The Orical, Ahem, Oracle Told Me
If you’re not familiar with the current Oracle-PeopleSoft hostile takeover situation, then…well…you’re clearly in a different industry than me. And I’m jealous. Just kidding – writing about technology is fun (heh heh), in a “Yeah! Root canal!” kind of way.
Actually, I like my job very much, and until I can feed myself by writing novels, I’ll take writing about tech. It’s just that I’m doing a report on Oracle, and one of the call center staff wrote “Orical” under the Name of Vendor section of a survey I’ve had them conducting with Oracle clients. That was pretty funny, but what topped it was the response from our recent intern (she’s in the midst of getting her Master’s). Instead of adding the information to the Oracle entry in the database, she started another one called “Orical”.
It’s probably not nearly as funny to anyone else as it is to me, but that’s why it’s my blog and not yours.
posted by Trillian @ 3:47 PM
11 comments
11 Comments:
Stupidity abounds. And some people wonder why I am so particular about spelling.
My sister Chloe worked in telecom, and one of her clients used to use this word when a customer wanted to purchase more minutes. She said "replemish".
My father would say, "Thousands and thousands of dollars for your education ..."
It highlights a common software problem: if you let people enter things, the stupid ones screw the data up something fierce.
I have spent so much time on this sort of problem... so much time.
Good one. One of my peers who manages a group of MS SQL developers always writes SQL as "Sequel". It shows up everywhere - emails, reports, even our business resumption plan. People always forward me her stuff and ask me to talk to her about it. I have tried. I have also asked them why they don't talk to her directly instead of behind her back. As you can probably guess, her staff doesn't have a great deal of respect for her technical knowledge. It is sadly Dilbertesque.
Heh heh heh. I'm glad I'm not alone! I used to be a PM for a software company, and one of our less savvy PM's used to argue with me that S-Q-L and "Sequel" were two entirely different things. She was a gem.
That's part of the reason that the ANSI committee insists that it is supposed to be pronounced 'Ess Kew Ell', not 'Sequel'.
But I, a senior SQL developer, say 'sequel', as do every one of my collegues. Even the Russians.
Kiwi - that's a funny one. It made me giggle.
I saw a memo once that wrote SCSI as "scuzzy". I can't give that person too hard of a time though, because she was from the business line and not the technology group.
The KIWI and scuzzy will make me giggle all day.
I don't know what it is about the tech industry that results in such a high rate of language butchery. And maybe I don't want to know: for if everyone knew how to spell, pronounce, and otherwise use language for its intended purpose, you and I wouldn't be employed.
Besides, it makes for some pretty good laugh-fests.
The stupid are always among us, so we might as well laugh at them. I had a coworker who made all sorts of language mistakes, usually with hackneyed phrases. The coworker in the cubicle across from her actually kept a running list of them for giggles. When flooded with work she'd say she was "in and dated."
Post a Comment
<< Home