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The Pessimist's guide to Engineer--talk. (what they say - what they mean)
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"That's interesting" -- Shit! I've never seen anything remotely like that before.
"We'll just run diagnostics" -- I wonder if that'll give us a clue.
"So we've eliminated XXX" -- It's probably XXX, but it's bloody hard to get at.
"I've just powered it down" -- I tripped over that bloody power cord again.
"Ok, that's good" -- What the hell was that noise?!?
"We've noticed some failure evidence" -- Something's burning...
"If you'll just..." -- I don't want to be the one to blame when it crashes.
"Yes, you'd expect to see that..." -- Hell, that's stuffed as well!
"We'll just fit a revision" -- We'll put the same version in from a different tape.
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"We were wrong, terribly wrong. (We) should not have tried to fight a guerrilla war with conventional military tactics against a foe willing to absorb enormous casualties...in a country lacking the fundamental political stability necessary to conduct effective military and pacification operations. It could not be done and it was not done."
- Robert S. McNamara
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"We will take our napalm and flame throwers out of the land that scarcely knows the use of matches...
We will leave you your small joys and smaller troubles."
- Eugene McCarthy in "Vietnam Message"
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never wrestle with a pig.
you both get dirty;
the pig likes it.
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