LIVING IN THE NINETIES


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Old Cowboy


> An old cowboy -- dressed to kill with cowboy shirt, hat, jeans, spurs and chaps -- went to a bar and ordered a drink.
> As he sat there sipping his whiskey, a young lady sat down next to him. She ordered her drink, turned to the cowboy and asked, "Are you a real cowboy?"
> "Well," he began, "I have spent my whole life on the ranch, herding cows, breaking horses, mending fences... I guess I am."
> "What about you?" the cowboy asked.
> "I've never been on a ranch," she said, "so I'm not a cowboy. But I am a lesbian."
> "What? What's a lesbian?" asked the cowboy, who obviously had been out on the ranch too long.
> "Let's just say that I spend my whole day thinking about women," she replied. "As soon as I get up in the morning I think of women. When I eat, shower, watch television, everything seems to make me think of women."
> After a while she left the bar and the cowboy ordered another drink. A young couple sat down next to him and asked, "Are you a real cowboy?"
> "I always thought I was," he replied, "but I just found out that I'm a lesbian!"

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New words for the 90's

Going Postal: Euphemism for being totally stressed out, for losing it. Makes reference to the unfortunate track record of postal employees who have snapped and gone on shooting rampages.
Assmosis: The process by which some people seem to absorb success and advancement by kissing up to the boss rather than working hard.
Beepilepsy: The brief seizure people sometimes have when their beeper goes off (especially in vibrator mode). Characterized by physical spasms, goofy facial expressions and interruption of speech in mid-sentence.
Blamestorming: Sitting around in a group discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible.
Chainsaw Consultant: An outside expert brought in to reduce the employee headcount, leaving the top brass with clean hands.
Chips and Salsa: Chips = hardware, salsa = software. "Well, first we gotta figure out if the problem's in your chips or your salsa."
Counter Vulture: Someone who waits so impatiently at a counter especially in a pharmacy awaiting a product or prescription.
Cube Farm: An office filled with cubicles.
Depotphobia: Fear associated with entering a Home Depot because of how much money one might spend. Electronics geeks experience Shackophobia.
Ego Surfing: Scanning the Net, databases, print media and so on, looking for references to one's own name.
Flight Risk: Used to describe employees who are suspected of planning to leave a company or department soon.
404: Someone who's clueless. "Don't bother asking him; he's 404." From the WWW error message "404 Not Found," meaning the requested document couldn't be located.
Generica: Features of the American landscape that are exactly the same no matter where one is. "We were so lost in generica, I actually forgot what city we were in."
GOOD Job: A "Get-Out-Of-Debt" job. A well-paying job people takein order to pay off their debts, one that they will quit as soon as they are solvent again.
Idea Hamsters: People who always seem to have their idea generators running.
Irritainment: Entertainment and media spectacles that are annoying, but you find yourself unable to stop watching them. The O.J. trials were a prime example..
Midair Passenger Exchange: Grim air-traffic-controller speak for a head-on collision. Midair passenger exchanges are quickly followed by "aluminum rain."
Ohnosecond: That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you've just made a big mistake.
PEBCAK: Tech support shorthand for "Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard." Techies are a frustrated, often arrogant lot. They've submitted numerous acronyms and terms that poke fun at the clueless users who call them up with frighteningly stupid questions. Another variation on the above is ID10T: "This guy has an ID-Ten-T on his system."
Percussive Maintenance: The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device to get it to work again.
SITCOMs: What yuppies turn into when they have children and one of them stops working to stay home with the kids. Stands for Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage.
Square-headed Girlfriend: Another word for a computer. The victim of a square-headed girlfriend is a "computer widow."
Stress Puppy: A person who seems to thrive on being stressed out and whiny.
Swiped Out: An ATM or credit card that has been rendered useless because the magnetic strip is worn away from extensive use.
Telephone Number Salary: A salary (or project budget) that has seven digits.
Umfriend: A sexual relation of dubious standing. "This is uh.. Dale, my...um...friend..."
Uninstalled: Euphemism for being fired. Heard on the voicemail of a vice president at a downsizing computer firm: "You have reached the number of an uninstalled vice president. Please dial our main number and ask the operator for assistance." See also Decruitment.
Yuppie Food Stamps: The ubiquitous $20 bills spewed out of ATMs everywhere. Often used when trying to split the bill after a meal: "We all owe $8 each, but all anybody's got is yuppie food stamps."

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