New bad-taste milestone

Fri Sep 9 14:29:20 UTC 2011

I thought the writer may have been using "cache" as a synonym for "memory".
So the sentence could have been written: "The ice cream flavor aims to cash
in on the nod-and-a-wink premise of the skit, and on the cache [memory of
this partiular episode] of the show." My own "cache" of SNL contains
Coneheads and Wild and Crazy Guys: I never watched it much past those glory
days. This episode aired in 1998 so Ben and Jerry may think that is recent
enough for a lot of people to remember and relate to it.

 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072562/episodes

This is only a conjecture (I don't know what the writer intended-or if they
were misquoted).

I do hear many computer metaphors used nowadays to describe
human--especially mental-- funtions. When people are frustrated and
overworked, they may say something like, "I am running out of RAM" or "I
need to upgrade my CPU", as a way of describing their mental state.
e.g.:
"If we were to recollect every little detail in everything we see, hear,
taste, smell or feel, we wouldn’t be able to do anything else. Like a
computer running out of RAM we would eventually crash or freeze and stop
functioning."

http://www.martinbergen.se/category/random-ramblings/

"My brain is running out of RAM"

http://www.healthcaremarketingcoe.com/health_care_social_media/health_care_social_media_chat_on_hcsm_april_3_2011.php

"Once your computer has been to a given website, it stores the files that
make up that website in its 'cache memory' on your hard-drive. This means
that when you go back to a website already viewed, your computer does not
have to download any of the files that make up that website other than the
recently changed/added files. So in turn, this means your computer comes to
view websites more through its previously stored memory.

The human brain works in essentially the same way - as we get older we view
more through our internal "cache" memory, and less directly (exclusively)
through our senses."

http://sites.google.com/site/andrewatkin3/understandingmentalsickness

Eric

On Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 4:51 AM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: New bad-taste milestone
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> But, in this case, it is completely backwards--the show is still airing,
> but
> the particular bit is practically forgotten. How is the show supposed to
> aid
> in retrieval of the memory of itself? I see "cachet" as the only option.
> "Cache" is a denomination of a number of objects in World of Warcraft--all
> with slightly different meanings, but all are either objects that hold
> other
> objects or valuable objects in their own right (essentially "cache of
> riches"). There several different uses of "cache" in reference to computers
> and computer parts. And of course, there is the more traditional usage
> (cache of weapons). The only one that even remotely fits is "cache of
> riches", but that would only make sense if it was spelled out--and, even
> then, it is not as clean as "cachet". Chalk it up to the youthful ignorance
> of the reporters. The most likely target customer is between 30 and 50 and,
> if the reporter was outside that range, [s]he would have little idea of
> what's going on until reading about it in Wiki. John Curran--AP's
> Montpelier
> correspondent since 2006--is near the top of that range.
>
> Here's the video  BTW: http://goo.gl/gLtI ("Tell us about your balls,
> Pete."
> )
>
> Here's the ABC News video introducing the ice cream flavor--with its own
> puns: http://goo.gl/iBPdh
>
> Speculations concerning the Schweddy Balls flavor have been circulating
> since June: http://goo.gl/W8FGL
>
> BTW, OED has no entry for software cache, such as the browser cache (where
> cookies, pages and/or images are stored for quick retrieval). Hardware
> (memory) cache is dated back to 1968. Gaming sense is missing entirely.
> There is also a verb for computing usage from Draft Addition 1997 (dating
> from 1983), but not the respective meaning for derivative adj. cached,
> which
> is not /extremely/ common.
>
> VS-)
>
> On Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 2:12 AM, Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >
> > In computer terminology "cache" can refer to a type of memory  that makes
> > later retrieval of data easier. Perhaps, the author had this in mind and
> > was
> > being playful with cash and cache as you suggested. I've never
> > encountered this particular meaning outside of computerland.
> >
> > Eric
> > On Thu, Sep 8, 2011 at 10:49 PM, Garson O'Toole
> > <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > The AP article contains the following sentence:
> > >
> > > The ice cream flavor aims to cash in on the nod-and-a-wink premise of
> > > the skit, and on the cache of the show.
> > >
> > > If "cache" is replaced by "cachet" then I can understand this
> > > sentence. But I do not know any sense for the word cache that fits.
> > > The story has been reproduced at several news outlets and the spelling
> > > has not been altered.
> > >
> >
>
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