From: gharlane@nextnet.csus.edu (Gharlane of Eddore)
Subject: meaning of P.C.
Followup-To: alt.dev.null
Summary: monolithic corporations dictating language....
Organization: Evil Beings From Planet Eddore, Inc.
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 06:06:46 GMT

Ojvind Bernander said:

> From: ojvind@chagall.cns.caltech.edu (Ojvind Bernander)
> Subject: Re: Political Correctness + Sci-fi
> Date: 28 Dec 1992 01:03:47 GMT
> Organization: California Institute of Technology
> 
> In <1992Dec27.204813.21098@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
>   mlabossi@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Michael C LaBossiere) writes:
> 
> > Some brief notes on PC (politically correct, not personal computer):
> 
> This reminds me of when George Bush came to Caltech last year to give
> the commencement speech.  He told a bunch of jokes.  At one point he
> said that Caltech is a place where PC stands for personal computer.
> Around me a saw a lot of questioning faces:  what else would it mean?
> -- Ojvind
> 

  Since you ask, before IBM decided to re-define the English language 
by brute force, "P.C." stood for "printed circuit."   If you ever get
a time machine working, just drop back two decades, before IBM tried
to get into the real-computer business, and sit down on a bench in the
shadow of Mill'k'n Library or Dabne House, and ask passers-by what
"P.C." stands for.  You'll get the correct answer. 
  
  Trust me, no CalTechie *ever* used "P.C." to refer to ANYthing but 
"printed circuit," up until the early eighties, when CIT started to 
get a crop of high-grades no-cojones types who were more prone to be 
eager-beaver knuckle-unders than Real Engineers.  (Real Engineers 
use standard English.  IF you can get them to talk.  If you bother
them with variant-meaning terminology, they shoot you, because 
you're wasting their time.  Bear this in mind when attempting to
converse with CalTechie graduates from *previous* decades.)
 
  Also bear in mind that "P.C. <=> Personal Computer" is jargon that was 
brought to  you by the sales staff of the same company that attempted
to redefine "hard disk" as "hard file," and trained their hotline 
troubleshooters  to speak and understand ONLY official IBM jargon
rather than the version of English used by the rest of the world. 
  When I first heard of this, I couldn't believe it, so I called the 
number, and, referring to one of the few real IBM AT's on our campus
by serial number, described a problem with the "hard disk."  The lady
I was talking to said "That's not what we call it.  The Real Name for
that is the 'hard file.'"   She was adamant about not letting
me call a hard disk a hard disk.
 
  Again, recall that IBM tried to institute trademark infringement 
action against folks who were calling their computers "XT"'s, since
IBM felt they owned those two letters.   (The case was disallowed,
when it was discovered that a custom-car company in Georgia had been
building something called an "XT" for decades.)

  If you let insegrevious snerges like the IBM sales staff dictate
meanings to you, you could end up thinking in a language specifically
designed to make it impossible for you to communicate with non-IBM
computer people, or think about any language besides COBOL, or in any
system besides MVS.   (yitch yitch yitch).

  Remember "NewSpeak" in 1984, and keep in mind the "Strong Whorfian" 
hypothesis.... do NOT let IBM linguistically cripple you, just because
you're credulous.......

  The English language has SEVERAL HUNDRED THOUSAND WORDS in it, and 
they ALL have meaning.  Letting a bozoid company like IBM redefine
elements of your language, without reference to established meaning,
is handing over part of your heritage to subnormal dinosaur peddlers! 
 
  (I'm still trying to retrain the administrative types on this campus
who were taught by some IBM sales 'droid that the Beige Box With The Red
Switch that they plug their keyboard and monitor into is a "hard file."
One staffer, a man with a PhD and thirty years's experience, a SHARP 
guy, called to complain about a problem with his "hard file."  We
called back several times trying to find out what kind of computer he
had, so we could send over the best-qualified person available, and 
he *insisted* that he didn't have ANY kind of computer, just a "hard 
file........"  We finally identified it by the number on the property
sticker so we could send over a guy equipped with the right software
and spares....      We have a bunch of folks who think their workstation
computer is a "hard disk," too, and also believe they have no computer.)

  End of sermon.
 

Xref: sparky rec.arts.sf.written:16864 rec.arts.books:23649