Thursday, October 21, 2010

Would tech support deal with you much better if you state shibboleet?

Is tech support “programmed” in such a way that you are able to get much better treatment with a top secret passcode? Some state “shibboleet” may be that special word Despite what you may be wishing for, shibboleet isn’t a secret password. The word, depending in multiple languages, does make some sort of sense.

Shibboleet can be available on XKCD

The XKCD comic is loved by numerous. It’s a “webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math and language.” The hand-drawn stick figure comic tends to cater to the more tech-minded of the web. This morning’s comic put “shibboleet” to the forefront. According to the dream the comic character was having, saying shibboleet would instantly send a tech support caller to a tech support worker who knows a lot about computers. This meant to “an individual who knows a minimum of two programming languages.”

Shibboleet opportunities

Regrettably, shibboleet had been just a dream even within the XKCD. One of two things are going to take place if you say shibboleet on a tech support call. The tech support person will probably be confused unless they have read XKCD. They also may have read the comic. If they have, they will just giggle a bit. The people who are tech support generally go off of scripts written by those who don’t even get paid enough to get a no fax payday loan instead of from comics. Saying “sibboleet” may, at least, in case you are lucky, start a good conversation with your tech support personnel.

Shibboleet has a real meaning

Some say “shibboleet” comes from the Hebrew language. If this were true, it would mean “a person of knowledge.” The malmanteau “shibboleet” probably is used to imply a reading and writing access data or passwords, for “shibbo,” and a savvy person, with “leet”. Typically this is used online with a second alphabet using ASCII characters with the regular alphabet called “I33t”..

Citations

XKCD

xkcd.com



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