from
Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)
field circus
n.
[a derogatory pun on `field service'] The field service organization
of any hardware manufacturer, but originally {DEC}. There is an entire
genre of jokes about field circus engineers:
Q: How can you recognize a field circus engineer
with a flat tire?
A: He's changing one tire at a time to see which one is flat.
Q: How can you recognize a field circus engineer
who is out of gas?
A: He's changing one tire at a time to see which one is flat.
Q: How can you tell it's your field circus engineer?
A: The spare is flat, too.
[See {Easter egging} for additional insight on these jokes.]
There is also the `Field Circus Cheer' (from the old {plan file} for
DEC on MIT-AI):
Maynard! Maynard!
Don't mess with us!
We're mean and we're tough!
If you get us confused
We'll screw up your stuff.
(DEC's service HQ, still extant under the HP regime, is located in
Maynard, Massachusetts.)
from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
field circus
A derogatory pun on "field service". The field service
organisation of any hardware manufacturer, but especially
{DEC}. There is an entire genre of jokes about DEC field
circus engineers:
Q: How can you recognise a DEC field circus engineer with a
flat tire?
A: He's changing one tire at a time to see which one is flat.
Q: How can you recognise a DEC field circus engineer who is
out of gas?
A: He's changing one tire at a time to see which one is flat.
See {Easter egging} for additional insight on these jokes.
There is also the "Field Circus Cheer" (from the {plan file}
for {DEC} on MIT-AI):
Maynard! Maynard!
Don't mess with us!
We're mean and we're tough!
If you get us confused
We'll screw up your stuff.
(DEC's service HQ is located in Maynard, Massachusetts).
[{Jargon File}]
(1994-12-01)