New bad-taste milestone

Fri Sep 9 14:58:22 UTC 2011

Why invoke computer "cache" when, as John says, a spelling error for
"cachet" makes better sense, particularly if the writer thought it was
spelled {cache' }?

But that's not the bad-taste milestone I was thinking of.

JL

On Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 10:29 AM, Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: New bad-taste milestone
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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=92t 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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> > -----------------------
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> > 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--al=
> l
> > 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
> compute=
> rs
> > 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
> ignoran=
> ce
> > of the reporters. The most likely target customer is between 30 and 50
> an=
> d,
> > 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
> (wher=
> e
> > 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
> mak=
> es
> > > later retrieval of data easier. Perhaps, the author had this in mind
> an=
> d
> > > 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
> spellin=
> g
> > > > has not been altered.
> > > >
> > >
> >
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