POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.off-topic : expand your vocabulary Server Time
15 Nov 2024 00:20:46 EST (-0500)
  expand your vocabulary (Message 1 to 4 of 4)  
From: Tim Cook
Subject: expand your vocabulary
Date: 2 Nov 2007 03:34:13
Message: <472ae105$1@news.povray.org>
...a word which I first encountered in a level-guide reference to 
manipulating objects in Thief, 'frob', here's what an online dictionary 
has to say:

"frobnicate - /frob'ni-kayt/ (Possibly from frobnitz, and usually 
abbreviated to frob, but "frobnicate" is recognised as the official full 
form). To manipulate or adjust, to tweak. One frequently frobs bits or 
other 2-state devices. Thus: "Please frob the light switch" (that is, 
flip it), but also "Stop frobbing that clasp; you'll break it". One also 
sees the construction "to frob a frob".

Usage: frob, twiddle, and tweak sometimes connote points along a 
continuum. "Frob" connotes aimless manipulation; "twiddle" connotes 
gross manipulation, often a coarse search for a proper setting; "tweak" 
connotes fine-tuning. If someone is turning a knob on an oscilloscope, 
then if he's carefully adjusting it, he is probably tweaking it; if he 
is just turning it but looking at the screen, he is probably twiddling 
it; but if he's just doing it because turning a knob is fun, he's 
frobbing it. The variant "frobnosticate" has also been reported."

(brought up because in a MU*, someone was trying to debug a light switch 
someone else had made and couldn't figure out the syntax; I suggested 
"flip switch", "toggle switch" (the command used), and "frob switch".  hehe.

-- 
Tim Cook
http://home.bellsouth.net/p/PWP-empyrean

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GFA dpu- s: a?-- C++(++++) U P? L E--- W++(+++)>$
N++ o? K- w(+) O? M-(--) V? PS+(+++) PE(--) Y(--)
PGP-(--) t* 5++>+++++ X+ R* tv+ b++(+++) DI
D++(---) G(++) e*>++ h+ !r--- !y--
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From: Samuel Benge
Subject: Re: expand your vocabulary
Date: 2 Nov 2007 16:02:41
Message: <472b9071@news.povray.org>
Tim Cook wrote:
> "frobnicate - /frob'ni-kayt/ (Possibly from frobnitz, and usually 
> abbreviated to frob, but "frobnicate" is recognised as the official full 
> form). To manipulate or adjust, to tweak. One frequently frobs bits or 
> other 2-state devices. Thus: "Please frob the light switch" (that is, 
> flip it), but also "Stop frobbing that clasp; you'll break it". One also 
> sees the construction "to frob a frob".

I suppose these sentences illustrate the proper use of the word:

  To complete a render is divine; to frobnicate one is vanity.

  It was a frobbish mishandling of data which led to the explosion.

  Neighbors found him frobbing himself behind a bush. They promptly 
called the police.

And from a recent post at the LightWave message boards:
"Nib frobn plok partkle poit, yip yip yip !!!!"

He was angry with how his polygons were turning out.

Sam


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From: Orchid XP v7
Subject: Re: expand your vocabulary
Date: 2 Nov 2007 16:24:23
Message: <472b9587@news.povray.org>
But what does all this have to do with frobscotch?


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From: andrel
Subject: Re: expand your vocabulary
Date: 3 Nov 2007 14:51:18
Message: <472CD23F.2090807@hotmail.com>
Tim Cook wrote:
> ...a word which I first encountered in a level-guide reference to 
> manipulating objects in Thief, 'frob', here's what an online dictionary 
> has to say:
That entry comes from the "Jargon file" AKA "The hacker's dictonary" the 
latter name was used for the printed version 
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Hackers-Dictionary-Guy-Steele/dp/0262680920)
Most, if not all, of the Jargon file is nowadays included in wikipedia 
(as a community effort it far predates wikis), but I recommend browsing 
the original on-line to learn a bit more about the origin of words that 
are now common in computer science. Not recommended at work, your 
grinning, chuckling and sniggering may distract co-workers.

[snip]


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