Live data from Hacker News

Poka-Yoke

en.wikipedia.org

1–10 of 48 posts

Re: Poka-Yoke

#2
The mainstream French word for poka yoke is "détrompeur" but I prefer its obscure and vulgar vernacular "détrompe couillon" ("couillon" has no exact English equivalent, but you might know its Italian cousin "coglione").

Whichever name one prefers, hurray for simple interlocks that save the lives and limbs or tired inattentive operators. Dioxygen and nitrous oxide in surgical operating rooms using different connectors is a great example.

Re: Poka-Yoke

#3
I like collecting little ideas like this. Slightly meta-ironically I'd describe the genre as "just abstract enough to be useful nuggets of knowledge" and I have an org file full of them. The hard part is I don't know any better name for such "concepts" so I can't search for other people's lists.

Does anyone else keep a similar collect or have advice for finding more?

(For example Gurwinder sometimes posts lists like this: https://www.gurwinder.blog/p/30-useful-concepts-spring-2024 - that's what I'm talking about.)

Re: Poka-Yoke

#4
post #2

The mainstream French word for poka yoke is "détrompeur" but I prefer its obscure and vulgar vernacular "détrompe couillon" ("couillon" has no exact English equivalent, but you might know its Italian cousin "coglione"). Whichever name one prefers, hurray for simple interlocks that save the lives and limbs or tired inattentive operators. Dioxygen and nitrous oxide in surgical operating rooms using different connectors…

For the benefit of others who aren't so familiar couillons, it's one of the many proud descendants of the Latin cōleus which means "balls" in the sense of testicles or courage. Other etymological cousins include the Catalan colló, the Portuguese colhão‎, and of course the notorious Spanish cojón.

Hardly surprising these are still popular idioms.

Re: Poka-Yoke

#5
"Yoke" is pronounced like "yo K", not like the control wheel of an aircraft.

(Then again, seeing how nobody pronounces Pokémon as Pokémon, I guess striving for accurate pronunciation is a lost cause)

Re: Poka-Yoke

#6
post #5

"Yoke" is pronounced like "yo K", not like the control wheel of an aircraft. (Then again, seeing how nobody pronounces Pokémon as Pokémon, I guess striving for accurate pronunciation is a lost cause)

> seeing how nobody pronounces Pokémon as Pokémon

I say (and usually hear, from English speakers) "poker mon" (non-rhotically). Isn't that roughly correct, allowing for differences between English and Japanese vowels?

Re: Poka-Yoke

#7
post #5

"Yoke" is pronounced like "yo K", not like the control wheel of an aircraft. (Then again, seeing how nobody pronounces Pokémon as Pokémon, I guess striving for accurate pronunciation is a lost cause)

Pokémon is kind of an edge case considering that it's originally "Pocket Monsters" anyways (even on the retail packaging) and "Pokémon" is then derived from the Japanese abbreviation.

Re: Poka-Yoke

#8
post #3

I like collecting little ideas like this. Slightly meta-ironically I'd describe the genre as "just abstract enough to be useful nuggets of knowledge" and I have an org file full of them. The hard part is I don't know any better name for such "concepts" so I can't search for other people's lists. Does anyone else keep a similar collect or have advice for finding more? (For example Gurwinder sometimes posts lists like…

I have some bookmarked, but definitely not a nice list like that one, and not as many. Do you have more like these? I love to indulge into these for a few minutes a day, during commuting on the subway. I am always wondering if its because it somehow gives instant gratification into that desire to do something meaningful with the time with very little effort, ie that something new was learned (and then usually as instantly as learned forgotten :) )

Re: Poka-Yoke

#9
Also known as "eliminating the fail state" or "rendering invalid states unrepresentable".

Unfortunately, also very attractive to being used corruptly in the political arena (see nudge theory, newspeak). Can also be downright rejected, bypassed, or ignored. See most workers/employers views on OSHA.

Re: Poka-Yoke

#10
"Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong" - Murphy

"Dubble check that spelIng" - Muphry

Murphy was a rocket engineer. One day their assistant plugged in a non-keyed connector upside down. It was very easy for that to go wrong.

Another time, in another place, a rocket assembly worker hammered in a keyed connector - upside down. It was harder for that to go wrong, but, uh, life finds a way.

Post reply on HN