1 EAGLETON NOTES: WYSIWYG

.

.

Wednesday, 11 August 2021

WYSIWYG

For very many years one of the things that my brother (CJ) and I have done when having breakfast or morning coffee in each other's company is the Times 2 Crossword.  Now that my Sister-in-Law (Jo) has arrived on Lewis she has joined us. 

Today, when Jo and I were doing the crossword, one of the clues produced the acronym WYSWYG from the clue "What you see is what you get." When I said that, Jo was unimpressed. She had never heard the term. Later CJ was similarly unimpressed and had not heard the term. 

It seems to me to have been around for years and was in common usage. Am I alone? 

It poured all morning. The view through the window rather reminded me of an Impressionist painting.

Today was a day of food preparation, cooking and baking. I have a rather too many courgettes(zucchini) from my polycarb so decided to make carrot and zucchini cake. It was rather overdone despite giving it less time in the oven than the recipe said.  CJ and Jo like salads so I made a bean, pulse and many other things salad to go with the evening meal. A bowl of humous followed and a tray of cornflake crunch. Then my fail-safe desert/pudding - an Amaretto syllabub - to finish off. 





56 comments:

  1. The view from your window is exquisite.

    I have known the acronym WYSIWYG (pronounced wizzy-wig) for at least 30 years, but I worked in software development departments in a couple of start-up companies (I jest) called IBM and AT&T. I would guess that the term is not common among the general population, however.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment, Bob. It will be interesting to see as I read the rest of the comments how the 'knows' and 'don't knows' pan out.

      Delete
  2. WYSIWYG was replaced by WIMPs. Proper computer users thought of WIMPs as a toy. Bill Gates stole the idea from Xerox.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now you have me Tasker. I've never heard of WIMPs in relation to computers. I thought it stood for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles. Well I didn't actually but that's what Mr Google told me until I asked it specifically for computer jargon.

      Delete
    2. So as not to leave others baffled: Windows, Icons, Menus (or Mice) and Pointers. Also called GUIs. I'm told that the vogue term is now "UX" for User Experience.

      Delete
    3. I can confirm that. We keep having "UX Workshops" at work for the big IT project I am part of.

      Delete
  3. I can't remember when WYSIWYG entered my vocabulary, it seems to have been with me for a long, long time. I spent my working life first in the aircraft industry and then in the aerospace field. Maybe that is where I picked it up. I also equate the phrase with a finished product.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jill. I can't recall when I first heard the phrase either but it was long long ago.

      Delete
  4. These bakery items look so delicious.

    Your flowers are lovely. WYSIWYG is a newby for me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Susan, the cake was okay and very tasty but definitely overcooked. I think I'll stick to my usual repertoire.

      Delete
  5. Awesome looking food! I'm impressed.

    ReplyDelete
  6. No, not come across WYSIWYG, but it sounds quite nice. Wizzy-Wig.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cro, I've always loved the sound of the acronym and so much easier than saying the whole thing.

      Delete
  7. I have not come across WYSIWYG before, either. And that is with me doing almost all my reading in English.

    Can I come and stay at your place for a while? The views from your windows alone would make it worth the long trip, but your cooking would be an extra bonus hard to beat!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Meike, you are my first real surprise. I would have counted on you knowing. You and OJ are welcome any time - there's plenty of walking! I'm a passable self-taught cook and baker but my wife was a superb cook and baker and she passed the natural skills onto our son Gaz.

      Delete
    2. To clarify: It is the acronym I had not come across before, not the actual sentence; I am rather familiar with that, as it is the way my late husband described my sister to me when I once asked him what he thought of my family.

      Delete
  8. Your garden and your cooking, double the pleasure today. As for WYSIWYG - That's a new one to me. But I've never been much into acronyms.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Pauline. So far the 'don't knows' seem to have it.

      Delete
  9. The first image is superb, it would be worth playing with different focal lengths if you get the chance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PS. what I see is rarely what the computer sees. I can just about manage G-Code but even then have to run it in demo mode first.

      Delete
    2. Thanks for the tip, Adrian. I only saw the 'Impressionist' idea by accident but next time the same situation occurs I shall have a play. As for your PS I have absolutely no idea what G-Code is.

      Delete
    3. It's supposedly simple programming for CNC machines. It is not that simple as I find it really easy to foul up.

      Delete
  10. What lovely food, especially the bowl of salad.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Than's for your comment, Devon Mum. I can't recall a comment from you before so welcome.

      Delete
  11. I've always used the term WYSIWYG.
    The salad looks delicious and is making me feel quite hungry now. It must be time to eat some breakfast. X

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, Jules, another positive. Thanks. Yes, I can imagine the salad being something you would happily take up a mountain. I used to eat it for my lunch a lot in New Zealand.

      Delete
  12. Like you, I have known 'wizzy-wig' for at least 30 years. I wonder what other things some of us know and take for granted of which others are unaware?

    If what you see is what you get, I would love to have lunch with you, that bean & feta salad looks right up my street {grin}.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for being a 'know'. We may win yet! You would be welcome for lunch at any time!

      Delete
  13. I first heard the term WYSIWYG when I was a member of an IT project team many years ago but it is not something I come across in everyday life these days.
    You certainly eat very well in your house!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, JayCee. I certainly try to eat healthily.

