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I'm not sure where the word "dorking" came from, but it is good to know the AND/OR/NOT search syntax. I figured out NOT on my own a while back, but not the othe

I'm not sure where the word "dorking" came from, but it is good to know the AND/OR/NOT search syntax. I figured out NOT on my own a while back, but not the other two.

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
[flagged]
- Curiositry 3y ago
  I was not aware of that etymological aspect of dorking (I assumed it was an extension of dork, in the sense of nerd; and I did not know the etymology of dork). What alternative alternative term do your recommend?
  - NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
    At work we've been calling it "Google Hacking" for the equivalent search-engine activity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_hacking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_hacking But I feel that "hacking" is way too broad and non-descriptive of this activity which is more specialized. I mean, I would just call it "using parameters as they were meant to be" but most folks don't have any idea how to formulate search queries in the first place, that these operators and parameters seem like a black art.
  - zefalt 3y ago
    "Search operators" as a term seems well established.
- zetsurin 3y ago
  I wonder about this -- as I've been gently encouraged to not use "lame" (I was using it to mean poorly made, crappy, shitty). The argument at the time iirc was "it used to mean disabled so we shouldn't use it to mean poor". I said sure, because pushing back would be wasteful of both our times, and it's an easy thing to do. I often feel like these kinds of vocabulary updates don't really bring about "respect and inclusion", though, because everyone knows given context that I wasn't saying or implying that disabled people are lesser: the word has changed meaning. Similarly in this case I'd only ever known dork to mean nerd, and never that it was penis specific, or that it was somehow male exclusive. I guess i think there's a case to be made for not making words "curse words", and instead understanding that usage changes, and it's needless to to encourage people (maybe enlighten people is still cool). I guess i feel like, why cage ourselves in restrictions when intent is what matters. In this case, I do think it's a terrible name for this feature, where "search operators" is much more descriptive.
  - mlyle 3y ago
    On the one hand, you're not trying to make people lesser... On the other hand, it's interesting we do this over and over again (pejoration). Innocent words associated with disadvantaged groups start to become derogatory, are mostly abandoned from polite use to describe people in that group, but then become okay to cast around casually in other contexts.
    - techdragon 3y ago
      The euphemism treadmill strikes again. It’s a linguistic process that has been academically studied and is surprisingly straightforward once you have it laid out in front of you it’s basically “once we acknowledge word as bad, people use new_word so they can be bad without other people knowing it yet” https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/euphemism_treadmill https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/euphemism_treadmill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism#Euphemism_treadmill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism#Euphemism_treadmill
      - mlyle 3y ago
        Good mention of the euphemism treadmill. But even without euphemisms.... "Lame," "retarded," etc.-- they were direct (non-euphemistic) words describing attributes. But because they're associated with marginalized groups, they quickly become derogatory (and euphemisms to the extent that they could express negative judgment on other things: "Fortnite is lame"). In the end, language expresses who we are: even the negative aspects of us.
jruohonen 3y ago
> I'm not sure where the word "dorking" came from Your mileages may vary, but it used to be related to Google.

I'm not sure where the word "dorking" came from, but it is good to know the AND/OR/NOT search syntax. I figured out NOT on my own a while back, but not the other two.

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago

[flagged]

Curiositry 3y ago
I was not aware of that etymological aspect of dorking (I assumed it was an extension of dork, in the sense of nerd; and I did not know the etymology of dork). What alternative alternative term do your recommend?
- NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
  At work we've been calling it "Google Hacking" for the equivalent search-engine activity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_hacking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_hacking But I feel that "hacking" is way too broad and non-descriptive of this activity which is more specialized. I mean, I would just call it "using parameters as they were meant to be" but most folks don't have any idea how to formulate search queries in the first place, that these operators and parameters seem like a black art.
- zefalt 3y ago
  "Search operators" as a term seems well established.
zetsurin 3y ago
I wonder about this -- as I've been gently encouraged to not use "lame" (I was using it to mean poorly made, crappy, shitty). The argument at the time iirc was "it used to mean disabled so we shouldn't use it to mean poor". I said sure, because pushing back would be wasteful of both our times, and it's an easy thing to do. I often feel like these kinds of vocabulary updates don't really bring about "respect and inclusion", though, because everyone knows given context that I wasn't saying or implying that disabled people are lesser: the word has changed meaning. Similarly in this case I'd only ever known dork to mean nerd, and never that it was penis specific, or that it was somehow male exclusive. I guess i think there's a case to be made for not making words "curse words", and instead understanding that usage changes, and it's needless to to encourage people (maybe enlighten people is still cool). I guess i feel like, why cage ourselves in restrictions when intent is what matters. In this case, I do think it's a terrible name for this feature, where "search operators" is much more descriptive.
- mlyle 3y ago
  On the one hand, you're not trying to make people lesser... On the other hand, it's interesting we do this over and over again (pejoration). Innocent words associated with disadvantaged groups start to become derogatory, are mostly abandoned from polite use to describe people in that group, but then become okay to cast around casually in other contexts.
  - techdragon 3y ago
    The euphemism treadmill strikes again. It’s a linguistic process that has been academically studied and is surprisingly straightforward once you have it laid out in front of you it’s basically “once we acknowledge word as bad, people use new_word so they can be bad without other people knowing it yet” https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/euphemism_treadmill https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/euphemism_treadmill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism#Euphemism_treadmill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism#Euphemism_treadmill
    - mlyle 3y ago
      Good mention of the euphemism treadmill. But even without euphemisms.... "Lame," "retarded," etc.-- they were direct (non-euphemistic) words describing attributes. But because they're associated with marginalized groups, they quickly become derogatory (and euphemisms to the extent that they could express negative judgment on other things: "Fortnite is lame"). In the end, language expresses who we are: even the negative aspects of us.

jruohonen 3y ago

> I'm not sure where the word "dorking" came from Your mileages may vary, but it used to be related to Google.