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(idm) more mego

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1997-03-03 23:17Sean Cooper (idm) more mego
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1997-03-03 23:17Sean Coopersomething that wasn't covered in 4w's otherwise pretty exhaustive history was just what th
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Sean Cooper
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Date:
Mon, 3 Mar 1997 15:17:12 -0800
Subject:
(idm) more mego
permalink · <v01510105af410acee16a@[204.156.134.105]>
something that wasn't covered in 4w's otherwise pretty exhaustive history was just what that word _means_, which i came across somewhat inadvertently at the _free online dictionary of computing_ (http://nightflight.com/cgi-bin/foldoc). wireheads among us may find my giddiness naive and embarassing, but i reproduce this wonderful description here for those similarly uninformed... ------- MEGO /me"goh/ or /mee'goh/ ["My Eyes Glaze Over", often "Mine Eyes Glazeth (sic) Over", attributed to the futurologist Herman Kahn] Also "MEGO factor". 1. A handwave [i.e. distraction--sc] intended to confuse the listener and hopefully induce agreement because the listener does not want to admit to not understanding what is going on. MEGO is usually directed at senior management by engineers and contains a high proportion of TLAs [three-letter-acronyms--sc]. 2. excl. An appropriate response to MEGO tactics. 3. Among non-hackers, often refers not to behaviour that causes the eyes to glaze, but to the eye-glazing reaction itself, which may be triggered by the mere threat of technical detail as effectively as by an actual excess of it. ------- :) sc