Tech Lingo for User Errors

Hi there. You have A Way with Words.

Hi there. My name is Kira.

Hey, Kira. Where are you calling us from?

I’m from Evansville, but I’m currently in Chicago.

What’s on your mind today?

So I was calling in because I heard a little bit of a phrase from a co-worker of mine a little while ago, and I wanted to hear some input on it. It took me a little bit to understand and fully grasp.

So I work in phone repair, phone sales, phone service, and I had a customer come in who was a little belligerent, a little confused. And I tried to get through it, but the customer was just not having it. So I ended up passing him off to a buddy of mine. About 15 minutes later, customer leaves, seemed to be in a better mood. I looked at my coworker and I said, what was going on there? And he said, oh, it was a ID10T issue. And I said, huh? And he said, write it down and get back to me. And so I wrote it down and I had a good giggle about it. But I just want some more input on that, where that comes from, or any sort of history you guys may know on it. I-D-10-T error.

So you figured out that it spells what?

It spells idiot.

Yeah, because the 10 looks like an I-O, so I-D-I-O-T. And so basically it’s saying it’s the user’s fault. Not a thing you would say in front of the user, though.

No, he waited until he had already left the store. It was humorous, in my opinion.

Well, you know, Kira, I worked in information technology for a long time, and I knew this, too. It’s part of the folklore of the computer field, particularly on the support side, where users will come to you all worked up, like you said, and not realize that the problem is with something that they’re doing and not the machinery or the technology at all. And this particular one I love because it demonstrates something really important.

Back before we had a computer in pretty much every house, before we all had smartphones, the military had them. So a lot of this old language like this goes back to the military. And so you can find a bunch of different spellings of this. Sometimes it’s ID10Tango. And also sometimes it’s used as hazing language. Like back in the day, they would tell somebody, yeah, I need you to go get me some of the ID10T forms. So we can fill those out. And there’s no such thing as ID10T.

And so this is before the World Wide Web when there was an internet, but not a World Wide Web. And this is like BitNet and Usenet and things like that. So it’s got some years on it. And there’s a few more of these that they use in the military that are very similar. So they look, when you write them out or when you say them in a particular way, like typical military jargon. And it takes you a second, like you did to puzzle it out.

So here’s one. If I tell you to go fetch a Red Bravo Alpha 1100 November with the string attachment, what am I telling you to get?

That’s a Red Bravo Alpha 1100 November with a string attachment.

I can’t picture it.

I’m telling you to go get a balloon.

Another one is you would tell the newbies, particularly in the Navy, to look out for low-flying GU-11s and B-1RDs.

GU-11, B-1RD.

Goals and birds.

I wish I had a piece of paper in front of me.

Goals and birds.

Goals and birds.

Look out for low-flying goals and birds.

So there’s a ton of this stuff.

I mean, military humor is just this kind of, you know, in the face of what could be one of the worst days of their lives, are one of the worst events for a nation, which is to go to war.

They find dark humor and they find ways to josh and tease each other to kind of bring the overall mood and temperature back to an even keel.

And this kind of language is really important for that.

I just love that it’s so witty and dry.

Yeah.

Like there’s not a lot of depth to it, but it’s also genius at the same time.

Yeah.

Well, that’s humanity for you.

Another famous one that is still used today in technology circles, I don’t know that this one comes to the military, but I would not be surprised, is you would just write on a ticket that you closed when somebody filed a problem ticket.

You would just write P-E-B-C-A-K.

I know that one.

Problem exists between keyboard and chair?

Between chair and keyboard.

Yeah, exactly.

Oh, I’m going to start using that one.

That’s pretty much like the ID10 error.

Oh, wow. Similar, but not enough that you could guess it just by reading it.

Yeah, yeah. You’d have to know. You’d have to be a little more inside to get that one.

But it’s definitely part of the folklore of the tech world.

And again, you know, the military had computers and computer systems, computer networks, long before they showed up in everyday households.

And so they developed this kind of language before it even reached most offices or most businesses.

That’s awesome.

Thank you so much for teaching me a little bit more about the lore behind it and some more fun phrases to throw around the workplace.

Yeah.

Thanks for giving me one.

ID10T.

I like that.

ID10T.

Thank you so much.

You take care of yourself now, all right?

Have fun in Chicago.

Thank you.

You too.

Bye.

Bye-bye.

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