Ask HN: What's your least favorite tech word? Mine's "non-trivial".

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=782117

by ncarlson • 17 years ago

5 37 17 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Any time I hear someone mutter "non-trivial" a little piece of me dies inside. What other art/profession uses that word?

I can't imagine an automotive engineer describing a new car engine as non-trivial or a painter describing his work as non-trivial.

Anyways, what words wind you guys up?

Edit: Happy Monday, btw.

jacquesm5• 17 years ago

paradigm shift

leverage

billswift3• 17 years ago

Leverage is often irritatingly misused, but can be useful.

Paradigm shift - someone should invent a time machine and go back to shoot Kuhn's mother before he was born.

jacquesm5• 17 years ago

For that to happen we'd need a parad-- never mind.

wlievens• 17 years ago

I absolutely loathe leverage.

TallGuyShort• 17 years ago

It's not limited to tech people, but I do hear them say it a lot: "irregardless".

edit: Oh and let's not forget Scott Adam's favorite: Synergy

DanWood• 17 years ago

"irregarldess" burns my ears, too. I also want to fight when I hear someone say "often times" (redundant) or "I don't disagree with you" (passive-aggressive double negative)

tdonia• 17 years ago

savvy

RiderOfGiraffes• 17 years ago

Quantum, in almost any context. I do use non-trivial, but I'm a mathematician, and I refer you to Feynman's comments about tthe use of 'trivial'.

gdp• 17 years ago

I have to step in here to defend "non-trivial".

Perhaps it is abused as a term by the population at large, but I'm reasonably sure it has its roots in theoretical computer science and maths. It has a meaning that is distinct from "complex". It means that something requires something more than pure mechanical verification or straightforward inspection.

A painter could use "non-trivial" in a sensible way. How much effort is involved in X? Well, it's non-trivial, because it involves more than having a look. It isn't estimating the effort, it is instead a binary classification - trivial and non-trivial.

Finally, to answer your question, I don't dislike individual words. I only dislike them once they are combined into sentences.

DanielStraight• 17 years ago

I'm a big fan of "non-trivial" myself, especially after reading http://fishbowl.pastiche.org/2007/07/17/understanding_engine...

billswift3• 17 years ago

Non-trivial is important in mathematics. But I especially like it when used for humorous understatement; "Re-implementing Microsoft Office would be a non-trivial effort."

zackola2• 17 years ago

kludge synergy/synergistic/synergize proactive xml

jacquesm5• 17 years ago

No, not kludge, please :)

It's one of the best tech words out there, it is very specific and there is no other good way of saying it without using a whole pile of words.

zackola2• 17 years ago

It is a good word. I'm not saying people shouldn't use it. It is an ugly, ugly word to me - I hate the sound of it, which is part of why it is my least favorite. It's one of those words that sound like what they mean to me. What is that called anyway? Not onomatopoeia.

I also tend to hate it because I can tell before even starting to fix the kludge, it's likely to involve an large overhaul instead of a small bug fix.

lamby• 17 years ago

"Realtime"

yan• 17 years ago

Enterprise.

MikeMacMan• 17 years ago

And its evil twin, Mission Critical

jacquesm5• 17 years ago

Ah, but Mission Critical actually has a place. When you're working for NASA, you operate a nuclear plant or some other outfit like that.

Everywhere else it's just pretending you do something important.

ganley• 17 years ago

There's a joke that when an engineer says 'nontrivial,' he means 'impossible.'

billswift3• 17 years ago

The joke I heard was that it meant he didn't want to be bothered about it.

odvious• 17 years ago

revolutionary

davidw• 17 years ago

"Trivial" itself can sound quite snotty, said in the right way.

jsm386• 17 years ago

dead simple

yannis• 17 years ago

Erlang!

Maro• 17 years ago

synergy

(Go watch 'In good company')

michaelcampbell• 17 years ago

"Configurable"

gaius2• 17 years ago

Idempotent.

But non-trivial does have a specific meaning: it means that we don't have any code already written or proven technique that we can simply reuse for or apply to this problem, and some new knowledge will have to be synthesized, and there's a risk in making any estimates of time/cost until more is known.

chuffwaffle• 17 years ago

What's wrong with idempotent? It has a precise, useful meaning

gaius2• 17 years ago

It's often misused. Along with orthogonal.

screwLoose• 17 years ago

'webinar' has been annoying me for years now.

electronslave• 17 years ago

Drill. Like "drill down".

It seems that trepanation might be a good response to someone using this word.

"Could you drill down into my data set and shift some paradigms?" "Yes, and while I'm at it, I'll equalize your humours." WHIRR "Indeed."

yagibear• 17 years ago

disambiguate

moe• 17 years ago

Turnkey Solution

(My brain always translates to turkey inducing...)

bddbbdb• 17 years ago

Tech/business jargon: "leverage" (when used as a verb) anywhere: "utilize" (when used as a word)

jlintz• 17 years ago

"the cloud" please make it go away, it's totally the next buzzword to replace 'web 2.0'

Ask HN: What's your least favorite tech word? Mine's "non-trivial".

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