[Ads-l] ping

Wed May 18 14:27:04 UTC 2016

As another inhabitant of that world I'll chime in with Marc's definition of 'ping' and also note this is a non-standard use.

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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Marc Sacks <msacksg at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2016 9:43 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: ping

---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       Marc Sacks <msacksg at GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: ping
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In the IT world (where I live, at least during the day), "ping" has more
the connotation of "alert." When one computer pings another ("ping" is
actually the name of the program that does this), it simply requests a
returning signal that the other machine is reachable over the network. So
the word has taken on the meaning of "reach out to" or "say hello to." In
this context, I think it means that Trump has been made aware of the
disclosure.

It's possible that the writer is using the word onomatopoeically as a sharp
sound, like a pinprick, in which case the signal would be less neutral.

Marc Sacks

Marc Sacks

On Wed, May 18, 2016 at 8:09 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      ping
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> CNN:
>
> "That disclosure coming just in time to ping Donald Trump."
>
> Annoy? Irk? Prod? Provoke a reaction from?
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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