Lamer is a
jargon
Jargon is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular Context (language use), communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The conte ...
or
slang
Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...
name originally applied in
cracker
Cracker, crackers or The Crackers may refer to:
Animals
* ''Hamadryas'' (butterfly), or crackers, a genus of brush-footed butterflies
* '' Sparodon'', a monotypic genus whose species is sometimes known as "Cracker"
Arts and entertainment Films ...
and
phreaker
Phreaking is a slang term coined to describe the activity of a culture of people who study, experiment with, or explore telecommunication systems, such as equipment and systems connected to public telephone networks. The term ''phreak'' is a ...
culture to someone who did not really understand what they were doing. Today it is also loosely applied by
IRC
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a text-based chat system for instant messaging. IRC is designed for group communication in discussion forums, called '' channels'', but also allows one-on-one communication via private messages as well as chat an ...
,
BBS
BBS may refer to:
Ammunition
* BBs, BB gun metal bullets
* BBs, airsoft gun plastic pellets
Computing and gaming
* Bulletin board system, a computer server users dial into via dial-up or telnet; precursor to the Internet
* BIOS Boot Specificat ...
,
demoscene
The demoscene is an international computer art subculture focused on producing demos: self-contained, sometimes extremely small, computer programs that produce audiovisual presentations. The purpose of a demo is to show off programming, visual ...
rs, and
online
In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...
gaming
Gaming may refer to:
Games and sports
The act of playing games, as in:
* Legalized gambling, playing games of chance for money, often referred to in law as "gaming"
* Playing a role-playing game, in which players assume fictional roles
* Playin ...
users to anyone perceived to be contemptible. In general, the term has come to describe someone who is willfully ignorant of how things work. It is derived from the word "lame".
A lamer is sometimes understood to be the antithesis of a
hacker
A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...
. While a hacker strives to understand the mechanisms behind what they use, even when such extended knowledge would have no practical value, a lamer only cares to learn the bare minimum necessary to operate the device in the way originally intended.
Origin
At least one example of the term "lamer" to mean "a dull, stupid, inept, or contemptible person" appeared as early as 1961. It was popularized among Amiga crackers of the mid-1980s by "
Lamer Exterminator
Lamer Exterminator is a computer virus created for the Amiga. It was first detected in Germany in October 1989. It is a boot block virus contained in the first 1024 bytes of the disk.
It is notable as the first virus known to be defensive. It ...
", a notable Amiga virus, which gradually corrupted non-write-protected floppy disks with bad sectors. The bad sectors, when examined, were overwritten with repetitions of the string "LAMER!".
The Jargon File
/ref>
In phreak
Phreaking is a slang term coined to describe the activity of a culture of people who study, experiment with, or explore telecommunication systems, such as equipment and systems connected to public telephone networks. The term ''phreak'' is a ...
culture, a lamer is one who scams codes from others and lacks understanding of the fundamental concepts. In warez
Warez is a common computing and broader cultural term referring to pirated software (i.e. illegally copied, often after deactivation of anti-piracy measures) that is distributed via the Internet. Warez is used most commonly as a noun, a plural ...
culture, where the ability to distribute cracked commercial software within days of (or before) release to the commercial market is much esteemed, the lamer might try to upload garbage, shareware, or outdated releases.
See also
* Luser
Before the popularization of the Internet in the 1990s, Internet slang defined a luser (sometimes expanded to local user; also luzer or luzzer) as a painfully annoying, stupid, or irritating computer user.p. 214
The word is a blend of "loser" ...
* Noob
Newbie, newb, noob, noobie, n00b or nub is a slang term for a novice or newcomer, or somebody inexperienced in a profession or activity. Contemporary use can particularly refer to a beginner or new user of computers, often concerning Internet ac ...
* Script kiddie
A script kiddie, skiddie, kiddie, or skid is an unskilled individual who uses scripts or programs developed by others, primarily for malicious purposes.
Characteristics
In a Carnegie Mellon report prepared for the U.K. Department of Defense in 2 ...
References
{{reflist
External links
Definition of lame - Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
- Origination of term lamer.
Pejorative terms for people
Computer jargon