Chainik

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Chainik (Russian: чайник, "teakettle"). Implies both ignorance and a certain amount of willingness to learn (as well as a propensity to cause disaster), but does not necessarily imply as little experience or short exposure time as newbie and is not as derogatory as luser. Both a novice user and someone using a computer system for a long time without any understanding of the internals can be referred to as chainiks. Very widespread term in Russian hackish, often used in an English context by Russian-speaking hackers esp. in Israel (e.g. "Our new colleague is a complete chainik"). FidoNet discussion groups often had a "chainik" subsection for newbies and, well, old chainiks (eg. su.asm.chainik, ru.linux.chainik, ru.html.chainik). Public projects often have a chainik mailing list to keep the chainiks off the developers' and experienced users' discussions. Today, the word is slowly slipping into mainstream Russian due to the Russian translation of the popular ...For Dummies series, which (correctly) uses "chainik" for "dummy". ^[1]

1 Historical notes
2 Hiking version
3 Skiing version
4 References

[edit] Historical notes

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[edit] Hiking version

This word in this meaning has long been in use among hikers, mountaineers and other recreational travelers in the Soviet Union. Dedicated, old-timer hikers immediately recognized occasional ones by the appearance of a teakettle with a spout and all, attached to a knapsack. Being of convenience for serving tea, a teakettle has a significant drawback from the hygienic point of view: to clean it thoroughly while on the trail is a difficult task. Therefore seasoned hikers used "matryoshka" sets of rounded kettles (cauldron-shaped ones) for all cooking purposes. Hiking was a popular pastime of students. Therefore when the era of personal computers came, the term had quickly found a new life.

[edit] Skiing version

Alpine or downhill skiing had a reputation of rather expensive and prestigious sport in the Soviet Union, thus attracting some skiers looking for a prestigious pastime rather than active sporting. Most of them had little experience or skills, often spending most of their vacation standing still with one hand on a waist and another bending to a pair of ski poles. Since this pose resembled teakettle or teapot, dedicated skiers referred to such unexperienced skiers as 'chainiks'.