The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

lucidfox · 2011-08-23 Reply Admin

thistooshallpass:
When she gave her notice, she went to lunch with her replacement, which was even more attractive

So apparently not only is it okay for news submissions to judge women solely by their looks, they don't even deserve the word "who" anymore. Because of course *everyone knows* that women are "whiches".

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Herosp:
Well, I'm not a native english speaker, so I went to google translate to listen to the robotized voice and I noticed a slight difference. But anyway, I'd pronounced both identically.

Of course they are pronounced differently.

Firstly, native English speakers don't hear the difference, because in English both sounds represent the same phoneme, and, Secondly, programmers are not trained linguists: they are programmers.

Most people (and no programmers) I speak with don't even notice the differences in pronunciation of 'the' and 'the' in English.

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

thistooshallpass:
they discussed the creep issue and my friend suggested that at first she should talk a lot about her (fake) boyfriend so people would not bother her. It worked.

That is what a Wedding Ring is for.

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

senior:
thistooshallpass:
they discussed the creep issue and my friend suggested that at first she should talk a lot about her (fake) boyfriend so people would not bother her. It worked.

That is what a taser is for.

ftfy

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Reminds me of the old userfriendly comic from 2001-05-19.

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/read.cgi?id=20010519

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Max:
(with Eastern-European accent): in Soviet Russia The Service mails YOU!

YOU SKUMBAG I AM FROM SOVIET RUSIA ONCE. IN SOVIYT RUSSIA THE PARTY WOULD HAEV SEND YU GULAG!!!!!

CAPAAATCHAAA!!!!!! LUDUS!!!!!!!!!

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

junior:
Herosp:
Well, I'm not a native english speaker, so I went to google translate to listen to the robotized voice and I noticed a slight difference. But anyway, I'd pronounced both identically.

Of course they are pronounced differently.

Firstly, native English speakers don't hear the difference, because in English both sounds represent the same phoneme, and, Secondly, programmers are not trained linguists: they are programmers.

Most people (and no programmers) I speak with don't even notice the differences in pronunciation of 'the' and 'the' in English.

Of course, they are pronounced the same:

mail [meyl] http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mail male [meyl] http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/male

Any native Innglander can only distinguish the two identical sounds by (1) context in spoken form, or (2) spelling in written form.

It is only people that learned Innglish from books that initially attempt to pronounce each letter, and later construct phenomes from them.

PS: 'the' and 'the' are, naturally, pronounced entirely differently. Unlike 'lead' (canine) and 'lead' (plumbus) which sound the same.

lucidfox · 2011-08-24 Reply Admin

EVIL US HACK0R!!:
Max:
(with Eastern-European accent): in Soviet Russia The Service mails YOU!

YOU SKUMBAG I AM FROM SOVIET RUSIA ONCE. IN SOVIYT RUSSIA THE PARTY WOULD HAEV SEND YU GULAG!!!!!

CAPAAATCHAAA!!!!!! LUDUS!!!!!!!!!

Being an actual Russian, I would advise you to cut the insanity.

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Oh god, when I worked as a programmer, there were four women (in the entire IT department)

Boss' secretary: Little old lady roughly 3 minutes away from retirement
Operator (loaded tapes, monitored hardware, whatever): 400+ pounds. NOT an exaggeration. I think she took the job because the mainframe room was cold so she'd sweat the least there. Only able to perform her job through the miracle of roller chairs
Senior programmer: Around 50, angry, and reeked of coffee and cigarettes at all times. My immediate supervisor and 75% of the reason I quit IT work for good
Junior programmer: Early 30's, boring in every way, and conspicuously married

lucidfox · 2011-08-24 Reply Admin

C-Octothorpe:
I'm OK with poor proof-reading and the occasional sexist comment or joke, but christ on a bike man, WTF was THAT?!

I'm not even okay with the occasional sexist comment, but the administration would have to take active steps to discourage those kinds of mindsets on the site, and sadly I doubt they would.

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

<frank_slade> The tails in the tail HA!!! </frank_slade>

kyrsoronas · 2011-08-24 Reply Admin

you've got male !

