Twap!
I coined a new word today while doing an Introduction to HTML talk for a newbie at work. That word is twap.
Rather than simply define it, let me give you a couple of examples of it in use.
Marketing manager:
Bruce, in the printed brochure, all the headings are underlined, but on the website you’ve missed out the underlines. Can you fix it urgently?
Me:
Twap!
or
Big Boss:
I checked the website at the weekend from my brother’s Mac, running IE5.2, and noticed that the image at the bottom of the sidebar was shifted left by two pixels! I want a full report.
Poor put-upon you:
Twap!
It’s such a great word, because it has all the monosyllabic satisfaction of yelling “Twat!” and all the conversation-terminating venom of barking “Crap!” with none of the career-damaging rudeness. In fact, the person hearing the word should leave you feeling reassured and educated, as “Twap” is, of course, an acronym for the phrase “The Web Ain’t Print”.
Have you twapped anyone today?
(I’ve just discovered your effort; I wish...
That…is awesome.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Now what you need is a big red stamp with TWAP on it! It’d be very satisfying stamping that on requests and/or people who need enlightening…
March 18th, 2008 at 1:08 am
@Matt Machell
You can get a rubber TWAP stamp for $4 at iPrint.com (it was the first ad when I Googled “free rubber stamp”):
March 18th, 2008 at 6:43 am
Great word. I’ll be using it from now on… definitely!
March 18th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
How twappy
March 18th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Invented my own acronym which have found particularly useful in recent project initiation discussions.
Ladies and Gentlefolk, I give you TITS: Think it through, stupid!
This is a versatile acronym (’this project needs more TITS‘) and is usually employed in response to those “we want a ‘web 2 technology’ like facebook and we have 42 pence to build it by tomorrow” type requests.
March 19th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Cole, I genuinely LOLed.
Brilliant.
March 19th, 2008 at 11:33 am
I find it frustrating when people seem very reluctant to try something new on a web site. Never mind ‘The Web Aint Print’, I find myself getting bothered and saying things like You Cannot Underestimate New Technology, Stupid. If only there were a more concise way of expressing it, though.
Ho hum.
March 19th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
This discussion of acronyms reminds me of an old problem: People Can’t Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms (PCMCIA).
March 20th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Har du twappat någon idag?…
Bruce Lawson, webbhjälten bakom bland annat det kanske mest skruvade bidraget som skickats in till zss zen garden och den illustre pastor Lawsons osannolika spampostkonversationer, är i farten igen.Nu har myntat det webbstandardrelaterade begreppet …
March 25th, 2008 at 10:40 pm