, page 92


brick-buster

Love them or hate them. Breakout clones are released on the market with extraordinary regularity and just when you think the theme has been exploited to the limits, somebody releases the ultimate brick-buster!

1988 August, “Action Packed”, in ST Action, page 2

Lots of levels and cool power-ups make it last longer than most brick-busters.

2009, “iPod Click Wheel Games”, in iPod + iPhone Buyers' Guide' 2009, page 102

The Power Glove is indeed bad in the literal sense of the word, but not when used for Super Glove Ball, which put a new slant on such brick-busters as Breakout and Arkanoid.

2016, Pat Contri, Ultimate Guide to the NES Library 1985-1995, page 313


dating sim

Unlike typical Western games, the goal in Japanese dating sims is to attain true love rather than defeat level bosses.

2004 September, “Dating Lessons With Anime Play?”, in CPU: Computer Power User, page 9

Tokimeki Memorial was hugely influential not just in kickstarting the entire dating sim genre in Japan but also in the way its gameplay influenced the love mechanics I've already described in Persona 4 and Dragon Age: Origins.

2015, Nicholas Ware, “Interative romance and button-mashing sex: Gameplay design and video games' Nice Guy Syndrome”, in Evan W. Lauteria, Matthew Wysocki, editors, Rated M for Mature: Sex and Sexuality in Video Games, page 234

Short had enjoyed playing dating sims in grad school, but grew frustrated by their focus on the desires of cishet men. "I was like, 'Ah, I gotta make a game where you can date whoever you want, because this is ridiculous'," she recalls.

2021 December, Edwin Evans-Thirwell, “Kitfox Games”, in Edge, page 93

(video games) A social simulation game centered on building and maintaining a romantic relationship with one or more NPCs.


match-four game

match-four game (plural match-four games)

Like many match-four games of its ilk, Game of Drones offers plenty of opportunities to generate Bucks (the game's currency), which can be spent to purchase more lives, as well as items that help with particularly tricky puzzles.

2018, Eddy Webb, “Buy Gems to Woo Your Lover: Free-to-Play Narratives”, in Toiya Kristen Finely, editor, Narrative Tactics for Mobile and Social Games: Pocket-Sized Storytelling, page 238

He looks up from the recliner, where he's idly playing a match-four game on his phone. "What?"

2021, Ramsey Hootman, Cyril in the Flesh, unnumbered page

I puttered around on the computer for a while, mostly playing match-four games instead of actually doing anything that resembled work.

2021, Molly Fitz, Pet Whisperer P.I., unnumbered page

(video games) A tile-matching game in which sets of four must be matched.


grand strategy game

grand strategy game (plural grand strategy games)

[…] and World Empire, a Risk-style computer grand-strategy game published in 1991.

2013, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Greig de Peuter, Games of Empire Global Capitalism and Video Games, unnumbered page

As [Marc James] Carpenter (2021) prompts us to consider of one popular grand strategy game, “will a seasoned Europa Universalis player who succeeds at the enormous challenge of pushing back colonial invaders playing as the Cherokee gain an appreciation of Cherokee sovereignty, or an arrogant assumption that colonial conquest could have been avoided with superior strategy?"

2021, Kristine Levan, Steven Downing, Crime, Punishment, and Video Games, page 91

Crusader Kings II is a grand strategy game set in medieval Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

2022, Jere Kyyrö, “Particularizing the universal: Medievalist constructions of cultural and religious difference in Crusader Kings II”, in Reima Välimäki, editor, Medievalism in Finland and Russia: Twentieth- and Twenty-First Century Aspects, page 138

A type of advanced strategy wargame in which players must devise their own grand strategy by controlling a territory's military movements and using its resources. The genre, which includes both tabletop games and video games, differs from the similar 4X genre in imposing asymmetric starting conditions (i.e., some territories begin with a stronger military or more resources).


tactical role-playing game

tactical role-playing game (plural tactical role-playing games)

(video games) A genre of role-playing game that features a combat system (either turn-based or real-time) similar to that of a tactical wargame.


management sim

These touches take WCBM into a different league to your average, run of the mill, ho-hum everyday kind of management sim.

1990 June, “World Championship Boxing Manager”, in Amstrad Action, page 54

Guide your chosen team through not just one season, but a decade of play, making all the selection and transfer decisions in the manner of a simplified management sim.

1999 January, Chas Davies, “NBA Live 99”, in Arcade, page 122

Introversion has officially updated Prison Architect to the hallowed version 1.0, and the result is one of the most distinctive and fascinating management sims since Theme Hospital.

2016 January, Rick Lane, “Prison Architect”, in Custom PC, page 80

(video games) A simulation game focusing on the management of a business, institution, sports team, etc.


tactics RPG

For example, Tales Of Eternia is action-based and has a single-plane 2D battle system, while PoPoLoCrois is more of a tactics RPG, requiring you to move your team around a grid during battle.

2004, Anthony Enticknap, “PoPoLoCrois”, in GoPlay, number 3, page 74

Perhaps Nippon Ichi's most enjoyable tactics RPG to date. Great fun.

2005, Nick Powell, “Makai Kingdom: Chronicle of the Sacred Tome”, in Play, number 135, UK, page 74

Alas, the story is secondary to the system, and in a tactics RPG, the system is everything.

2008 June, Heather Campbell, “Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift”, in Play Magazine, page 68

tactical role-playing game
tactical role-playing game#English

(video games) Synonym of tactical role-playing game.


tactical RPG

As far as tactical RPGs go, Vandal Hearts is one of the best.

