Monday, May 20, 2013

When Insider Jargon Enters The Mainstream

I have to admit that I still get a bit of a thrill when some hitherto obscure comic book fact - say, the origin of Captain America's strength stemming from the World War II 'Super Soldier' project - becomes common knowledge (thanks to a popular movie, in that example).

Here's a similar but different sort of example, coming from economist and Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman:

"I very much agree with Avent and Smith that Cowen, who worries that such a policy would largely lead to inflation in Germany rather than a boom in Portugal, is completely missing the point; that’s a feature, not a bug."

See what he did at the end there?  He used an expression that's been prevalent in our software industry for decades, and which has apparently now become recognizable and accessible to the general public: it's not a bug, it's a feature!

I love that sort of thing.

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