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evil
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evil /adj./ As used by hackers, implies that some system,
program, person, or institution is sufficiently maldesigned as to
be not worth the bother of dealing with. Unlike the adjectives in
the cretinous/losing/brain-damaged series, `evil'
does not imply incompetence or bad design, but rather a set of
goals or design criteria fatally incompatible with the speaker's.
This usage is more an esthetic and engineering judgment than a
moral one in the mainstream sense. "We thought about adding a
Blue Glue interface but decided it was too evil to deal
with." "TECO is neat, but it can be pretty evil if you're
prone to typos." Often pronounced with the first syllable
lengthened, as /eeee'vil/. Compare evil and rude.
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