18-letter words containing h, o, g, c
- long-hours culture — The long-hours culture is the way in which some workers feel that they are expected to work much longer hours than they are paid to do.
- magic switch story — Some years ago, I was snooping around in the cabinets that housed the MIT AI Lab's PDP-10, and noticed a little switch glued to the frame of one cabinet. It was obviously a homebrew job, added by one of the lab's hardware hackers (no-one knows who). You don't touch an unknown switch on a computer without knowing what it does, because you might crash the computer. The switch was labelled in a most unhelpful way. It had two positions, and scrawled in pencil on the metal switch body were the words "magic" and "more magic". The switch was in the "more magic" position. I called another hacker over to look at it. He had never seen the switch before either. Closer examination revealed that the switch had only one wire running to it! The other end of the wire did disappear into the maze of wires inside the computer, but it's a basic fact of electricity that a switch can't do anything unless there are two wires connected to it. This switch had a wire connected on one side and no wire on its other side. It was clear that this switch was someone's idea of a silly joke. Convinced by our reasoning that the switch was inoperative, we flipped it. The computer instantly crashed. Imagine our utter astonishment. We wrote it off as coincidence, but nevertheless restored the switch to the "more magic" position before reviving the computer. A year later, I told this story to yet another hacker, David Moon as I recall. He clearly doubted my sanity, or suspected me of a supernatural belief in the power of this switch, or perhaps thought I was fooling him with a bogus saga. To prove it to him, I showed him the very switch, still glued to the cabinet frame with only one wire connected to it, still in the "more magic" position. We scrutinized the switch and its lone connection, and found that the other end of the wire, though connected to the computer wiring, was connected to a ground pin. That clearly made the switch doubly useless: not only was it electrically nonoperative, but it was connected to a place that couldn't affect anything anyway. So we flipped the switch. The computer promptly crashed. This time we ran for Richard Greenblatt, a long-time MIT hacker, who was close at hand. He had never noticed the switch before, either. He inspected it, concluded it was useless, got some diagonal cutters and diked it out. We then revived the computer and it has run fine ever since. We still don't know how the switch crashed the machine. There is a theory that some circuit near the ground pin was marginal, and flipping the switch changed the electrical capacitance enough to upset the circuit as millionth-of-a-second pulses went through it. But we'll never know for sure; all we can really say is that the switch was magic. I still have that switch in my basement. Maybe I'm silly, but I usually keep it set on "more magic".
- magnetorheological — (physics) describing a substance whose rheological properties are modified by a magnetic field.
- marine archaeology — the branch of archaeology that deals with the recovery of ancient objects found beneath the sea, as shipwrecks or remains from submerged islands, and with the techniques of underwater exploration, excavation, and retrieval.
- mathematical logic — symbolic logic.
- medium of exchange — anything generally accepted as representing a standard of value and exchangeable for goods or services.
- menthol cigarettes — cigarettes that are flavoured with menthol
- mergui archipelago — a group of over 200 islands in the Andaman Sea, off the Tenasserim coast of S Myanmar: mountainous and forested
- microsoft exchange — (messaging) Microsoft's messaging and enterprise collaboration server. Exchange's primary role is as an electronic mail message store but it can also store calendars, task lists, contact details, and other data.
- moccasin telegraph — the transmission of rumour or secret information; the grapevine
- monographic series — a series of monographs issued in uniform style or format and related by subject or by issuing agency.
- moulding technique — the technique used to shape a material into a frame or mould
- negative cash flow — the situation when income is less than payments
- negligent homicide — a criminal charge brought against people who, through criminal negligence, allow others to die
- neighborhood watch — a neighborhood surveillance program or group in which residents keep watch over one another's houses, patrol the streets, etc., in an attempt to prevent crime.
- neurophysiological — the branch of physiology dealing with the functions of the nervous system.
- neuropsychological — Of or pertaining to neuropsychology, the relation or combination of brain and mind.
- neutrosophic logic — (logic) (Or "Smarandache logic") A generalisation of fuzzy logic based on Neutrosophy. A proposition is t true, i indeterminate, and f false, where t, i, and f are real values from the ranges T, I, F, with no restriction on T, I, F, or the sum n=t+i+f. Neutrosophic logic thus generalises: - intuitionistic logic, which supports incomplete theories (for 0
- nightmare scenario — If you describe a situation or event as a nightmare scenario, you mean that it is the worst possible thing that could happen.
- noninterchangeable — That cannot be interchanged with another.
- nonpharmacological — Not pharmacological.
- north college hill — a city in SW Ohio.
- oath of allegiance — pledge to one's nation
- ophthalmologically — In an ophthalmological manner.
- optical brightener — an additive that dyes and brightens fabric or paper
- organization chart — a diagrammatic representation showing how departments or divisions in an organization, as a large corporation, are related to one another along lines of authority.
- orthopedic surgery — corrective operation on bones or joints
- orthotungstic acid — an oxyacid acid of tungsten. Formula: H2WO4
- oscillographically — By means of oscillography.
- outreach programme — a programme designed to help and encourage disadvantaged members of the community
- palmer archipelago — a group of islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, off the NW coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.
- pathologic anatomy — the branch of pathology dealing with the morphologic changes in tissues.
- phantasmagorically — having a fantastic or deceptive appearance, as something in a dream or created by the imagination.
- photochemical smog — air pollution containing ozone and other reactive chemical compounds formed by the action of sunlight on nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons, especially those in automobile exhaust.
- physical geography — the branch of geography concerned with natural features and phenomena of the earth's surface, as landforms, drainage features, climates, soils, and vegetation.
- positively charged — having a positive charge
- process scheduling — multitasking
- programmer's cheer — (humour) "Shift to the left! Shift to the right! Pop up, push down! Byte! Byte! Byte!" [Origin?]
- propaganda machine — the group of people, publications, etc, such as of a government, country etc, responsible for the organized dissemination of information, allegations, etc, to assist or damage the cause of a government, movement, etc
- psychogalvanometer — a type of galvanometer for detecting and measuring psychogalvanic currents.
- psychopathological — the science or study of mental disorders.
- psychopharmacology — the branch of pharmacology dealing with the psychological effects of drugs.
- psychosociological — psychological and sociological
- psychotechnologist — a specialist in psychotechnology
- publishing company — a firm which publishes books
- purchasing officer — the member of staff in an organization who is responsible for buying goods or products
- reverse psychology — (in nontechnical use) a method of getting another person to do what one wants by pretending not to want it or to want something else or something more.
- rhyming dictionary — a specialist dictionary organized by the final sounds of words, used to write poetry
- schleswig-holstein — two contiguous duchies of Denmark that were a center of international tension in the 19th century: Prussia annexed Schleswig 1864 and Holstein 1866.
- school of motoring — a centre where people pay for lessons to learn to drive