"Ooze" feels icky
Valleyspeak — the jargony language of Silicon Valley that no one ever asked for — sounds particularly silly when it's used for anything social. Just think of the way techies think about relationships — "friend list," "people aggregator," "instant-messaging buddies" — and it starts to sound like the way clinical autistics describe relationships. When typical social concepts aren't hard-coded into geeks' minds, they have to invent the language.
One expects to hear these words from entrepreneurs or engineers — but not from a savvy guy like satirical cartoonist Hugh Macleod. And yet, he writes on his blog:
What is an Object of Sociability [OoS, or "Ooze" for short]? "Ooze" is simply something that allows you to engage with another person. It could be anything. It could a party. It could be a bottle of wine. It could be a hyperlink. It could be a social gesture. It could be social currency. It could be doodling a cartoon on the back of a business card at a bar and giving it to the cute barmaid. You tell me.
Ooze. Gross.
