Source: Own illustration
Ever heard of PEBKAC? In a world full of IT experts, you pick up one or two unfamiliar words, an unknown abbreviation or an unintelligible phrase from day to day. In order to be a little more prepared as a layman or non-IT professional and not feel quite so lost, we have put together a few fun and perhaps helpful hacks for you. Have fun reading and please note: don’t take it too seriously! 🙂
“The life of an IT worker would be so easy if it wasn’t so hard!”
IT Landscape in Transition
The IT landscape is growing, Germany’s IT companies want to increase their share of women [1] and the employment outlook remains quite positive in the digital economy in 2023 [2]. Therefore, many new hires can be expected in the information and communication technology (ICT) companies, whereby certainly not only “hardcore IT people” will be mixed in. Even in the IT Center there are not only computing professionals, data thinkers and PC gurus. But you still can’t get around the IT language. After all, computer English already comprised more than 20,000 words in 1999 [3]. Would you like to have a say in the matter? Then why not use one or two clever phrases in the near future?
- You’re not really awake yet and rather half asleep?
Then try saying “Sorry, my head isn’t booted yet” to your colleagues. - “I can’t (de)multiplex this right now.”
Means as much as when two people are talking at you at the same time and you can’t understand anything anymore. - “No place like 127.0.0.1” or “No place like localhost.”
Never heard of that? 127.0.0.1. represents your own computer address and therefore means “There is no place like home.” - What’s the weather like? This question can be answered quite simply with “Capslock” and means “it’s raining cats and dogs” (Capslock = shift without end).
You haven’t had enough yet? Back to the beginning. The abbreviation “PEBKAC” stands for “Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair” and is certainly a familiar problem to some employees who work in IT support. 😉
However, this dilemma can also be described by the nicely formulated “Layer 8 Problem” and reflects the fact that users cannot handle their computers properly. Layer 8 represents the user level and is a common term in network communication.
Have you ever heard the abbreviation “WYSIWYG”? It means “what you see is what you get” and is also known as “real image display”. What is meant by this is that you see what the browser sees.
Last but not least…
… we still have a few sayings and jokes in store for you:
- If you don’t honour the 0, you’re not worth the 1!
- It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.
- How does an IT guy undress his girlfriend? getStringFromObject();
- What does a pirate do on the computer? He presses the “Enter” key.
We hope we have been able to help you a little with this article, maybe even expand your knowledge and even make you smile, whether you are a fully professional PC guru or an IT layperson. We hope you have fun trying it out and using it!
Responsible for the content of this article is Lina-Louise Kaulbach.
Sources:
[1] Bitkom
[2] Bitkom
[3] Müller, H. H. (1999): Die englische Fachsprache der Datenverarbeitung. In L. Hoffmann, H. Kalverkämper & H. E. Wiegand (Eds.), Fachsprachen / Languages for Special Purposes. (2nd half-volume, Volume 2, pp.1444-1451). De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110158847.2.18.1444
