Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

PACKET INTERNET GROPER

Specialty Definition: PACKET INTERNET GROPER

Domain	Definition
Computing	Packet InterNet Groper (ping, probably originally contrived to match submariners' term for the sound of a returned sonar pulse) A program used to test reachability of destinations by sending them one, or repeated, ICMP echo requests and waiting for replies. Since ping works at the IP level its server-side is often implemented entirely within the operating system kernel and is thus pretty much the lowest level test of whether a remote host is alive. Ping will often respond even when higher level, TCP-based services cannot. The term is also used as a verb: "Ping host X to see if it is up." The Unix command "ping" can be used to do this manually and to measure round-trip delays. The funniest use of "ping" was described in January 1991 by Steve Hayman on the Usenet group comp.sys.next. He was trying to isolate a faulty cable segment on a TCP/IP Ethernet hooked up to a NeXT machine, and got tired of having to run back to his console after each cabling tweak to see if the ping packets were getting through. So he used the sound-recording feature on the NeXT, then wrote a script that repeatedly invoked ping, listened for an echo, and played back the recording on each returned packet. Result? A program that caused the machine to repeat, over and over, "Ping ... ping ... ping ..." as long as the network was up. He turned the volume to maximum, ferreted through the building with one ear cocked, and found a faulty tee connector in no time. See also ACK, ENQ, traceroute, spray. Unix manual page: ping(8). (1995-03-28). Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing.
Post & Telecom	A program useful in testing and debugging local area network/wide area network troubles which sends out an echo and expects a specified host to respond back in a specified time frame. Source: European Union. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Frequency of Internet Keywords: PACKET INTERNET GROPER

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day
packet internet groper	21
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Modern Translation: PACKET INTERNET GROPER

Language		Translations for "PACKET INTERNET GROPER"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Danish		PING-program (PING), PING (ICMP, Internet control message protocol, PING). (various references)

Dutch		Packet Internet Groper (PING). (various references)

Finnish		ping (PING). (various references)

French		recherche de paquets internet. (various references)

German		PING (ICMP, Internet control message protocol, PING), Packet-Internet-Groper (PING). (various references)

Greek		PING (PING), πακετικός ψηλαφητής Ιντερνετ (PING). (various references)

Pig Latin		acketpay internetay opergray

Portuguese		PING (PING), pacote rastreador da Internet (PING). (various references)

Spanish		búsqueda de direcciones de Internet (PING). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

INDEX

1. Expressions: Internet
2. Translations: Modern
3. Bibliography

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.