[150310] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Common operational misconceptions
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jay Ashworth)
Tue Feb 21 09:57:36 2012
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:56:21 -0500 (EST)
From: Jay Ashworth <jra@baylink.com>
To: NANOG <nanog@nanog.org>
In-Reply-To: <CAAAwwbWLXN+-ZUGKuLGORhe5_0GVU=T9nVYGXq4w6qLKnmRYCg@mail.gmail.com>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jimmy Hess" <mysidia@gmail.com>
> RJ45 is really an example of what was originally a misconception
> became so widespread, so universal, that reality has actually shifted
> so the misconception became reality. When was the last time you ever
> heard anyone say "8P8C connector?"
>
> Joe public caught on to "RJ45", so now that word means something
> different in common usage than what it was specified to be. When
> was the last time you heard someone say 8P8C connector in reference to
> Ethernet?
WADR: horseshit.
I, in fact, just wrote a cabling RFQ yesterday for a new building, and
*I* write "8P8C male modular connector". So, in short: if you *actually
need to be saying it*, you actually need to be saying it correctly, because
you're talking to people who know the difference.
They won't say anything, mind you, and you'll get what you want; they'll
just think you're a clueless dilettante.
Cheers,
-- jr 'yes, I'm a prescriptivist[1]' a
[1] The *point* of language is communication; this is impossible if
words "mean what people want them to mean, no more, no less".
--
Jay R. Ashworth Baylink jra@baylink.com
Designer The Things I Think RFC 2100
Ashworth & Associates http://baylink.pitas.com 2000 Land Rover DII
St Petersburg FL USA http://photo.imageinc.us +1 727 647 1274
