Quote:
Originally Posted by pilotbob
The only reference I know of this is when a pilot for an airline needs to get from one place to another he will "dead-head" on another flight that he isn't part of the crew on, to get where he is going.
|
The same term is applicable in other forms of transport.
Quote:
|
Not sure, I must have missed that one. But, I probably took it at the litteral meaning of traveling around without much of a destination in mind.
|
Alfred Bester used the term in _The Stars My Destination_ for teleportation practiced by the characters. The trick was, you had to have a clear mental picture of where you were now and where you were going, or your destination would be indeterminate (with fatal results for you and possibly others.)
Quote:
|
Doctorow seems to like to use unix/linux admin terms alot. The grep command in unix/linux is used to search the contents of files. So, in the books this means searching for or looking for.
|
Doctorow used to be a *nix sysadmin, so no surprise.
Quote:
|
You might have heard grok too... that is basically a term for "understanding" something. It also is based on a unix command.
|
Nope. It was created by the late Robert A. Heinlein, in his novel _Stranger In A Strange Land_. It's a Martian word, and means roughly "to understand something so completely you merge with it and become part of it." It has roots in the Martian word for "drink".
There is no grok command in any *nix distribution I'm aware of. (
I'm a *nix SysAdmin. I think I'd notice if one existed. Mind you, I wouldn't
mind a grok command. *nix man pages can be obscure on occasion.)
______
Dennis