Years ago we made a list of phrases we’ve heard in IT. These are phrases you may hear in the server room or when someone is on the phone with end-users.
“Try it and see…”
“Who knows?”
“Reboot it” ”It’s working now.”
“Ok, let me get this straight… “
“Is Google dumb today?”
“Why does every forum say check for a virus?”
“Did that hard drive just click?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Are we busy? Nah.”
“It worked yesterday.”
“How did they do that?”
“Try it again.”
“Try it now.”
“I don’t have a clue.”
“What do you think?”
“It should work now.”
“I don’t get it.”
“What the…”
“Really, did that just happen?”
“Is your caps-lock on?”
“Don’t tell me that.”
“I hope that just broke.”
“Did you see that?”
“Watch this.”
“That ain’t good.”
“That’s just great.”
“Did you see that?”
“How did that happen?”
“Don’t touch it until we can send someone.”
“Don’t let them touch anything.”
“They could break a steel block with a feather.”
“Did the lights just blink?”
“I don’t know.”
“You got me.”
“Let me think.” This is the time a manager will walk by when you are just sitting there.
“It’s a mystery.”
“We’re doing what?”
“Have you seen the DVD for _______?” Fill in the blank, this is the DVD you need…now.
“They need what?” This is always followed by “When?” Which in turn is followed by an answer
with the shortest possible deadline.
“Slow down. Now say that again.” This is an indicator of not listening even though you are
trying your best to not focus on the other 3000 things you have on your mind.
“Put paper in it.”
“How many times did they push print?”
“Do you hear that?”
“Where does this cable go?”
“Why does stuff always break on Monday?”
“Why does stuff always break on Friday?”
“What is that noise?”
“Hit it on the side.”
“Do you smell smoke?”
“Get your book off of the keyboard.”
“They need a what?”
“Who let them touch it?”
“They have a virus but they never get on the web?”
“You ever seen this?” This is almost always met with a “Nope.”
“When did you first notice this?” “Last month?” ”Why didn’t you say something?”
“You dropped it behind the rack?” This is usually met with a matter-of-fact look and the
response – “It will stay there until the end of time.” or ”It’ll be just fine.”
“Where did this come from?”
“I’m scared to reboot, it’s running fine now.”
“It was running fine until we rebooted.”
“That software is 10 years old and they want it installed?
“Don’t touch that!”
“Where’s a pen?”
“We’ll get that tomorrow?”
“Where did we put that memo?”
“What did we do with ________?”
“Where’s that adapter?”
“Who wrote these instructions?”
“You figure that out yet?”
“It’s ip was…”
Actions you will see -
IT personnel with eyes closed and their head when rebooting some servers.
Looking away during a reboot.
Looking down during a reboot.
Eyes looking at ceiling when thinking.
Leg shaking when sitting.
Pen tapping.
Pen clicking.
Pen wiggling.
Mouse shaking.
Hitting the spacebar really fast to wake a computer.
Mouse moving in slow circles during software installation.
Grabbing the installation window of software and moving it in slow circles during an install of
software.
Three or more IT personnel crowded around a monitor.
Heard a phrase in IT? Send us a comment.
” Can I have an iPad “
Put in a ticket and the one that I hate to hear the most is …” Some error popped up” WHAT DID IT SAY!!!
[...] Phrases you may hear in IT [...]