Mike Pope

Mike Pope

@mikepope.com

Tech writing & editing (update: now retired), language & words, occasional cats. Friday words when the mood strikes me (and when it's Friday): https://mikepopewords.com/

404 followers315 following797 posts

Mike Pope
@mikepope.com

WotD: gridification, "when a human performance is treated as error in need of correction and turned into a machine-perfect representation of itself." From an analysis of studio production in contemporary pop music. Feels like it might apply elsewhere also?

Mike Pope
@mikepope.com

I'm preparing for a presentation next week, and I'm at the stage where ... - I really, really regret agreeing to do it, and - I hate everything I've put together so far, and - I'm doubting that I even know anything useful This is a normal phase during preparation, right? 😶

Mike Pope
@mikepope.com

WotD: stoptional, a portmanteau of "stop" + "optional". The idea that a driver doesn't have to stop at a stop sign or red light if they feel that traffic is light, etc. Never legal afaik.

Mike Pope
@mikepope.com

Presumably an early product from the Farms of Mr Taylor, Esq.

Samuel Pepys@samuelpepys.bsky.social

Sir W. Batten tells me that Mr. Newburne (of whom the nickname came up among us forarse Tom Newburne) is dead of eating cowcumbers, of which, the other day, I heard another, I think Sir Nicholas Crisp’s son.

Mike Pope
@mikepope.com

Does "purposed to be merry" mean what I think it means?

Samuel Pepys@samuelpepys.bsky.social

To Westminster hall, and not finding Mrs. Lane, with whom I purposed to be merry, I went to Jervas’s and took him and his wife over the water to their mother Palmer’s (with whom I have two or three years ago made good sport with Mr. Mallard).

Mike Pope
@mikepope.com

WotD: "free as in puppy" to describe vibe-coded software that doesn't account for ongoing maintenance. A play on "free as in beer" and "free as in speech", pillars of the free software movement. From Dare Obasanjo bsky.app/profile/carn...

Dare Obasanjo@carnage4life.bsky.social

Vibe coded software is free as in puppy not free as in beer. Even if writing code is now cheap, you still have to maintain it.

Mike Pope
@mikepope.com

Something I don't get about SCOTUS's efforts to expand executive power is whether the conservative majority really is doing this out of ideological purity and they'd rule the same for a left-leaning administration. Surely they don't believe in a permanent conservative administration?

Mike Pope
@mikepope.com

WotD: shoppertainment/shoppertaining, "the blending of e-commerce and entertainment to help engage customers and promote sales" — specifically "interactive content, hosting live events, [or] offering unique experiences that cannot be found elsewhere". www.giosg.com/blog/what-is...

giosg.comWhat is Shoppertainment? (& How to Use it in eCommerce)Shoppertainment merges shopping and entertainment to engage website visitors. Learn what shoppertainment is and how to use it to increase your sales.
Mike Pope
@mikepope.com

WotD: dilemma action/dilemma demonstration, a "non-violent civil disobedience designed to create a 'response dilemma' for public authorities by forcing them to either concede some public space to protesters or make themselves look absurd or heavy-handed by acting against the protest." (Wikipedia)

Mike Pope
@mikepope.com

The term "chaise longue" seems to be completing its folk-etymological journey into English — at least, if Costco signage is any indication.

Mike Pope
@mikepope.com

WotD: one[-]shotted. In gaming, "the action of being defeated by a single attack" (Urban Dictionary). More recently, "psychosis brought on by a single exposure to something. Used in the context of powerful psychadelics or delusional behavior brought on by excessive ChatGPT use." (UD again) (cont)

Mike Pope
@mikepope.com

Beth's Cafe, Seattle. Particularly relevant for tech folks in Seattle, who for decades were told that "Our People Are Our Most Valuable Resource".