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OFF THE TROLLEY

Specialty Definition: OFF THE TROLLEY

DomainDefinition

Computing

Off the trolley adj. Describes the behavior of a program that malfunctions and goes catatonic, but doesn't actually crash or abort. See glitch, bug, deep space, wedged. This term is much older than computing, and is (uncommon) slang elsewhere. A trolley is the small wheel that trolls, or runs against, the heavy wire that carries the current to run a streetcar. It's at the end of the long pole (the trolley pole) that reaches from the roof of the streetcar to the overhead line. When the trolley stops making contact with the wire (from passing through a switch, going over bumpy track, or whatever), the streetcar comes to a halt, (usually) without crashing. The streetcar is then said to be off the trolley, or off the wire. Later on, trolley came to mean the streetcar itself. Since streetcars became common in the 1890s, the term is more than 100 years old. Nowadays, trolleys are only seen on historic streetcars, since modern streetcars use pantographs to contact the wire. Source: Jargon File.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Anagrams: OFF THE TROLLEY

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Words within the letters "e-e-f-f-h-l-l-o-o-r-t-t-y"

-5 letters: eyetooth, forefelt, foretell.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Alternative Orthography: OFF THE TROLLEY


Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

4F 46 46      54 48 45      54 52 4F 4C 4C 45 59

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

        

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01001111 01000110 01000110 00100000 01010100 01001000 01000101 00100000 01010100 01010010 01001111 01001100 01001100 01000101 01011001

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#79 &#70 &#70 &#32 &#84 &#72 &#69 &#32 &#84 &#82 &#79 &#76 &#76 &#69 &#89

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

004F 0046 0046      0054 0048 0045      0054 0052 004F 004C 004C 0045 0059

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

4940402544239254524946463959

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INDEX

1. Anagrams
2. Orthography
3. Bibliography


  

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