MX14 day to day.

[Jerry3904]

I only know the phrase with its historical reference--except when used humorously in hyperbole...

[anticapitalista]

So we can blame the translator (probably a Brit, or a Russian trained in British English).

I hope so! Though, Trotsky's translator in his later life was a Dutch immigrant in France who later became a naturalized American citizen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_van_Heijenoort

[Stevo]

I do see the media sharing expressions across borders. For example, the British term "gone missing" was not heard at all in America until a few years ago, then some media people started using it, and now it's an everyday expression for them.

Anyway, about qbittorrent: besides the QT4 frontend, it uses a Bittorrent "engine" called libtorrent-rasterbar, which is also used by Deluge, Miro, and some other clients. I know that the latest release of the engine can be built on Wheezy and even Squeeze, having talked a fellow through backporting the newest releases in a QEMU ARM VM for his ARM server someplace that he had no physical access to. This involved up to libtorrent-rasterbar 0.16.12, when upstream Debian was still in the 0.15 versions. We ran into some build bugs that upstream eventually fixed, and one that I think I remember fixing...anyway, the point is that upgrading Qbittorrent could be a one stage process, keeping the stock "engine", or upgrading the front-end and the engine at the same time, which I suspect is what the Windows package includes. Also, the fellow on the Debian forum (a very, very lengthy thread) needed a new feature that was only added to the library in version 0.16, so had a good reason to upgrade. After that, he just did it to build the latest release as it came out--another victim of Shiny New Stuff syndrome.

[lucky9]

My use (of dustbin) was due to the influence of several posters here....
(I feel that the current changes in the communication paradigm is going to be looked at in the history books as important as writing was when it happened. At least we have a chance for it to be...)

[tascoast]

In Australia we had 'garbos' who emptied the 'rubbish bin' you'd leave out once a week but it's all wheelie bins and a mechanical arm now.

Each state has their own names and size options for a glass of beer at the pub. That's where blokes (mostly) sink a couple after work by tradition.

[Stevo]

As long as we American packagers and developers don't start being called "boffins". Keep that on the other side of the pond, thankyaveramuch.

[chrispop99]

As long as we American packagers and developers don't start being called "boffins". Keep that on the other side of the pond, thankyaveramuch.

Does that have an alternative meaning in the US? Or is it just something you personally dislike?

FWIW, it's a term that would be more likely to be applied to someone working in a laboratory, like a chemist, than a computer technician. It's not really derogatory, almost a term of respect or admiration.

Chris

[GuiGuy]

................
FWIW, it's a term that would be more likely to be applied to someone working in a laboratory, like a chemist, than a computer technician. It's not really derogatory, almost a term of respect or admiration.

It is applied to scientists/engineers who invent or develop military devices. I have been called a boffin by servicemen, and always took it as a compliment.

[Jerry3904]

I've never even heard the term.

[Gaer Boy]

Wikipedia has a very good entry for boffin.