On 12 December 2015 at 03:00, Rich Alderson <ri...@livingcomputermuseum.org> wrote: > From: Liam Proven > Sent: Friday, December 11, 2015 10:54 AM > >> On 10 December 2015 at 20:42, Rich Alderson <ri...@livingcomputermuseum.org> >> wrote: > >>> From: Liam Proven >>> Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2015 8:33 AM > >>>> *I* never delete my emails. I have a trail back to 1994. So? > >>> Piker. > >> Um. I don't know what that means. In UK English, "pikey" is a highly >> offensive pejorative term for a person of Gypsy or Romany origin, or >> these days, more generically, a person of very lower-class origins: >> "trailer trash". I am guessing you didn't mean that. :-) > >> So, what, it means I'm very young? I'm fine with that, given I'm nearing >> 50. :-D > > Two cultures separated by a common language, and all that.
Indeed. > According to the dictionaries of American English which I just consulted, it > is > refers to small-time gamblers and others who make limited cash outlays. Hmm. Oh! OK. New one on me, and I thought I was reasonable at US idioms. I have probably misheard or misparsed it before now, thought it strangely out-of-context and moved on. > In nearly 60 years of reading and watching movies and television program(me)s, > the internalized definition I have for it is any person who does something in > a > small way. Usually used jokingly. Thus, that your collected e-mail is two > decades' less duration than mine leads to such a description. That was my general impression, but I read it as age rather than quantity. Close enough for government work. > Certainly no offense intended. Oh, none taken! >>> On the subject line topic, I read this list via an Exchange/Outlook setup, >> [...] >>> Simple. Quick. > >> This must be some strange new usage of the words "simple" and "quick" >> that I wasn't previously aware of. > > Well, given that I first learned EMACS (to give the TECO spelling) when you > were all of 8 years old, the method I described *is* simple and quick, for me. First editor. Hmm. I guess the Commodore full-screen BASIC code editor on the PET series doesn't really count. But before I used it in any anger, in Comp Sci class, I got a ZX Spectrum after playing with my uncle's ZX 81. But the Spectrum barely had an editor, either, so I mostly used Beta BASIC which was slightly (slightly) richer. (A used Spectrum 48K cost my parents £80. No idea of exchange rates in 1982-1983: at a total guess ITRO US$ 140-150? That was the most computer we could afford.) First actual discrete editor which could load and save files was probably EDT on a terminal on the University VAX in about 1985. I was never a master but I could use it. Does that have enough early-editor kudos? Probably not. :-( > Isn't this the Old Geezers club? :-) Well, quite! :-D -- Liam Proven • Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk • GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lpro...@hotmail.com • Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Cell/Mobiles: +44 7939-087884 (UK) • +420 702 829 053 (ČR)