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Kill Bill #3:
junior:
Herosp:
Well, I'm not a native english speaker, so I went to google translate to listen to the robotized voice and I noticed a slight difference. But anyway, I'd pronounced both identically.

Of course they are pronounced differently.

Firstly, native English speakers don't hear the difference, because in English both sounds represent the same phoneme, and, Secondly, programmers are not trained linguists: they are programmers.

Most people (and no programmers) I speak with don't even notice the differences in pronunciation of 'the' and 'the' in English.

Of course, they are pronounced the same:

mail [meyl] http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mail male [meyl] http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/male

Any native Innglander can only distinguish the two identical sounds by (1) context in spoken form, or (2) spelling in written form.

It is only people that learned Innglish from books that initially attempt to pronounce each letter, and later construct phenomes from them.

PS: 'the' and 'the' are, naturally, pronounced entirely differently. Unlike 'lead' (canine) and 'lead' (plumbus) which sound the same.

Actually, there is a subtle difference in certain dialectical variations.

"mail" pronounced very slightly like "may-ill". "male" pronounced very slightly like "may-ull" or "may-all".

But you have to be aurally sharp to be able to detect the difference.

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Kill Bill #3:

...

It is only people that learned Innglish from books that initially attempt to pronounce each letter, and later construct phenomes from them.

...

And finally, to score some cheap points: "phenome": is this a reference to language evolving organically?

boom-tsh

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Reminds me of when Sparks (remember them?) had just released their top-selling single This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us back in the early 1970s. The DJ announced the record by saying "That was the Mael brothers - and that's not a stupid as it sounds."

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Matt:
Yes, they are. 'ail and 'ale endings are almost always pronounced the same way (sail, sale, tail, tale)

`Mine is a long and a sad tale!' said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing.

It IS a long tail, certainly,' said Alice, looking down with wonder at the Mouse's tail;but why do you call it sad?'

http://www.literaturepage.com/read/aliceinwonderland-16.html

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Medezark:
tom103:
Are both words (male/mail) pronounced exactly the same? I'm not a native English speaker and my pronunciation isn't so good, so I'm not sure...

Yes in deedy, they are pronounced identically.

Well then it doesn't speak for her if she wasn't able to understand a common IT term.

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

plaidfluff:
Jesus Christ, people, women are human beings, not slabs of meat.

At the end of the day we're all just slabs of meat.

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

EVIL US HACK0R!!:
Max:
(with Eastern-European accent): in Soviet Russia The Service mails YOU!

YOU SKUMBAG I AM FROM SOVIET RUSIA ONCE. IN SOVIYT RUSSIA THE PARTY WOULD HAEV SEND YU GULAG!!!!!

CAPAAATCHAAA!!!!!! LUDUS!!!!!!!!!

True story, for a period I worked with an ex-pat Russian Java developer who was a Scientist specializing in the development of nuclear weapons back during the days of Communist Russia. That generation of Russians are a hard people.

hoodaticus · 2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Bob:
EVIL US HACK0R!!:
Max:
(with Eastern-European accent): in Soviet Russia The Service mails YOU!

YOU SKUMBAG I AM FROM SOVIET RUSIA ONCE. IN SOVIYT RUSSIA THE PARTY WOULD HAEV SEND YU GULAG!!!!!

CAPAAATCHAAA!!!!!! LUDUS!!!!!!!!!

True story, for a period I worked with an ex-pat Russian Java developer who was a Scientist specializing in the development of nuclear weapons back during the days of Communist Russia. That generation of Russians are a hard people.

Seriously - their personality seeps a Siberian winter breeze. My Russian former nuclear scientist now works as an actuary at MetLife.

hoodaticus · 2011-08-24 Reply Admin

QJo:
Reminds me of when Sparks (remember them?)

No.

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

neveralull:
Where on earth are you guys working? We've had lots and lots of female programmers everywhere I've worked for over 40 years now, from day one until now.

I am so calling BS on this one. My first company had 2 and the one looked like a guy so we always joked we only had one. I work at a much larger company and we just got our second female in IT (if you exclude mgmt). So I want to know where it is that there are IT shops just overflowing (exageration neveralull's) with chicks (and they don't have to be hot)

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Silas:
Well then it doesn't speak for her if she wasn't able to understand a common IT term.

