Brandon's Blog

2/22/2007

Talk

I find it funny how specialized terms evolve and then have the capacity to find usage in late form with no regard for the original context.

Like, I love the term “bork.”  As in, “Passing a Denizen to the save() function in Sigma will currently bork the player database.”  (Pretty much true, by the way.)

Consulting the Jargon File informs me that “bork” as a verb came from “borken” as an adjective, which in turn came from a corruption of “broken.”

“Bork” is so descriptive on its own I never sought out a more detailed reason for its existence.

As an additional note, I have only used “bork” in this blog once, over 200 days ago, during the development of Cluster.  I think I prefer it more in speech, where the hardness of the vowel sound indicates true breakage.