      Delete
  14. That reminded me of a wooden board above the back of a pub bar in Jersey, with WYGMAPIITYWIM painted on it.
    When asked the barman said 'Will you give me a pound if I tell you what it means? It took a while for the penny/pound to drop.
    I rather fancy the Amaretto sillyblub.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Potty, thanks for the laugh. I think I shall use that - or adapt it. The Amaretto Syllabub shall evermore be known as a Sillyblub and I shall think of you every time I make it - which, by popular demand, is frequently when I have guests or friends for dinner.

      Delete
  15. I am familiar with the term of course but I am not familiar with the acronym. I am often described thus.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rachel, I have seen you thus described and it seems a very fair description to me. I have been popping over and reading your posts. I shall be commenting again soon. You know what it's like when you have people staying.

      Delete
    2. Thank you Graham. And yes, I do. Your cooking looks lovely.

      Delete
  16. I had heard of it many years ago.
    Food looks delicious. Yum!
    Saw this on another blog today. Have you tried it?
    https://www.royalstornoway.co.uk/dine/the-boatshed.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Fi, for being another 'yes' and yes, I have eaten at The Boatshed many times. It's consistently good.

      Delete
  17. I don't particularly like acronyms. There is something lazy [to me] about them. Not that that stops me knowing more than I would like to. Yes, wysiwyg I have long been familiar with. Foul excuse for people who can't be arsed to make an effort (no offence to Rachel - a self confessed wysiwyg, see above).

    Without going all philosophical on you, the trouble with the expression itself is that someone's vision of you does not necessarily match the reality. So, essentially, they do NOT "get" you. Never mind. I currently have enough knots to unknot without tying myself into another one.

    The view out of your window is sublime.

    U

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ursula, in this particular case I think it started out in the computer programming industry with a very specific meaning but was then appropriated into the general vocabulary. I rather like acronyms when I can remember what they stand for! As to whether any statement is applicable, whether or not an acronym, is, of course, a matter separate from the acronym itself.

      Thank you. I think the view is hard to better and is probably why some tasks take me so long.

      Delete
  18. Beautiful window painting. You could enlarge and frame it.
    Good looking food! WYSIWYG acronym I don't see often, but the expression itself has been around for ages. I had to look it up, Flip Wilson's bit 1960s era. I'm not surprised it is new to your relatives. Generations catching up thing.
    There's been a few words from the 1960s I've read being used as IDs and such that have negative meanings. I sent a polite BTW email to tell them. Folks have always appreciative. Well, except for that one blogger posting moldy books, seriously moldy books any book collector would cringe seeing. In so many words, he told me I don't matter because I'm not in his target market.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Maywyn. Fortunately I can look out of the window but every view is transient and that particular view would look good as a picture. Thank you for the idea.

      Delete
  19. The rainy flowers view from your window does indeed resemble an impressionistic painting, Graham, and without any digital manipulation. I did know the meaning of WYSWYG but unsure how or when it entered my mental databank, perhaps when still in an office job?
    This is the time of year for an abundance of courgettes and zucchini here and while your gread was well done, it possibly tasted delicious as you didn't say. The rest of the food photos made me hungry for dinner here which won't be for another hour or so.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Beatrice, for the photo/painting compliment. Thanks, too, for adding to the plus side of the WYSIWYG discussion. The family agreed that the cake tasted good even though rather overdone although my brother prefers my fruit cake. I'm not really a cake-eating person. I just make them.

      Delete
  20. As far as I can recall, I've never come across the acronym WYSIWYG either. The expression it represents I'm familiar with, but the connection would not have jumped to mind for me.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I haven't had a bean salad in literally years, in the 1970s my mother use to take it in a big bowl to bbqs we were invited to, so yummy thought and I haven't heard that saying for a while but it use to be popular here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, Amy, yummy describes it perfectly. I still use the term

      Delete
  22. You are a man of many talents. Your meal is a gourmet one. Well done. No I didn't know the acronym. The Monet photo is lovely so is your garden.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Diane, it probably can be summed up for me as being a jack of many trades but master of none.

      Delete
  23. If a far-seeing TV producer stumbles across this blogpost, he or she may well hatch an idea for a new cooking programme... "Gobbling with Graham" in which our genial host guides us through some of his favourite recipes. The theme music would be a Gaelic song of love - "Tha thu fada bhuam".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your, I'm sure now long-forgotten, comment, YP. I've been far from everyone recently. I'm afraid that 'Gobbling with Graham" doesn't sound in the least bit inviting.

      Delete
  24. I knew WYSIWYG but had no idea it originated in IT.
    You cooked up a feast, didn't you? I bet it was appreciated

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Kylie. So far as I can recall that far back it was probably appreciated.

      Delete
  25. Most of my "real jobs" (including the one I have now) were/are forged in the deepest circles of Acronym Hell, so I have developed the strange talent of being able to figure out what they mean even if I haven't seen them before. I looked at WYSIWYG and figured it out before I read your explanation. IDK why people feel the need to use acronyms so often, but IMHO the acronym should be banished unless it forms an entertaining alternate word which relates to the topic that it references. TMI, perhaps, but IDC. For those who can't figure out acronyms on their own, I say GIYF.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Marcheline for your entertaining examples of Acronym Hell.

      Delete

Comment moderation is activated 14 days after the post to minimise unwanted comments and, hopefully, make sure that I see and reply to wanted comments.