spod
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(spŏd) 
n. Chiefly British Slang
One who spends an inordinate amount of time exchanging remarks in computer chatrooms or participating in discussions in newsgroups or on bulletin boards.
n. Chiefly British Slang
One who spends an inordinate amount of time exchanging remarks in computer chatrooms or participating in discussions in newsgroups or on bulletin boards.
[Origin unknown.]
spodding spod'ding n.
[UK]
1. A lower form of life found on talker systems and MUDs. The spod has few friends in RL and uses talkers instead, finding communication easier and preferable over the net. He has all the negative traits of the computer geek without having any interest in computers per se. Lacking any knowledge of or interest in how networks work, and considering his access a God-given right, he is a major irritant to sysadmins, clogging up lines in order to reach new MUDs, following passed-on instructions on how to sneak his way onto Internet (“Wow! It's in America!”) and complaining when he is not allowed to use busy routes. A true spod will start any conversation with “Are you male or female?” (and follow it up with “Got any good numbers/IDs/passwords?”) and will not talk to someone physically present in the same terminal room until they log onto the same machine that he is using and enter talk mode. Compare newbie, tourist, weenie, twink, terminal junkie, warez d00dz.
2. A backronym for “Sole Purpose, Obtain a Degree”; according to some self-described spods, this term is used by indifferent students to condemn their harder-working fellows. Compare the defiant adoption of the term geek in the mid-1990s by people who would previously have been stigmatized by it. Spods in the positive sense are talker users who've accumulated a large amount of spod time, that is, they spend a lot of time logged in to that talker (for example, my spod time on Uberworld as of this moment is 131 days, 15 hours and 20 minutes). Spods are generally highly knowledgeable about talkers and SGXStalker coding, as well as computers and the internet in general.
3. [Glasgow University] An otherwise competent hacker who spends way too much time on talker systems.
4. [obs.] An ordinary person; a random. This is the meaning with which the term was coined, but the inventor informs us he has himself accepted sense 1.
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noun
noun, Brit
A dull or socially inept person, esp. one who is excessively studious; someone who pursues an unfashionable, technical, or esoteric interest with obsessive dedication. (1989 —) .
Observer Far from being an enclave for spods no one likes, the competition hall is encircled with a ring of well-adjusted confidence (1997). Hence spoddyadjective . (1990 —) .
J. Trollope Remember those French boys we had to have at school? They were utterly spoddy (1993).
[Origin unknown.]
noun, Brit
A dull or socially inept person, esp. one who is excessively studious; someone who pursues an unfashionable, technical, or esoteric interest with obsessive dedication. (1989 —) .
Observer Far from being an enclave for spods no one likes, the competition hall is encircled with a ring of well-adjusted confidence (1997). Hence spoddy
J. Trollope Remember those French boys we had to have at school? They were utterly spoddy (1993).
[Origin unknown.]
| splosh, splitter, split-arse | |
| spondulicks, spook, spooky |
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This article is about a kind of Internet user. For the indie/electroclash band from Sydney, Australia, see SPOD (band). For the Spinning Pinwheel of Death, or Spinning Pizza of Death, see Spinning wait cursor.
Spod refers to an avid user of Internet talkers, a type of online chat system. Less frequently, it may be applied to those who use MUDs as if they were talkers. The spod tends to be something of a long-term fanatic, and many have been using the same talker for a decade or more.[1] Talkers are related to MUDs,[2] but are significantly easier to run, since they do not incorporate gameplay features, and they are usually much more user friendly.[3]
The term is sometimes heavily derogatory,[4] but is often used proudly, reclaiming the word.
References
- ^ Raymond, Eric S.; et al. "Spod". The Jargon File. http://www.catb.org/esr/jargon/html/S/spod.html. Retrieved 2006-03-07.
- ^ Ito, Mizuko (1997). "Virtually Embodied: The Reality of Fantasy in a Multi-User Dungeon". In Porter, David. Internet Culture (pbk. ed.). Routledge. pp. 89–90. ISBN 0-415-91684-4. "These combat-oriented MUDs stand in contrast to non-gaming "talker" MUDs or educational or professional MUDs."
- ^ Hahn, Harley (1996). The Internet Complete Reference (2nd ed.). Osborne McGraw-Hill. pp. 498. ISBN 0-07-882138-X. "A TALKER is a multiuser talk facility that is easy to use and is devoted primarily to conversation. You connect to a talker by using telnet [...] The word "talker" is a descriptive term. For example, some talkers are muds, while others are BBSs; there is no strict definition. If it's easy to use, and you connect in order to talk to other people, it is a talker."
- ^ Jansen, Erin (2006). NetLingo: The Internet Dictionary. Netlingo Inc.. pp. 361. ISBN 0-9706396-7-8. "spod A derogatory term used to describe a lower form of life found on talker systems and MUDs. The spod has few friends IRL [...]"
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