Technology & Digital Terms: English Vocabulary List

used to indicate a brief absence from the game, chat, or device

"Sorry for the delay, I was away from keyboard."

"I will be away from keyboard for the next hour because I have a doctor's appointment."

to render a device completely unusable, often due to bad updates, mods, or failed hacks

"My phone bricked itself."

"Trying to install that experimental firmware unfortunately managed to brick my brand new tablet."

a software engineer who contributes very little while still receiving full pay

"The ghost engineer fixed the code anonymously."

"The ghost engineer wrote code for the startup but was not listed as an official employee."

a person who is very interested in or knowledgeable about technology

"The techie loves new gadgets."

"The techie solved his parents' computer problems every Thanksgiving while the turkey was cooking."

unnecessary, redundant, or unwanted software, files, or code in a system

"The old software is full of cruft."

"The software was full of cruft left over from previous versions that nobody had bothered to remove."

unwanted or unnecessary pre-installed software on a device

"The phone came with useless bloatware."

"The new phone came with bloatware pre installed that could not be deleted and took up storage space."

neck pain or strain caused by prolonged hunching over phones, computers, or other devices

"He has tech neck from poor posture."

"Her tech neck pain came from hunching over her laptop for hours without a proper ergonomic setup."

to write computer code in a casual or careless way, often using AI assistance

"He likes to vibe code."

"Instead of meticulously planning, he prefers to just vibe code and see what happens."

a metaphorical place where discarded or lost data goes

"The error went into the bit bucket."

"The corrupted files were sent to the bit bucket because they could not be recovered or repaired."

software inefficiency or unnecessary resource usage

"The software suffers from feature bloat."

"The software suffered from feature bloat with tools that most users never touched or needed."

a man in tech who is boastful, self-promotional, or follows stereotypical bro culture

"The techbro pitched his startup."

"The techbro pitched his startup idea with buzzwords like synergy and disruption over expensive coffee."

to completely wipe a computer's hard drive and reinstall the system to fix issues

"They nuked and paved the old system."

"The IT department decided to nuke and pave the infected computer by wiping the hard drive completely and reinstalling the operating system."

a hacker who targets systems or networks to promote a political or social cause

"The hacktivist defaced the website."

"The hacktivist group defaced government websites to protest internet censorship and surveillance policies."

unwanted or low-quality AI-generated content

"This is slop."

"The internet is unfortunately flooded with low-quality slop generated by AI tools without human oversight."

a tool or program that forcibly disconnects users from an online chat or server

"He is a punter."

"The malicious punter repeatedly disrupted the online game by kicking other players offline without warning."

influence, fame, or popularity, often on social media

"She has clout."

"The influencer leveraged her considerable clout to promote the new product launch to millions of followers."

to launch a denial-of-service attack against a user or server

"Do not nuke it."

"Launching a denial-of-service attack to nuke the server would have severe consequences for the entire network."