New jargon? (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
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High rollers at casinos are known as "whales", I believe.  Possible
connection?

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Wilson Gray
> Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 4:33 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: New jargon?
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      New jargon?
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
>
> From today's NYT:
>
> The tactic of aiming at the rich and powerful with an online
> scam is referred to by computer security experts as
> "_whaling_". The term is a play on "_phishing_", an approach
> that usually involves tricking e-mail users - in this case
> the big fish - into divulging personal information like
> credit card numbers.  _Phishing attacks that are directed at
> a particular person_, rather than blasted out to millions,
> are also known as "_spear-phishing_".
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/technology/16whale.html?_r=1
> &nl=tech&emc=techa1&oref=slogin
>
>
> -Wilson
> --
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
> complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -----
>  -Sam'l Clemens
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
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