Bob

bob n.

At Demon Internet, all tech support personnel are called "Bob". (Female support personnel have an option on "Bobette"). This has nothing to do with Bob the divine drilling-equipment salesman of the Church of the SubGenius. Nor is it acronymized from "Brother Of BOFH", though all parties agree it could have been. Rather, it was triggered by an unusually large draft of new tech-support people in 1995. It was observed that there would be much duplication of names. To ease the confusion, it was decided that all support techs would henceforth be known as "Bob", and identity badges were created labelled "Bob 1" and "Bob 2". ("No, we never got any further" reports a witness).

The reason for "Bob" rather than anything else is due to a luser calling and asking to speak to "Bob", despite the fact that no "Bob" was currently working for Tech Support. Since we all know "the customer is always right", it was decided that there had to be at least one "Bob" on duty at all times, just in case.

This sillyness inexorably snowballed. Shift leaders and managers began to refer to their groups of "bobs". Whole ranks of support machines were set up (and still exist in the DNS as of 1999) as bob1 through bobN. Then came alt.tech-support.recovery, and it was filled with Demon support personnel. They all referred to themselves, and to others, as `bob', and after a while it caught on. There is now a Bob Code describing the Bob nature.

--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.

"Bob" was also the name of the generic human civilian in Bungie Software's 1995 first-person shooter Marathon. As the story goes, the U.E.S.C. Marathon's voyage from Mars to Tau Ceti took long enough for at least one new generation of colonists to be born; some colonists took to naming their sons Bob, short for Born On Board. It caught on quite well, and now Marathon players happily refer to every civilian aboard the ship as Bob - affectionately or, as is somewhat more common, not so affectionately.

Bobs first appeared in Marathon 1 completely unarmed. They just ran around and got in the way, often suffering unspeakably at the player's hands (for no particular reason). In Marathon 2 and Infinity, however, they worked up the courage to grab some guns and fight alongside you, despite the countless deaths you caused them. Pretty forgiving of them, if you ask me. Of course, if you massacre enough of them within plain view, they'll start to get a bit angry.

The Bob is also known for his random chatter: such timeless phrases as "Frogblast the vent core!" "They're everywhere!" and "I'm comin' outta the booth!"

Bob (?), n. [An onomatopoetic word, expressing quick, jerky motion; OE. bob bunch, bobben to strike, mock, deceive. Cf. Prov. Eng. bob, n., a ball, an engine beam, bunch, blast, trick, taunt, scoff; as, a v., to dance, to courtesy, to disappoint, OF. bober to mock.]

1.

Anything that hangs so as to play loosely, or with a short abrupt motion, as at the end of a string; a pendant; as, the bob at the end of a kite's tail.

In jewels dressed and at each ear a bob. Dryden.

2.

A knot of worms, or of rags, on a string, used in angling, as for eels; formerly, a worm suitable for bait.

Or yellow bobs, turned up before the plow, Are chiefest baits, with cork and lead enow. Lauson.

3.

A small piece of cork or light wood attached to a fishing line to show when a fish is biting; a float.

4.

The ball or heavy part of a pendulum; also, the ball or weight at the end of a plumb line.

5.

A small wheel, made of leather, with rounded edges, used in polishing spoons, etc.

6.

A short, jerking motion; act of bobbing; as, a bob of the head.

7. Steam Engine

A working beam.

8.

A knot or short curl of hair; also, a bob wig.

A plain brown bob he wore. Shenstone.

9.

A peculiar mode of ringing changes on bells.

10.

The refrain of a song.

To bed, to bed, will be the bob of the song. L'Estrange.

11.

A blow; a shake or jog; a rap, as with the fist.

12.

A jeer or flout; a sharp jest or taunt; a trick.

He that a fool doth very wisely hit, Doth very foolishly, although he smart, Not to seem senseless of the bob. Shak.

13.

A shilling.

Dickens.

© Webster 1913.

Bob (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bobbed (#); p. pr. & vb. n. Bobbing.] [OE. bobben. See Bob, n.]

1.

To cause to move in a short, jerking manner; to move (a thing) with a bob.

W. Irving.

2.

To strike with a quick, light blow; to tap.

If any man happened by long sitting to sleep . . . he was suddenly bobbed on the face by the servants. Elyot.

3.

To cheat; to gain by fraud or cheating; to filch.

Gold and jewels that I bobbed from him. Shak.

4.

To mock or delude; to cheat.

To play her pranks, and bob the fool, The shrewish wife began. Turbervile.

5.

To cut short; as, to bob the hair, or a horse's tail.

© Webster 1913.

Bob, v. i.

1.

To have a short, jerking motion; to play to and fro, or up and down; to play loosely against anything.

Thackeray.

2.

To angle with a bob. See Bob, n., 2 & 3.

He ne'er had learned the art to bob For anything but eels. Saxe.

To bob at an apple, cherry, etc. to attempt to bite or seize with the mouth an apple, cherry, or other round fruit, while it is swinging from a string or floating in a tug of water.

© Webster 1913.