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View Full Version : Department of Redundancy Department


JeffMeunier
May 21st, 2007, 07:58 AM
Speaking of mis-use of adjectives, etc, some woman on CNN was just talking about the "deadly killing" yesterday.


Terry Yager's message (above) from a different thread got me thinking. Members of the field of computing and technology are often responsible for creating terms which end up being misused, although it's plain to see that we are not alone in this regard.

In addition to "deadly killing" (LOL), these are some often-misused terms I have collected:


built on NT technology (NT means "new technology", although Microsoft now denies this)
NTFS file system (FS means "file system", does Microsoft deny this as well?)
PIN number (PIN means "personal identification number")
LCD display (LCD means "liquid crystal display")
free gift (gift means something that is given freely)


What other terms can you think of? Remember, these are terms that sport some kind of redundancy, not oxymorons like "military intelligence". And let's try not to digress into other abuses of language, like the use of the word "architect" as a verb.

nige the hippy
May 21st, 2007, 12:23 PM
I thought that the "new technology" explaination of the "NT" acronym, was microsoft's way of re-writing history & distancing themselves from what (I think) was the original meaning of "NT" which stood for "Northern Telecom"

So what "based on NT technology" really means is "We didn't write this one, so it should work" ;)

mbbrutman
May 21st, 2007, 12:27 PM
IBMers looked at NT and said 'Nice Try'.

MS gets the last laugh ... where is OS/2 now.

atari2600a
May 21st, 2007, 12:40 PM
I actually always assumed that NT meant "Network Terminal"! Makes sence to me...

carlsson
May 21st, 2007, 03:12 PM
I don't know if you say "CD disc" in English, but we commonly use the corresponding term in Swedish. That adds another dimension: acronyms and abbreviations you borrowed from another language. If you add one word to those, will it still be redudant? At the moment, I can't come up with an example of an IT related acronoym that does not derive from English. Maybe something with robot.

Vlad
May 21st, 2007, 03:44 PM
I actually always assumed that NT meant "Network Terminal"! Makes sence to me...


The letters NT in Windows NT were once expanded to "New Technology" for marketing reasons, but no longer hold any meaning. So NT doesn't mean anything but those two letters.

ahm
May 21st, 2007, 04:46 PM
Don't forget "NIC card".

carlsson
May 23rd, 2007, 04:21 AM
RAM memory, SIMM module.. are those too obvious to mention?