<jargon> (MIT, in parody of US TV newscasters) 1. Used in
conversation to announce ordinary events, with a sarcastic
implication that these events are earth-shattering. "ITS
crashes; film at 11." "Bug found in scheduler; film at 11."
2. Also widely used outside MIT to indicate that additional
information will be available at some future time, *without*
the implication of anything particularly ordinary about the
referenced event. For example, "The mail file server died
this morning; we found garbage all over the root directory.
Film at 11." would indicate that a major failure had occurred
but that the people working on it have no additional
information about it as yet; use of the phrase in this way
suggests gently that the problem is liable to be fixed more
quickly if the people doing the fixing can spend time doing
the fixing rather than responding to questions, the answers to
which will appear on the normal "11:00 news", if people will
just be patient.
[Jargon File]
(1998-03-24)
Nearby terms:
filing system « filk « fill-out form « film at 11 » FILO » Filtabyte » filter
