Plink Ploink Plonk
Mike Bandy
spelling. He was ploinked, and he apparently wanted to be plonked
instead. A third party replied that the ploinking lady wished to
emphasize the oink. I became curious about the etymologies of
"plink," "ploink," and "plonk" meaning to killfile someone.
Perhaps "plonk" relates to the sound the computer makes when
killfiling someone. My computer doesn't make that sound, but maybe
some computers do (or did). Perhaps "plonk" relates to the sound of a
wadded paper when it hits the circular file, and metaphorically to the
sound of a fool hitting the bozo bin.
"Plink" and "ploink" are derived from "plonk." They each have
different sounds, and it's the sound that's important. Perhaps
"ploink" is more personal. The person being killfiled hits the trash
bin and squeals like a pig.
"Plonk" was not originally an acronym, but some people have devised
acronyms for the word:
Person Leaving Our Newsgroup Killfiled
Person Leaving Our Newsgroup Knowingly
Put Lamer ON Killfile.
Person with Little Or No Knowledge
First Use
Richard Sexton was the first person to use the word "plonk". He was
responding to a post in talk.bizarre (which may have been crossposted
to alt.flame), and which has since been removed from the archives.
Sexton's alt.flame post, dated November 11, 1989, was in a thread
entitled Nuevo Chico.
From: http://snipurl.com/Plonk1
QUOTE
In article <71...@tekigm2.MEN.TEK.COM> tcm...@tekigm2.MEN.TEK.COM
(Thomas A. Dowe) writes:
>>Please refrain from posting to talk.bizarre until such time as you cease to be an asshole and become at least one of: bizarre, creative, or entertaining. You are welcome to dump your rotting ordure in rec.humor or some similar group where your fellow mental defectives congregate.
>
>Make me.
*plonk*
This article was made from the finest quality words and sentances.
Minor imperfections in syntax, like the grain in fine leather, serve
to enhance it's beauty. ric...@gryphon.COM {routing site}
!gryphon!richard
END QUOTE
Second Use
Five days after the first use of plonk, Sexton used it again in
alt.flame. His November 16, 1989 post was in a thread entitled This
*is* fun, isn't it.
From http://snipurl.com/Plonk2
QUOTE
You're right.
*plonk*
(Would you do me a favour and put ``PSU'' somewhere in the header of
your articles so my kill file can weed you out in 1 pass, instead of 2
? Thanks)
"He is good with numbers, but I keep having to tell him how to work
the VCR over and over again'' -- Rajan Mahadevan's roommate
ric...@gryphon.COM {routing site}!gryphon!richard
END QUOTE
After I found the Sexton messages, I found a thread in talk.bizarre
about the origin of "plonk." It's located here:
http://snipurl.com/Plonk3.
Mark Barratt explained what it's like to be killfiled. His
entertaining message can be found here:
http://www.yaelf.com/intro.shtml.
Apparently people had newsreaders as early as 1989 which were
sophisticated enough to have killfiles. Does anyone remember that?
Thank you for your time.
--
Mike Bandy
Mark Brader
> Apparently people had newsreaders as early as 1989 which were
> sophisticated enough to have killfiles.
*Early*? rn came out in 1984.
--
Mark Brader | "Perl is a minimalist language at heart.
Toronto | It's just minimalistic about weird things
m...@vex.net | compared to your average language." -- Larry Wall
Mike Bandy
<MikeB...@hotmail.com> wrote:
An error was made the first time I posted this. (It was crossposted
to uk.culture.language rather than UCLE). I apologize for any
inconvenience. If you wish to crosspost to all three groups (or to
UCLE only), please respond to this message. Thank you.
Repeat of top-posted message
An error was made the first time I posted this. (It was crossposted
to uk.culture.language rather than UCLE). I apologize for any
inconvenience. If you wish to crosspost to all three groups (or to
UCLE only), please respond to this message. Thank you.
--
Mike Bandy
Molly Mockford
wrote in <f36q90lo49mp7cu47...@4ax.com>:
>>I became curious about the etymologies of
>>"plink," "ploink," and "plonk" meaning to killfile someone.
I always assumed that it was because anyone who feels the necessity to
announce in public the new additions to their killfile, rather than just
doing it, is a bit of a plonker.
--
Molly Mockford, who has only ever had one person in her killfile, and
he's now dead. Read this and fear.
John Hall
Molly Mockford <nospam...@mollymockford.me.uk> writes:
>At 12:33:41 on Sat, 8 May 2004, Mike Bandy <MikeB...@hotmail.com>
>wrote in <f36q90lo49mp7cu47...@4ax.com>:
>
>>>I became curious about the etymologies of
>>>"plink," "ploink," and "plonk" meaning to killfile someone.
>
>I always assumed that it was because anyone who feels the necessity to
>announce in public the new additions to their killfile, rather than
>just doing it, is a bit of a plonker.
Whereas the person who's in the killfile is presumably a plonkee.
--
John Hall
"I am not young enough to know everything."
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
Dylan Nicholson
> In another newsgroup, a man who was killfiled complained about the
> spelling. He was ploinked, and he apparently wanted to be plonked
> instead. A third party replied that the ploinking lady wished to
> emphasize the oink. I became curious about the etymologies of
> "plink," "ploink," and "plonk" meaning to killfile someone.
>
> Perhaps "plonk" relates to the sound the computer makes when
> killfiling someone. My computer doesn't make that sound, but maybe
> some computers do (or did). Perhaps "plonk" relates to the sound of a
> wadded paper when it hits the circular file, and metaphorically to the
> sound of a fool hitting the bozo bin.
>
the first definition that came up was 'cheap inferior wine'. Now I'm
perfectly familiar with the usage - but it was an American dictionary
that attributed it as "Chiefly British Slang". I always thought it
was a peculiarly Australian term, although it would hardly be the only
example of supposed 'strine' that is (or used to be) in common use in
the UK.
The term seems to have died out a little here, I suppose because
tastes in wine have become a little more sophisticated in the last 2
decades.
It is (still) used in the UK at all?
Dylan
david56
Certainly. I don't consider it to be Australian in any way.
--
David
=====
Michael Nitabach
> In another newsgroup, a man who was killfiled complained about the
> spelling. He was ploinked, and he apparently wanted to be plonked
> instead. A third party replied that the ploinking lady wished to
> emphasize the oink. I became curious about the etymologies of
> "plink," "ploink," and "plonk" meaning to killfile someone.
According to MW on-line, "plonk" is a variant of "plunk", which means,
inter alia, "to set down suddenly" or "to drop abruptly". Both seem
plausible sources for the use of the term to mean "to killfile
someone".
--
Mike Nitabach