Anyone else hate the word "newbie"?

[MXGratefulDiver]

I've never thought of the word as derogatory before. But I'd suggest you come to terms with the word, because no matter how long you dive it'll apply to you at some aspect of diving.

I'm a fairly experienced recreational diver, moderately experienced at tech diving, a newbie at cave diving, and a wannabe at CCR diving ... in about 10 days I'll be a newbie at that too.

I don't see the term to be in any way demeaning ... it serves to remind me not to get too full of myself because of what I know ... because in diving there's always something new to learn ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[knowone]

What 'n00b' rhymes with in plural is good.

 

[PullmanSCUBA]

In the words of the immortal George Carlin:

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of those words in and of themselves. Their only words. It's the context that counts. It's the user. It's the intention behind the words that makes them good or bad. The words are completely neutral. The words are innocent. I get tired of people talking about bad words and bad language. Bull****! It's the context that makes them good or bad. The context."

I would post the rest...but this is George Carlin and I dont want to offend the SB gods.

 

[The Chairman]

and I dont want to offend the SB gods.

Now I am offended!

I agree with Bob... I have been a newbie so many times in my life that I have grown accustomed to it. My first career was in the automotive industry where I was a master certified Auto and Truck technician with all sorts of knowledge that started in 1969. Yet to many, no matter how skilled I was, I was still just a grease monkey. After 30 years of grease and gas, I left the automotive field and started out as a newbie Network Consultant. I was not really prepared for this, having only a CompTIA A+ cert, but at my first client I had a guy call me a "guru". Wow. He was impressed that I even would attempt to make a living at this.

Scuba Diving is one of those types of sports that being a newbie doesn't matter to 98% of the people, because you are still way ahead of them. Its kind of funny in that way, and so be it!

Proud to be a n006 at just about anything, except dying.

 

[Walter]

In the words of the immortal George Carlin:

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of those words in and of themselves. Their only words. It's the context that counts. It's the user. It's the intention behind the words that makes them good or bad. The words are completely neutral. The words are innocent. I get tired of people talking about bad words and bad language. Bull****! It's the context that makes them good or bad. The context."

I would post the rest...but this is George Carlin and I dont want to offend the SB gods.

I admit I've never seen the text of Carlin's routine as written by George, but I strongly suspect you transcribed this from the spoken word and made a tiny error in doing so. Either that or you copied it from someone who made the error. George used words well, I doubt he would have used the wrong one.

 

[OldNSalty]

Behave yourself Grandpa, before we rinse the salt off you.

Lot of curmudgeons in this joint.

Stay off my lawn you damn kid!

 

[David Wilson]

More often than not, people on this forum use the word "newbie" to describe themselves, out of fear that others with greater expertise will consider the question they are asking to be too naïve or childish to deserve a serious answer. People who call themselves "newbies" are deferring to the superior knowledge and experience of other forum members, who should acknowledge this deference by treating new divers' initial enquiries sensitively and respectfully. I think we have to be very careful about the use of particular kinds of humour when responding to "newbies'" messages because what may amuse seasoned forum members may alienate new divers, particularly those with English as a second language or with a different cultural outlook. Many forum members, like myself, live outside North America. This said, it's great that the Basic Scuba Discussions forum has its special courtesy and etiquette rules to protect the "newbie".

 

[Stu S.]

I don't call people "newbies". When we hire a recent college graduate, I'll introduce them as "our latest department member" or "the latest product of the University of Florida". They like it when I mention their school.

A word or term may be a bad reflection on the person using it. Using the term "newbie" may come across as maximizing yourself and minimizing others. And, you want no negative energy around a recent college graduate. Their experience should be all about success.

 

[diver 85]

To the OP---when you get to change your stats to '25-100 dives' it'll make sense....

 

[Sask Diver]

Everybody is a newbie in the beggining of everything we do in our lives,I an proud to be a scuba noob. I prefer it to FNG