So he comes out looking something like the cartoon character Cathy-- yeah, but that's the nature of the medium. St.Jude would look exactly the same, only no hat. Being subtle or elegant in ascii is a real challenge. <<attitude>>: Strutting. Sneering. Being BAD. Attitude is what all primates do to make their enemies feel inadequate. Keep it in mind. <<bah>>: Expresses the whole range of haqr negative emotions, from dysgruntlement up through horrible contempt, as in response to <<lameness>>. <<bahaha>>: A haqr evil laugh. Other common evil laughs are BYaa-hahah and pchtkwaaahahahaha. <<bang>>: Old haqr term for exclamation point. Sometimes bangs are a series of characters to add emphasis: w00t@%$%$@! <<BBS>>: A computerized bulletin-board system. Imagine a bulletin board in the sky. It's subdivided with topic labels. The cards displayed under each topic are email postings. You read them to follow the conversations. You can add your own comments or rebuttals. Some boards have a chat area where you can talk real-time, sort of like ham radio. The underground BBS chat areas are hangout places where bored hacker/phreaker types exchange quips and insults. Good H/P boards have libraries of up-to-date info on tools of the trade. <<beta release, in beta test>>: Not ready for prime time. This comes from the beta phase of program testing, when bugs are collected from patient users up for major <<lossage>>. "In beta" can describe anything unpleasing or forked up. If it's really <<FUBARed>>, it can be called ALPHA-release, which is software still being tested in-house, by programmers and unlucky affiliates. <<Big Room, The>>: Used to refer to the place you went OUT to, with one big bright light up there or else many small ones, you know? Now means the place you go INTO, the new Big Room-- Cyberspace. <<bogus>>: Untrue. Unreal. A spoof. Also, bogosity, which is the state of being bogus, and bogon, a unit of bogosity. Then there's the bogometer... <<boho>>: Bohemian. Means like, counter-cultural. Underground. Alternative, with people in black clothes. <<boxing>>: Using a gadget to get free phone calls. The Red Box plays the tones of coins registering in a pay phone. The Rainbow Box incorporates many previous boxes in one diabolical widget, thanks to our Dutch buddies. <<bridge>>: A <<hack>> into the phone company itself, allowing multiple <<phreakers>> to cross-talk, like a high-tech, illegal party line. Appropriating the phone company's own <<PBX>> systems is considered good <<phun>>. <<btw>>: By the way, in <<hackerese>>. <<carding>>: Making purchases on a phony or stolen credit account. The card as a physical chunk of plastic has become more or less irrelevant. <<celibate>>: Non-hacking hacker. Sometimes this is a haqr who has been <<newtered>>. <<clueless, a>>: (by analogy from "a homeless"??) One who doesn't get it and is doomed.