There's a joke that when an engineer says 'nontrivial,' he means 'impossible.'
Ask HN: What's your least favorite tech word? Mine's "non-trivial".
11–20 of 38 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's your least favorite tech word? Mine's "non-trivial".
#12revolutionary
Re: Ask HN: What's your least favorite tech word? Mine's "non-trivial".
#13"Trivial" itself can sound quite snotty, said in the right way.
Re: Ask HN: What's your least favorite tech word? Mine's "non-trivial".
#14kludge synergy/synergistic/synergize proactive xml
No, not kludge, please :)
It's one of the best tech words out there, it is very specific and there is no other good way of saying it without using a whole pile of words.
Re: Ask HN: What's your least favorite tech word? Mine's "non-trivial".
#15dead simple
Re: Ask HN: What's your least favorite tech word? Mine's "non-trivial".
#16Erlang!
Re: Ask HN: What's your least favorite tech word? Mine's "non-trivial".
#17synergy
(Go watch 'In good company')
Re: Ask HN: What's your least favorite tech word? Mine's "non-trivial".
#18"Configurable"
Re: Ask HN: What's your least favorite tech word? Mine's "non-trivial".
#19Idempotent.
But non-trivial does have a specific meaning: it means that we don't have any code already written or proven technique that we can simply reuse for or apply to this problem, and some new knowledge will have to be synthesized, and there's a risk in making any estimates of time/cost until more is known.
Re: Ask HN: What's your least favorite tech word? Mine's "non-trivial".
#20It's not limited to tech people, but I do hear them say it a lot: "irregardless". edit: Oh and let's not forget Scott Adam's favorite: Synergy
"irregarldess" burns my ears, too.
I also want to fight when I hear someone say "often times" (redundant) or "I don't disagree with you" (passive-aggressive double negative)