Maybe the guy wasn't a native speaker and pronounced it like ‘mail services’ and that caused the confusion?

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

lucidfox:
So autism is now an excuse for sexist incidents?

I am greatly offended by your choice of words. I have a son that had autism, and let me assure you that it is not a matter to joke about.

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

lucidfox:
thistooshallpass:
When she gave her notice, she went to lunch with her replacement, which was even more attractive
So apparently not only is it okay for news submissions to judge women solely by their looks, they don't even deserve the word "who" anymore. Because of course everyone knows that women are bitches.

FTFY

And you just proved it too! The guy can't make a simple grammatical error without being dubbed the Antichrist? What crawled up your cunt?

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Oh god, when I worked as a programmer, there were four women (in the entire IT department)

Boss' secretary: Little old lady roughly 3 minutes away from retirement

Operator (loaded tapes, monitored hardware, whatever): 400+ pounds. NOT an exaggeration. I think she took the job because the mainframe room was cold so she'd sweat the least there. Only able to perform her job through the miracle of roller chairs

Senior programmer: Around 50, angry, and reeked of coffee and cigarettes at all times. My immediate supervisor and 75% of the reason I quit IT work for good

Junior programmer: Early 30's, boring in every way, and conspicuously married

Funny... I'm the only female in an all male department and I could use 2 - 4 to describe my male coworkers... Those archetypes are definitely not gender based.

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Matt Westwood:
My quixotic ideal would work great if this stupid reality didn't get in the way.

FTFY

Kiss me I'm Polish · 2011-08-24 Reply Admin

I was on a phone screening for a job in IT. The conversation was held in English, and my interviewer had quite a heavy accent. The most notable moment was when he asked me about "chase root". He insisted that it was a common tool and I must had used it in the past, while I had no idea what he was talking about. Convinced that I would fail the screening I asked him to spell the word, blaming the sound quality on my end of the phone. "Why of course," he said. "It's chase root, T. R. A. C. E. R. O. U. T. E." Things went pretty straightforward from there.

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Matt Westwood:
These stories probably come from the US, where, from what we see in the TV we get from them...

Isn't getting your impressions of a country from TV the kind of thing you'd accuse an American of doing?

Matt Westwood:
Pointing out the fact that different nations have different languages and speak with different accents is not "racism" you stupid Yank.

Actually, it's from Europe that hear patriotism confused with "racism".

You're REALLY full of shit today, is something wrong?

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

lucidfox:
EVIL US HACK0R!!:
Max:
(with Eastern-European accent): in Soviet Russia The Service mails YOU!

YOU SKUMBAG I AM FROM SOVIET RUSIA ONCE. IN SOVIYT RUSSIA THE PARTY WOULD HAEV SEND YU GULAG!!!!!

CAPAAATCHAAA!!!!!! LUDUS!!!!!!!!!
Being an actual Russian, I would advise you to cut the insanity.

Congratulations on avoiding being a victim of human trafficking.

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

That's why you should not advertise you have a hotmail account...

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

My girlfriend is a military officer, which makes her a reasonably rare flower. She wears a ring (we're not married or engaged) just to keep the pestering down to a minimum.

Even that doesn't stop them. Sometimes you're ashamed of your Y chromosome...

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Jane:
Oh god, when I worked as a programmer, there were four women (in the entire IT department)

Boss' secretary: Little old lady roughly 3 minutes away from retirement

Operator (loaded tapes, monitored hardware, whatever): 400+ pounds. NOT an exaggeration. I think she took the job because the mainframe room was cold so she'd sweat the least there. Only able to perform her job through the miracle of roller chairs

Senior programmer: Around 50, angry, and reeked of coffee and cigarettes at all times. My immediate supervisor and 75% of the reason I quit IT work for good

Junior programmer: Early 30's, boring in every way, and conspicuously married

Funny... I'm the only female in an all male department and I could use 2 - 4 to describe my male coworkers... Those archetypes are definitely not gender based.

Heh, now that you mention it, I can match up #2-4 with people from the same company working at the same time.

