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gorets /gor'ets/ n.

The unknown ur-noun, fill in your own meaning. Found esp. on

the Usenet newsgroup _alt.gorets_, which seems to be a

running contest to redefine the word by implication in the

funniest and most peculiar way, with the understanding that no

definition is ever final. [A correspondent from the Former Soviet

Union informs me that `gorets' is Russian for `mountain dweller'.

Another from France informs me that `goret' is archaic French for

a young pig --ESR] Compare frink.

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=

gorilla arm n.

The side-effect that destroyed touch-screens as a mainstream

input technology despite a promising start in the early 1980s. It

seems the designers of all those spiffy touch-menu systems failed to notice that

humans aren't designed to hold their arms in front of their faces

making small motions. After more than a very few selections, the

arm begins to feel sore, cramped, and oversized -- the operator

looks like a gorilla while using the touch screen and feels like

one afterwards. This is now considered a classic cautionary tale

to human-factors designers; "Remember the gorilla arm!" is

shorthand for "How is this going to fly in real

use?".

The Jargon File, Version 4.2.2, 20 Aug 2000 · 第 748 / 1941 题