thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) (08/05/89)
Was reading something (which I found to be funny) in the August issue of the magazine "DEC Professional", and want to share it for your amusement. In a discussion of streaming tape backup units, an operational and/or config problem which causes the tape to stop, rewind/backup, then restart because the drive wasn't being "fed" data continuously was referred to as: "... shoe-shining your data ..." WOW! Would YOU want YOUR data "shoe-shined"? Does this mean software vendors should toss in a bottle of Shinola along with their manual and warranty card? :-) :-) :-) Seriously, other than having the oxide rubbed-off down to clear mylar (which I *HAVE* seen happen with large auto-loading reel-reel tape drives) when a tape section is continually spaced and backspaced over the heads, has anyone: 1) heard of the phrase "shoe-shined" in this context, or 2) heard of such a problem with streaming tape units? Another euphemism I've heard recently is "Big Red." We know that "Big Blue" refers to IBM, but to WHOM does "Big Red" refer? My guess is Unisys, but ... Are "Marketing Types" coining these phrases, or what? I recall also the term "waterfall" used to describe the line of H-P plotters in which the paper moves in one axis and the pen(s) in another (contrast with drum and flatbed plotters). Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]
eachus@mbunix.mitre.org (Robert Eachus) (08/08/89)
I don't know about the other expressions, but once upon a time "Big Red" was Honeywell for the color of their mainframes. How the mighty (and the mainframes) have fallen. Robert I. Eachus