ASD Slang for Newbies

This is a list of some of the words used on asd which do not have their normal everyday meanings when used here which Melissa Porter and I compiled. I hope you find it useful.

Feedback (words omitted, wrong meanings etc) welcome.

Beast

Depression.

Beige

Beige folk; see "normie"

Black dog

Depression.

Brain shivers

Intermittent dizziness, sometimes accompanied by vision problems. Usually -- though not always -- associated with (1) missing a dose of Effexor or (2) tapering off Effexor (or other med) too quickly.

Circling the drain

Feeling as if a depressive episode is imminent. See Pit.

Crash

Depressive episode, usually intense and of short duration (as opposed to a major depressive episode, as defined by psychiatric criteria).

Cutting

Catch-all term for self-injury. Usually takes the form of inflicting non-lethal cuts on one's body (with razor blade, knife, etc.) but can also include burning, scratching, chewing holes in one's cheek, ripping one's cuticles, head-banging, etc. Upsetting to many, posts usually spoilered, sparks debates on symptomology.

DSM-III, -IV

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, third or fourth edition. Diagnostic criteria used by mental health professionals in the U.S. to produce precise diagnoses for insurance purposes.

EAP

Employee Assistance Program. Euphemism for ten free sessions with a counselor (some are better, some are worse). Offered as a benefit by many larger employers in the U.S.

Finger

A Unix command that provides information about users logged in, and can also be used to retrieve the .plan and .project files from a users home directory.

Flame

A flame is a post which attacks someone (usually following a post) rather than what they have said. asd is a *no-flame zone*, but it happens occasionally. Major outbreaks are called flame- wars. Definitely unpleasant. Used throughout the Internet.

Gagamaggot

Refers to posts about disgusting foods and food combinations. Another form of comic relief.

Half-life

Originally a term from nuclear physics, it means the time it takes for the concentration of a med to half in the bloodstream.

HMO

Health Maintenance Organization, aka managed care. Increasingly the insurance option of choice in the U.S.A. because providing it is much cheaper to employers (the source of health insurance for the majority of Americans who have it).

Hugs

Expression of support, sympathy, affection, etc. using braces {{hugs}}, brackets [[hugs]] or parentheses ((hugs)); recipient's name sometimes used instead of "hugs"

Lurk, lurk mode

Reading but not posting. Newcomers sometimes get the "feel" of a newsgroup by lurking for while. Occasionally, regular posters -- announced or not -- go into "lurk mode" for a while, for any number of reasons. Used throughout the Internet.

Marmite

A dark-brown savoury spread made from the yeast by-products of the brewing industry. It has a very strong, salty flavour, and is usually spread on toast or in sandwiches but it is also useful in cooking. It is akin to Vegemite and one, other or both seems to be available in most English-speaking countries apart than the USA. Definitely a "love it or hate it" type of food, it has been described as "pond scum in a jar", but the *real* argument is over the relative merits of it and Vegemite (which see) :)

Meds

Medication, usually antidepressants.

Newbie

It just means a newcomer to the Net or asd. Used throughout the Internet. It is not intended to be insulting! I came across an interesting quotation; "On irc we say that a newbie remains a newbie until they stop calling themselves one." Please bear that in mind :)

NHS

National Health Service -- especially the the system which aims at providing universal and complete health care, free at the point of provision in the U.K. Despite the efforts of succeeding governments to improve the quality of its service by implementing all the extra layers of bureacracy needed to run a money-based system, it remains relatively efficient, though less effective than it was. Its doctrine of "free at the point of delivery", is largely true (80 UKpounds will buy all the medications anyone is prescribed for a wholeyear, with no other cost for medical care). Consumer choice is limited compared to the US health industry. There are other systems called NHS (Australia's, for instance.) but this is the one that's kept me alive.

Normie

Normal person (i.e., one who does not have a mood disorder). Sometimes collectively referred to as "shiny happy people", Beige folks or occasionally as "those ******* ********s who make life intolerable by their unthinking and ignorant utterances." (There is a list of "Worst things to say to a depressed person" on the asd webpage; they are usually said by normies :)

Nutella

This is a creamy paste of chocolate and hazelnuts made in Italy (and Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, UK, apparently :) It is used in candy making, for flavouring milk drinks, and spreading on bread as a quick snack. The preferred chocolate/sugar fix for many who post to asd. It has been described as "the ambrosia of the chocolate- hazlenut spread gods". It has its detractors too, but they are few in number, though vocal. There are alternative chocolat-hazelnut spreads, (and even pure chocolate spreads for those needing the hard stuff), but Nutella has been adopted as the brand-of-choice. :)

Ping

A way of checking whether a particular host computer is currently connected to the Net. If it is, Ping will give details of the time taken to send and return data packages to it (and whether any data is lost en route!).

(the) Pit

I could wax eloquent on this, except when I'm in it! It's a name for an intense depressive episode which is usually of shorter duration than the medical definition of a major depressive episode. Other terms are used, such as the beast, or the black dog -- we all have our own images (much as we'd like to forget them). Some posters refer to -being on the edge of the Pit- or - circling the drain- or - feeling Pittish- to describe the feeling of an impending crash.

ppl

People.

p-shrink

Psychopharmacologist. Psychopharmacology is the study of the effects of drugs on behavior, combining methods of psychiatry and pharmacology.

Psych

Psychiatrist. A doctor (ie medically qualified and able to prescribe meds) who has chosen to specialise in psychiatry and taken postgraduate qualifications in that field. (Not usually used for a psychologist, who is not a doctor, and whose undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications are in psychology. Pychologists are not able to prescribe.)

Shrink

Psychiatrist.

Sig

The bit at the bottom of a post or email. It usually gives the sender's net address and name, and often includes a witty, pithy, or mindless epigram. ASCII art is also to be found here. Usenet convention is to limit it to four or five lines, and to start it with --$nbsp; (that's dash, dash, space).

Spam

"To cause a newsgroup to be flooded with irrelevant or inappropriate messages." A newsgroup can be spammed with as little as one message (e.g. asking "Why don't you all just smile and be happy?" here). According to the Blacklist of Internet Advertisers, to be spam, it mustn't be cross-posted (the same copy sent to more than one newsgroup). If it *is* cross-posted, it becomes *Velveeta* which can cause even more trouble, especially where the ngs chosen have a different approach to a common subject; one post will then spam both groups. This is the main reason cross-posting to or from asd is discouraged. Used throughout the Internet.

Spoiler

A warning placed at the beginning of a post or in its title to possible readers of that post that the contents may upset them. Used throughout the Internet (though spoilers are more frequently used here than in most ngs, simply because readers here are more likely to *be* upset).

Test post

A post send to the ng by someone who wants to see if their newsreader or anon account is working properly.

Test thread

Started when the regulars discover a new test post. The object (if such may be said to exist :) is to make the thread as long as possible without actually settling on a subject. Another form of comic relief.

Therp

Therapist.

Trank, tranq

Tranquilize, tranquilizer.

Troll

A troll is a person who posts an article designed to annoy the users of a newsgroup. Used throughout the Internet.

Vegemite

Made from brewer's yeast blended with celery, onions and salt to make a thick dark paste. Made in New Zealand and Australia, it is less sweet than the British equivalent, Marmite, and tastes less like caramel. (See Marmite for discussion)

Velveeta

See *spam*. Used throughout the Internet.

Vitamin p

Prozac (vitamin e = Effexor, etc.).

"Yo" posts

Since we tend to get jumpy when someone who posts to asd goes quiet, a rather nice custom exists; the "Yo" post, which lets us know the poster is still with us, but busy/crashed/lurking or whatever.