Working in IT, I get this a lot.
"My Screen isn't working". You mean your monitor?
"My Box!" Your vagina?
"CPU!" Your central processor unit? The chip itself has failed?

No, you mean your computer. Just fucking say it.

Another one that gets my goat is people who don't know the difference between a hub (the box with hundreds of network wires coming out) and a server. If you don't know what you mean, describe it. I don't mind. I find it easier than trying to guess what you're talking about.
(Flap Burger hasn't really got a burger made of flaps, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 21:35, 10 replies)

I wonder if mechanics* laugh at your lack of automotive knowledge...


*insert other specialist occupation
( enoughblueskyforsailorstrousers, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 21:40, closed)

I doubt it
I fix my own cars.

This is exactly my point. I don't have a problem with people who don't know anything about computers. It's my job to help them. I do, however, find it annoying when people pretend to know what they're talking about when they haven't a clue. It just makes my job harder.
(Flap Burger hasn't really got a burger made of flaps, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 21:44, closed)

I'm not sure that they pretend to know... they may really think its called a screen, or a box...
( enoughblueskyforsailorstrousers, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 23:17, closed)

Everyone where I work calls and says their hard drive is broken.
The monitor is the computer and the computer is the hard drive. As for the mechanic analogy. If someone came in to the garage and called the whole car "the engine" and the mirrors as "the windows" you'd think they were a moron. Anyone using a computer should know its called a computer.
( Peej, Sat 10 Apr 2010, 1:13, closed)

Yes, you may think they were a moron if they referred to the mirrors as windows, but your examples aren't quite the equivalent of a PC user calling something a screen when a helpdesk worker prefers the term monitor.
( enoughblueskyforsailorstrousers, Sat 10 Apr 2010, 3:00, closed)

Yes! "Hard drive".
That's another one that makes me want to pull my own eyes out.
(Flap Burger hasn't really got a burger made of flaps, Sat 10 Apr 2010, 6:55, closed)

If...
..you don't want to have to deal with people who don't know as much about computers as you, then I'm sorry to tell you this, but you might just be in the wrong job.
(SnowyTheWereRabbit the Leporid from Hell, Sat 10 Apr 2010, 1:15, closed)

You still use hubs?
They're pretty much obsolete since switches came along.
( Peej, Sat 10 Apr 2010, 1:18, closed)

I also work in IT, supporting a public service client.
I understand that most people who have to call us for support, are not computer literate.

However, if they use one every day, one would think they'd at least have basic knowledge of what the component parts are called.

That's what happens when technology becomes ubiquitous yet people aren't trained in the basic fundamentals of what they are using.

If you had someone using a typewriter every day, that didn't know what the ink ribbon was called, then you would think they were a bit simple. I fail to see why computers are any different.
(wuckfit Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori., Sat 10 Apr 2010, 3:29, closed)

Quite
I've also had customers who didn't know the meaning of 'right-clicking'.

Going back to the car analogy, that's a bit like someone driving around not knowing what the 'brakes' do, or that funny stick in the middle with the numbers on.

It's not the user's fault. I can understand they come from an earlier generation who didn't grow up with computers. But if they have to work with one, you'd think they'd at least receive some sort of training on how it works.
(Flap Burger hasn't really got a burger made of flaps, Sat 10 Apr 2010, 7:00, closed)