Network Dictionary — Technobabble
March 3, 2009 by Greg Ferro · 2 Comments
Refers to the verbal semantic mode used by network engineers when a manager ask a question that they didn’t understand but think they would like an answer to.
Surprisingly, most such questions originate from in-flight magazines or in the CIO section at Network World and have little foundation in reality or sound thinking on the behalf of the person. _sarcasm mode off_
When someone says, “I don’t understand that technobabble” you can be reasonably sure you are talking to an idiot. Or someone who is rude enough, and stupid enough, to admit that after several years of using computers and networks they still have no idea of what is going on around them.
- Network Dictionary — Freelance
- Network Dictionary — Resume Generating Events
- Network Dictionary — Scalable
- Network Dictionary — magic hand wave
- Network Dictionary — NAT’d
- Network Dictionary — Pain Relief Technology
- Network Dictionary — workshop
- Network Dictionary — Process Humping
- Network Dictionary — appsellation
- Network Dictionary — Spinning Rust
- Network Dictionary — Server Hugger
- Network Dictionary — Facepalm
- Network Dictionary — Nortard
- Network Dictionary — Ciscotist
- Network Dictionary — longhorn
- Network Dictionary — IEEEdiot
- Network Dictionary — foo
- Network Dictionary — Ethereal
- Network Dictionary — Signal Slope
- Network Dictionary — leverage
- Network Dictionary — Microsoft Standard
- Network Dictionary — Brandalize
- Network Dictionary — Blamestorming
- Network Dictionary — CCIE Pounds
- Network Dictionary — borked
- Network Dictionary — technobabble
- Network Dictionary — Markenauts
- Network Dictionary — Implementation
- Network Dictionary — Distributed Attention
- Network Dictionary — functionality
- Network Dictionary — coffice
- Network Dictionary — Rubber Duck Debugging
- Network Dictionary — Unicorn Tears
- Network Dictionary — survivor’s bias
- Network Dictionary — IPocalypse
- Network Dictionary — slugged
- Network Dictionary — Project Manager
- Network Dictionary — Sanity Cheque
- Network Dictionary — goodthing
- Network Dictionary: Fun Detector
- Network Dictionary: Cock Blocked
- Network Dictionary — TACrathon
- Network Dictionary — Backhoe Attenuation
- Network Dictionary — heater



I’ve learned to decipher what questions really mean based on who’s asking them. Then I dumb down my answer in kind.
Example.
Idiot Manager: “I read about the new Cisco VSS system on my new Blackberry Storm while driving to work in my overpriced sports car and eating a powdered donut. The article says that VSS doesn’t need to run spanning-tree, but I don’t understand why. Can you explain it to me?”
My answer: “Oh, look! A puppy!!”
Idiot: “Oh, yeah, I need to go to the pet store. La la la la…”
I can see that you have quite a bit of experience at this.……