2000 January, “Vandal Hearts II”, in Electronic Gaming Monthly, page 234

The PSP is a treasure-trove of tactical RPGs, with stuff like Disgaea, Tactics Ogre and Growlanser, but for many FFT is the pinnacle of the genre.

2013 May, Sam Smith, “Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions”, in Play, page 95

Still, Valkyria Chronicles remains one of the best tactical RPGs of the 2000s, with a fresh take on the genre, an involving story and gorgeous visuals.

2022, Felipe Pepe, editor, The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games, Expanded Edition, page 405


utsuge

Borrowed from Japanese 鬱ゲー (utsuge, “depressing game”), a combination of 鬱 (utsu, “melancholy, gloom”) and ゲー (gē), a shortening of ゲーム (gēmu, “game”), itself from English game.

bor

Utsuge, on the other hand, stands for pretty much the opposite of nakige, aiming to be as depressing an experience as possible.

2019, Robert Ciesla, Game Development with Ren'Py: Introduction to Visual Novel Games Using Ren'Py, TyranoBuilder, and Twine, page 90

The related genre “utsuge” (“depressing game”), unlike “nakige”, does not typically achieve a happy ending.

2019, Ema Bícová, "Visual Novel and Its Translation", thesis submitted to Palacký University Olomouc, pages 12-13

Nitroplus, the company behind Saya no uta, specializes in utsuge containing body horror, gore, rape, and depression—in short, as scholar Clarisse Thorn puts it, games that are “not ‘fun’ in the way most people think about ‘fun,’ that’s for sure.”

2020, Ana Matilde Sousa, "She's Not Your Waifu; She's an Eldritch Abomination: Saya no uta and Queer Antisociality in Japanese Visual Novels", Mechademia, Volume 13, Number 1, Fall 2020

A Japanese visual novel genre characterized by tragic plots and pervasively bleak tones.


tycoon game

Since its 1999 debut, Rollercoaster Tycoon has become one of the most successful and influential computer games of the past decade, selling millions of copies and inspiring every third-rate game designer to cash in on its success with their own tycoon game.

2002 November, Jeff Green, “RollerCoaster Tycoon 2”, in Computer Gaming World, page 55

At its core, Casino Inc. is an average little tycoon game where you buy gear, place it around an empty interior, hire staff, and watch the money roll in.

2003 July, John Fletcher, “Casino Inc.”, in Computer Gaming World, page 89

Recettear is a tycoon game about managing an adventurer's shop.

2011 March, Randy Smith, “Hi, Im Randy”, in Edge Gaming, page 152

(video games) Synonym of management sim.


nakige

Borrowed from Japanese 泣きゲー (nakige, “crying game”), a combination of なき (naki, “crying”) and ゲー (gē), a shortening of ゲーム (gēmu, “game”), itself from English game.

Nakige are known for their sense of melancholy. Take 2001's Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (The Eternity You Desire), for example, which was released by eroge label âge, a division of ACID. Soon after high school student Takayuki Narumi falls for his classmate Haruka Suzumiya, she goes into a coma after a car accident. Depressed and shocked, Takayuki develops post-traumatic stress disorder and becomes involved with Haruka's best friend, Mitsuki. "To put it simply, a nakige brings players to tears as they read the in-game text," says [ACID CEO Hirohiko] Yoshida.

2010, Brian Ashcroft, Shoko Ueda, Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential: How Teenage Girls Made a Nation Cool, page 154

The medium is dominated by nakige, the crying genre, much like how superheroes dominate comics and sitcoms television.

2011 November 10, Alex Mui, “Visual Novels: Unrecognized Narrative Art”, in The Johns Hopkins News-Letter, Johns Hopkins University, page B5

A Japanese visual novel of a genre characterized by melodramatic plots intended to move the player to tears.


nukige

Borrowed from Japanese 抜(ぬ)きゲー (nukigē), a combination of 抜(ぬ)く (nuku, “to jerk off”, literally “to extract”) and ゲー (gē), a shortening of ゲーム (gēmu, “game”), itself from English game.

ja-r

Eroge is a hugely popular genre of visual novel both from established producers and fan circles, and can be further divided into smaller categories such as nukige (抜きゲ) or ‘jack-off game’, referring to a game that is intended to provide easy access to sex scenes or other erotic material to facilitate masturbation.

2016, Matthew R. Bird, "Eustia of the Tarnished Wings: The Visual Novel in Translation", thesis submitted to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, page 17

As well as the effect of loosening content restrictions, the key point here is that Japanese videogame regulation is fractured by platform multiplicity. Small publishers producing games such as dating sims, visual novels, and ‘nukige’ (masturbation games) cohere to self-regulate, and more serious sexual content is confined to the PC market, dominated by adult consumers.

2019, Catherine Driscoll & Liam Grealy, "In the name of the nation: Media classification, globalisation, and exceptionalism", International Journal of Cultural Studies, Volume 22, Issue 3, May 2009 (link)

Unlike nukige, visual novels that focus primarily on sexual interactions between characters, the focus of eroge is on the story, including more romantic or emotional relationships.

2022, William Schrage, "Hiding Hobbies and Saving Social Lives: About the Representation of Otaku Struggles in Ore no imōto ga konnani kawaii wake ga nai", Mechademia, Volume 14, Number 2, Spring 2022

(video games) A Japanese visual novel genre featuring sexually explicit content for the sole purpose of masturbation or sexual gratification.


back-seat moderator

en-noun

back-seat moderator (plural back-seat moderators)

Formed by analogy with back-seat driver.

(Internet) A user who is not a moderator but zealously identifies and polices rule-breaking by others.