Date: Thu, 2 Oct 1997 19:23:01 -0400 From: Gareth Branwyn Subject: Re: "Murphy's Law" and aviation oral history "Letter, we get letters, we get stacks and stacks of letters..." Thought folks here might find this letter interesting: A couple of things for the collection: [1] Noted "Generica" in your book, Jargon Watch. I've been using the term "Generican" for about 15 years to describe the accent which most newscasters and midwesterners have -- none. I've also used it to describe people with no traceable ethnic background. [2] Jithead -- an international transportation term used to describe people-- inspired by all the shipping industry publications--who order goods on a "JIT" or "just in time" basis, and who freak a streak when told that they didn't order early enough. Usage: "The guy should have ordered it a month sooner. He's a real jithead." [3] Billy Lading -- any one of a thousand L.A.-based Asian forwarding companies who has a one-person, one-room office, a one-line phone which is switchable to a fax or modem line, and who is so low-budget they even steal office supplies (like paper clips) from incoming documentation. Regards, Warren S. Levine Seattle, Washington -------------------------------------------- Gareth Branwyn garethb2[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]aol.com, http://home.earthlink.net/~garethb2/ Contributing editor, Wired Co-author _Happy Mutant Handbook_ (Putnam) and _Internet Power Toolkit_ (Ventana) Author _Jargon Watch: A Pocket Dictionary for the Jitterati_ (HardWired)