Editor's Blog: Techie slang escapes the server room

"LOL, that code 18 thinks he's so book but really he's just a 404 CGI Joe."

No idea what I'm talking about? Me neither - but welcome to the cutting edge of tech slang.

Techie slang is escaping from the server room and invading the high street, which (if you are exceptionally unlucky) could lead to you hearing a phrase like that.

If those in the know are to be believed, the above phrase roughly translates as: "Ho ho, that techno-incompetent thinks he's really cool but he is in fact a clueless dullard."

That is, if you are convinced by some research proffered by Post Office Telecoms that claims "as the English language shifts into cyber-language, TLAs are cropping up all over the place".

We're all relatively used to LOL and OMG but it seems we are now to be plagued with other new slang such as 'book' which apparently means 'cool'.

The explanation runs that if you type 'cool' into a mobile phone with predictive text switched on, the word that results is 'book' so book has come to mean cool.

It doesn't work on my phone, which resolutely gives up 'cool' whenever I type in 2665. Maybe I'm not 'book' enough.

Other slang that IT is being blamed for includes 'code 18'. IT people have (so the Post Office claims) traditionally used this phrase to refer to a problem that was the fault of the person using the computer. And since the user sits approximately 18 inches from the screen, it became a 'code 18'.

Another piece of slang that techies use for the same purpose is Picnic - 'problem in chair, not in computer'.

'404', meanwhile, is now apparently a common term for clueless, derived from the now little-seen '404 Not Found', error message; while CGI Joe Geek is, according to the Post Office, a reference to the unfortunate reputation of those that do CGI script programming have for being dull - as dull as a plastic doll.

Possibly the strangest piece of new slang that is apparently out in circulation is 'code 35' which is the message flashed up by the ticket barriers on London Underground if your Oyster has run out of credit. Now, to be 'code 35' means to be broke.

I'm not entirely convinced. I haven't seen a 404 page in ages and my mobile can cope with me texting 'cool' very happily indeed. And I've never heard anyone called a 'code 18', unless that's what our helpdesk call me behind my back. There's plenty of geek slang out there - 'meh' seems to be undergoing something of a renaissance in the office, and there's still plenty of l33t speak out there too.

But I reckon slang is moving faster than lexicographers can measure it - some of these 'terms' unearthed by the Post Office might have been current a little while ago (although I really can't believe CGI Joe was ever widespread) but the herd will have moved on again already.

Editor's choice - things you should check out on silicon.com this week:

Check out our Microsoft Windows through the ages photo story. Which is your favourite version?

Find out what the CIO Jury thinks about positive discrimination as a means to increase the number of female techies.

And discover what the Naked CIO wants for Christmas.