if (jargon.machine)
  {var geekspeak=microspeak}
   function jargonon()
    {display geekspeak}

This Microspeak lexicon was a news item on Wired News last August ("Straight Outta Redmond", 14/08/98). Its author, Ken Barnes, was being interviewed about the linguistic idiosyncrasies of life on Microsoft's Redmond campus, which he thought was particularly fertile ground for slang or jargon: "you're blazing new trails. People are thinking in new ways, innovating constantly. It's the kind of climate where neologisms are bred like unicellular organisms". As a wordlover, Ken Barnes compiled this lexicon "as a 'living document' guide to [people] who found themselves strangers in [a] strange land". The lexicon was featured in Micronews, the company's corporate newsletter.

All extracts are © Ken Barnes and associates, 1995-1998, as featured in CinePad © Jim Emerson. The selection and comments are © Lexicon Planet.

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