The male #2 had the obligatory neckbeard (and may have only been 350), the male #3 wasn't so abrasive and unpleasant, but wasn't as senior either, and the male #4 was either me or the guy in the cubicle next to me if you change 30's to 20's, and remove either the married part (in my case) or the boring part (in his case).

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Didn't you know? autism is an excuse for everything! It's like the new ADD

p.s. captca said 'eros'

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Konstantin Lopyrev:
I disagree. They are pronounced very slightly differently.

Maybe in your Russian accent.

However, if you pronounce them differently in English, then you're doing it wrong. This is irrefutable.

The Great Lobachevsky · 2011-08-24 Reply Admin

QJo:
Actually, there *is* a subtle difference in certain dialectical variations.
"mail" pronounced very slightly like "may-ill". "male" pronounced very slightly like "may-ull" or "may-all".

But you have to be aurally sharp to be able to detect the difference.

There's only a difference if you happen to talk like Paula Deen.

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

The Great Lobachevsky:
QJo:
Actually, there *is* a subtle difference in certain dialectical variations.
"mail" pronounced very slightly like "may-ill". "male" pronounced very slightly like "may-ull" or "may-all".

But you have to be aurally sharp to be able to detect the difference.

There's only a difference if you happen to talk like Paula Deen.

Yowch, I hope not. Being likened to anything like Paula Deen would be a fate worse than being Bob.

frits · 2011-08-24 Reply Admin

The Great Lobachevsky:
QJo:
Actually, there *is* a subtle difference in certain dialectical variations.
"mail" pronounced very slightly like "may-ill". "male" pronounced very slightly like "may-ull" or "may-all".

But you have to be aurally sharp to be able to detect the difference.

There's only a difference if you happen to talk like Paula Deen.

I'm originally from the Philadelphia area, and I pronounce them slightly different. "Mail" sounds like "Ma-yull" and "male" sounds like it's spelled (no exaggerated diphthong).

Severity One · 2011-08-24 Reply Admin

J. McCarthy:
lucidfox:
So autism is now an excuse for sexist incidents?
I am greatly offended by your choice of words. I have a son that had autism, and let me assure you that it is not a matter to joke about.

Two things:

There's very likely a parent and/or other family members on the autistic spectrum, or at least with autistic traits; if so, probably it's you.
You don't 'had' autism. It's not an illness that can be cured: it's a condition. You can have therapy and try and work around your shortcomings particularly in communication, but that doesn't make you neurotypical all of a sudden. You're still on the autistic spectrum, but it doesn't show so much.

Trust me on this one.

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Severity One:
J. McCarthy:
lucidfox:
So autism is now an excuse for sexist incidents?
I am greatly offended by your choice of words. I have a son that had autism, and let me assure you that it is not a matter to joke about.
Two things:

There's very likely a parent and/or other family members on the autistic spectrum, or at least with autistic traits; if so, probably it's you.

You don't 'had' autism. It's not an illness that can be cured: it's a condition. You can have therapy and try and work around your shortcomings particularly in communication, but that doesn't make you neurotypical all of a sudden. You're still on the autistic spectrum, but it doesn't show so much.

Trust me on this one.

Actually, since his autism was caused by mercury in vaccines, I was able to cure him through chelation therapy. YMMV

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

J. McCarthy:
Severity One:
J. McCarthy:
lucidfox:
So autism is now an excuse for sexist incidents?
I am greatly offended by your choice of words. I have a son that had autism, and let me assure you that it is not a matter to joke about.
Two things:

There's very likely a parent and/or other family members on the autistic spectrum, or at least with autistic traits; if so, probably it's you.

You don't 'had' autism. It's not an illness that can be cured: it's a condition. You can have therapy and try and work around your shortcomings particularly in communication, but that doesn't make you neurotypical all of a sudden. You're still on the autistic spectrum, but it doesn't show so much.

Trust me on this one.

Actually, since his autism was caused by mercury in vaccines, I was able to cure him through chelation therapy. YMMV

At least you think you did. Are you completely sure you're not a delusional retard?

ThingGuy McGuyThing · 2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Severity One:
...

You don't 'had' autism. It's not an illness that can be cured: it's a condition.

