Things you should know by now, but only just discovered

PaladinTom wrote:

Is the slang “borked” based on a mis-spelling of “broke” or “broken?” (I always assumed it was a polite way of saying “f*cked.” See also, “Jacked Up.”)

If it is, I only just realized today when I typed that something was “borken.”

There's a theory that it's related to Robert Bork's failed nomination for the Supreme Court. Apparently it was fashionable in the late '80s to describe things politically as being "borked". But the first use of "borked" or "borken" in the context of something being non-functional comes from the early 2000's when ironic misspellings and early meme culture were really in full swing, so I think it's far more likely that the two versions of "borked" are unrelated and that "borked" as in broken just comes from a lulz misspelling.

I do remember the verb “bork” used in a political context in the 90’s. Can’t remember it in a technical context until much more recently. It might be fun to check the USENET archives, however...

Huh, I could never have imagined that it was not based on Judge Bork’s failed SCOTUS nomination, especially with how the phrase came into prominence in the late 80s and 90s. Wikipedia supports that.

According to columnist William Safire, the first published use of bork as a verb was possibly in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution of August 20, 1987, two months prior to the final vote: "Let's just hope something enduring results for the justice-to-be, like a new verb: Borked."[42] Perhaps the best-known use of the verb to bork occurred in July 1991 at a conference of the National Organization for Women in New York City. Feminist Florynce Kennedy addressed the conference on the importance of defeating the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying, "We're going to bork him. We're going to kill him politically...”

Considering the state of www then—terrible webpages and no social media—it being a product of meme culture seems unlikely.

It's two separate words, I think.

"Borked" was absolutely used in a political context in the late '80s and early '90s, but it seems to have dropped off. The first use of "borked" to mean broken technology is from 2002.

To be clear: I'm not saying that borked didn't exist before meme culture. I'm saying that the two words developed independently and are coincidentally related.

To me, “bork” has always sounded like a synonym for fornication. I’d been assuming that it was some evolution of the term “boink”.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

It's two separate words, I think.

"Borked" was absolutely used in a political context in the late '80s and early '90s, but it seems to have dropped off. The first use of "borked" to mean broken technology is from 2002.

Which makes sense - that's around when home PCs and home internet became ubiquitous. Which meant a lot of non-technical people started filing bug reports / complaining on forums with limited typing skills.

Never noticed the drop off. If so, then in that case, it seems then that the underlying educated class usage bled into internet culture, just as the almost insignificant number of humans who survived the last ice age exploded into our 9 billion today.

Relevant Muppet?

I thought it was from the Swedish Chef as well...

Mountain goats are not goats and King cobras are not cobras.

Wtf

Chairman_Mao wrote:

Mountain goats are not goats and King cobras are not cobras.

Wtf

They're mountains and kings, respectively, right? That's literally the only other option there.

merphle wrote:
Chairman_Mao wrote:

Mountain goats are not goats and King cobras are not cobras.

Wtf

They're mountains and kings, respectively, right? That's literally the only other option there.

If so, this puts dwarvish culture in an entirely different light.

Mountain Goats are a band.

Jonman wrote:
merphle wrote:
Chairman_Mao wrote:

Mountain goats are not goats and King cobras are not cobras.

Wtf

They're mountains and kings, respectively, right? That's literally the only other option there.

If so, this puts dwarvish culture in an entirely different light.

So what do we call goats that live on mountains?

strangederby wrote:

So what do we call goats that live on mountains?

Rams

strangederby wrote:

So what do we call goats that live on mountains?

Their name

Tanglebones wrote:
strangederby wrote:

So what do we call goats that live on mountains?

Their name

I’ve named them all Bob. Just call them Bob.

King Cobras are Mambo Mambas, and Mountain Goats are Cliff Cows.

Cows are prairie goats

Prairies are goat cows.

Prairie dogs are desert Guinea pigs.

Cows are milky land sea horses.

hbi2k wrote:

Cows are milky land sea horses.

I thought that cows were land manatees.

I believe the term you are looking is "Landgongs", sir.

All milk is breast milk.

Even almond milk?

maverickz wrote:

All milk is breast milk.

I didn't know that almonds, coconuts, and soybeans had breasts.

IMAGE(https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,h_1123,w_2000,x_0,y_111/v1554921495/shape/mentalfloss/550096-youtube_0.jpg?itok=ISWUTWlz)

Those aren’t real milk. They are seed water.

LeapingGnome wrote:

Those aren’t real milk. They are seed water.

He said it, not me.

I just agreed with it very loudly.