February 01, 2001

So, I was looking up the word Ken for my previous entry, just to make sure it meant what I thought it meant (it did), and I happened across a definition I'd never seen before. A "ken" is someone who flames people a lot on an NNTP, IRC, or other text-based message systems. And before I could ask where that incredibly obscure definition came from, I found a hyperlink, right there, waiting to explain my question.

It came from you people. You wacky, hacky, sci-fi, computer-bound types who make up your own language. Apparently some of you a long time ago on a certain system were plagued by a couple of incessant flamers, both of whom happened to be named "Ken." Wow.

So I followed the link, and found The New Hacker's Dictionary. There was some GREAT stuff in there, including some explanations of stuff I do all the time, like making up words out of the rules behind other words (e.g. if 'generous' people have 'generosity', then 'mysterious' people have 'mysteriosity'). It also explained the whole thing about putting the period OUTSIDE the quotes in order to retain meaning. I mean, this was great, exciting stuff.

Well, it was exciting to me. I love words. And you should love words too, because words are fun. Sometime when you've got a couple of hours to kill, go read it. 'LOL' is in there, just waiting for you. It's a long read, but not so long as to be beyond your ken.