Fair enough, I don't 'had' metabolism, or nerve function, or even a hangover. They're not illnesses, they're conditions. It's not possible to have conditions.

Coyne · 2011-08-24 Reply Admin

thistooshallpass:
I was friend with a HR girl in a previous job, a mostly-male IT shop. She was attractive and single, and she was going crazy with all the invitations, creepy emails, anonymous love letters and late-night voicemails. When she gave her notice, she went to lunch with her replacement, which was even more attractive; they discussed the creep issue and my friend suggested that at first she should talk a lot about her (fake) boyfriend so people would not bother her. It worked.
What does it mean? That if you are a male working in a mostly-male organization and the HR girl talks a lot about her boyfriend, she is probably lying so it's okay to send her creepy emails and invite her to VMWorld (all expenses paid).

Wow. I mean, wow! That last bit takes creepy to a whole new level!

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

QJo:
J. McCarthy:
Severity One:
J. McCarthy:
lucidfox:
So autism is now an excuse for sexist incidents?
I am greatly offended by your choice of words. I have a son that had autism, and let me assure you that it is not a matter to joke about.
Two things:

There's very likely a parent and/or other family members on the autistic spectrum, or at least with autistic traits; if so, probably it's you.

You don't 'had' autism. It's not an illness that can be cured: it's a condition. You can have therapy and try and work around your shortcomings particularly in communication, but that doesn't make you neurotypical all of a sudden. You're still on the autistic spectrum, but it doesn't show so much.

Trust me on this one.

Actually, since his autism was caused by mercury in vaccines, I was able to cure him through chelation therapy. YMMV

At least you think you did. Are you completely sure you're not a delusional retard?

If you really think Jenny McCarthy is posting here, you might be the delusional tard.

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Medezark:
tom103:
Are both words (male/mail) pronounced exactly the same? I'm not a native English speaker and my pronunciation isn't so good, so I'm not sure...
Yes in deedy, they are pronounced identically.

Hence the infamous site, hotmale.com, which supposedly gets a lot of accidental traffic.

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Bob:
plaidfluff:
Jesus Christ, people, women are human beings, not slabs of meat.

At the end of the day we're all just slabs of meat.

Yes, life is nature's way of keeping meat fresh.

(or it is meet?)

lucidfox · 2011-08-24 Reply Admin

hoodaticus:
Bob:
EVIL US HACK0R!!:
Max:
(with Eastern-European accent): in Soviet Russia The Service mails YOU!

YOU SKUMBAG I AM FROM SOVIET RUSIA ONCE. IN SOVIYT RUSSIA THE PARTY WOULD HAEV SEND YU GULAG!!!!!

CAPAAATCHAAA!!!!!! LUDUS!!!!!!!!!

True story, for a period I worked with an ex-pat Russian Java developer who was a Scientist specializing in the development of nuclear weapons back during the days of Communist Russia. That generation of Russians are a hard people.
Seriously - their personality seeps a Siberian winter breeze. My Russian former nuclear scientist now works as an actuary at MetLife.

So apparently not only are sexist jokes considered fair game here, but also tossing stupid ethnic stereotypes.

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

Eoin:
Medezark:
tom103:
Are both words (male/mail) pronounced exactly the same? I'm not a native English speaker and my pronunciation isn't so good, so I'm not sure...
Yes in deedy, they are pronounced identically.
Hence the infamous site, hotmale.com, which supposedly gets a lot of accidental traffic.

Mmmm... also - try getting info on the Unix 'find' command by Googling 'man find' and you will get some v unexpected hits

Zylon · 2011-08-24 Reply Admin

QJo:
J. McCarthy:
Actually, since his autism was caused by mercury in vaccines, I was able to cure him through chelation therapy. YMMV
At least you think you did. Are you completely sure you're not a delusional retard?

YHBT. YHL. HAND.

2011-08-24 Reply Admin

thistooshallpass:
... she went to lunch with her replacement, which was even more attractive;

So, which was 'even more attractive', the replacement or the lunch?

I think you meant to say "who was even more attractive". Using a word like "which" (or "that", as in "we hired someone that really knew php") to describe a human is really objectifying them - at best rude, at worst creepy.

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