[Ads-l] to borg - 1994

Sat Jan 7 21:13:10 UTC 2017

Thank you for searching the Usenet groups. The Borg first appeared in Star Trek in May 1989, making June 1990 very close to the earliest possible date.

I took a quick look at borg, borgs, bonging and borged for 1989 and 1990 in that Usenet group and found only one instance, below. The fact that I didn’t find those other quotes means something is wrong with my search (I used the main Google interface).

1. 10 December 1990
Chris Wayne
http://bit.ly/2i2LzrS <http://bit.ly/2i2LzrS>

Both of these require the discipline and trainning of the military in order to operate as a unit or a well oiled machine (or is that - a well borged machine :-).

2. 17 June 1999
The Jargon File claims that “Borg” is a nickname for Microsoft and that “to borg” (at least in the passive) means to be forced to use Windows or Windows NT.
http://personal.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/L.Wood/jargon/jargon <http://personal.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/L.Wood/jargon/jargon>

In "Star Trek: The Next Generation" the Borg is a species of cyborg that ruthlessly seeks to incorporate all sentient life into itself; their slogan is "Resistence is futile. You will be assimilated." In hacker parlance, the Borg is usually Microsoft, which is thought to be trying just as ruthlessly to assimilate all computers and the entire Internet to itself (there is a widely circulated image of Bill Gates as a Borg). Being forced to use Windows or NT is often referred to as being "Borged". Interestingly, the Halloween Documents reveal that this jargon is live within Microsoft itself. (Other companies, notably Intel and UUNet, have also occasionally been equated to the Borg.) See also Evil Empire, Internet Exploiter.

Benjamin Barrett
Formerly of Seattle, WA

> On 7 Jan 2017, at 12:15, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> I briefly searched the Usenet database to look for pertinent forms of
> "borg". These citations can probably be antedated because I do not
> know how to search this database effectively.
> 
> By June 1990 "was Borged" appeared in the rec.arts.startrek newsgroup.
> The words referred to an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation".
> 
> Date: 25 Jun 90 02:31:52 GMT
> From: e... at cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Erez Zadok)
> Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek
> Subject: TBoBW: a realistic resolution attempt and questions.
> 
> https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec.arts.startrek/fYJ3M_mgMEA/PcagZC6CoTMJ
> 
> [Begin excerpt]
> I think that when Picard was Borged, he was made "special".  That is,
> the Borg made him more biological (read: human), than a machine (read:
> borg-like).
> [End excerpt]
> 
> In June 1993 the phrase "I've been BORGED" was used to describe
> joining a MOO community (a MOO was a text-based online virtual reality
> system). The writer, I guess, was referencing a humorous notion of
> assimilation.
> 
> Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1993 11:30:16 -0400
> Sender: "Megabyte University (Computers & Writing)" <MBU-L at TTUVM1.BITNET>
> From: MIKE BENEDICT <bene... at FOX.FCASD.EDU>
> Newsgroups: bit.listserv.mbu-l
> Subject: Re: the MOO Borg
> 
> https://groups.google.com/d/msg/bit.listserv.mbu-l/RXB_HX7L_o4/kdIF6lQkNM8J
> 
> [Begin excerpt]
> I too have been reading all the chatter about the fun that's been
> going in the MOO--growing envious as one who has been lurking....Then
> I did an impetuous thing--I registered a character on MediaMOO---I've
> been BORGED or is it MOOBORGED. I even downloaded a client and have
> ventured into the LEGO room, the T/R Bar, Netorician
> Headquarters....(all with no one there to confront me...[still lurking
> a little]}
> [End excerpt]
> 
> Garson
> 
> On Sat, Jan 7, 2017 at 1:52 PM, Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 1. English/Japanese to Dutch translator Loek van Kooten writes (http://www.loekalization.com/prozcom.html <http://www.loekalization.com/prozcom.html>):
>> 
>> ——
>> The seal turns out to be nothing but a stamp of approval from Proz.com for being a good indoctrinated, brainwashed and borged citizen on their site: someone who only sings, claps and dances because of all the great miracles performed by Proz.com's divine staff.
>> ——
>> 
>> 2. He is not a native speaker of English, but Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Borg#English) has:
>> 
>> (slang) To assimilate rivals, via corporate acquisition or religious proselytisation.
>> (slang) To turn into a cyborg, to implant machinery into people with the intent of controlling or assimilating them.
>> 
>> Usage notes
>> Use of other than the infinitive is rare. Lowercase spelling also occurs, less commonly.
>> 
>> The word is not found in the online Oxford Dictionaries.
>> 
>> 3. Urban Dictionary (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=borged <http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=borged>) takes this back to 13 May 2005 when 324430 of 9999999999999 defined it as:
>> 
>> ——
>> to be assimilated into the collective by something in an effort to forcibly take something of yours...
>> 
>> could be your computer, clan, freedom, money, effort, technological and biological distinctiveness, or your soul....
>> 
>> but you will know when you have been borged.
>> 
>> you have been warned.....
>> XP fucked up my system!!!! again!!!!
>> ive been borged!!!!!! fuck you Bill Gates!!!! AHHHH!!!!!!!!!6^%$^$*^&^*&^#$%(*^$^
>> 
>> RESISTANCE IS FUTILE…………
>> 
>> ——
>> 
>> 4. Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_Who <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_Who>) says that the appearance of the “Borg” occurred first on 5 May 1989.
>> 
>> 5. 1994 - earliest instance I find of “Borged” in Google Books:
>> Flame Wars: The Discourse of Cyberculture
>> by Mark Dery
>> http://bit.ly/2iNVaHb <http://bit.ly/2iNVaHb>
>> 
>> ——
>> Even so, the compu-slang title reminds us that our interaction with the world around us is increasingly mediated by computer technology, and that, big by digital bit, we are being “Borged,” as devotees of _Star Trek: The Next Generation_ would have it—transformed into cyborgian hybrids of technology and biology through our ever-more-frequent interactions with machines, or with one another _through_ technological interfaces.
>> ——
>> 
>> Benjamin Barrett
>> Formerly of Seattle, WA
>> 
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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