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De - Pt| English Dictionary: Droid | by the DICT Development Group |
| 2 results for Droid | |
| From Jargon File (4.2.0, 31 JAN 2000) [jargon]: | |
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droid n. [from `android', SF terminology for a humanoid robot of essentially biological (as opposed to mechanical/electronic) construction] A person (esp. a low-level bureaucrat or service-business employee) exhibiting most of the following characteristics: (a) naive trust in the wisdom of the parent organization or `the system'; (b) a blind-faith propensity to believe obvious nonsense emitted by authority figures (or computers!); (c) a rule-governed mentality, one unwilling or unable to look beyond the `letter of the law' in exceptional situations; (d) a paralyzing fear of official reprimand or worse if Procedures are not followed No Matter What; and (e) no interest in doing anything above or beyond the call of a very narrowly-interpreted duty, or in particular in fixing that which is broken; an "It's not my job, man" attitude. Typical droid positions include supermarket checkout assistant and bank clerk; the syndrome is also endemic in low-level government employees. The implication is that the rules and official procedures constitute software that the droid is executing; problems arise when the software has not been properly debugged. The term `droid mentality' is also used to describe the mindset behind this behavior. Compare {suit}, {marketroid}; see {-oid}. In England there is equivalent mainstream slang; a `jobsworth' is an obstructive, rule-following bureaucrat, often of the uniformed or suited variety. Named for the habit of denying a reasonable request by sucking his teeth and saying "Oh no, guv, sorry I can't help you: that's more than my job's worth". | |
| From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (15Feb98) [foldoc]: | |
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droid universe. While androids look somewhat human-like, Star Wars' droids are typically fashioned in the likeness of their creators or in a utilitarian design that stresses function over appearance. Droids are equipped with artificial intelligence, though some are naturally created smarter than others depending on the function they are designed to serve. "Droid" is a Lucasfilm Ltd. trademark. {starwars.com (http://www.starwars.com/databank/droid/)}. ["A Guide to the Star Wars Universe", Bill Slavicsek, 1994, Lucasfilm Ltd.] [Was George Lucas really the first to use the abbreviation?] (2003-05-11) | |
