Geeksqueal

The term geeksqueal describes the chatter between two or more members of any specialized profession or hobby conducted in a burst of terminology, shorthand, jargon, glances, body-language, noises, gestures, etc. especially if it is pretty much impenetrable to folks outside of that field.

The term comes from the tones and other noises a modem or FAX machine sends over the phone to connect to another machine. It may sound like alien farm animals screaming punk-rock, but the two machines are holding a very technical conversation:

FAX #1: HEY! ARE YOU A FAX MACHINE?
FAX #2: I AM A FAX MACHINE! ARE YOU A FAX MACHINE?
FAX #1: I AM A FAX MACHINE! I CAN TALK THIS FAST! CAN YOU TALK THIS FAST?
FAX #2: HUH?
FAX #1: I CAN TALK SLOWER! HOW ABOUT THIS?
FAX #2: HUH?
FAX #1: I CAN TALK SLOWER! HOW ABOUT THIS?
FAX #2: I CAN TALK THAT FAST TOO! DO YOU HAVE A FAX FOR ME?
…

…and so on…

The term geeksqueal has a number of common uses. It can describe the content of a discussion:

We talked about the back-up server, but it was just some geeksqueal.

Geeksqueal can describe the discussion itself:

We need to geeksqueal about the network connection sometime soon.

Some people use geeksqueal to express uninvolvement or disinterest in a discussion:

Now that we’re out of the office, can we cut the geeksqueal?

Or:

Enough geeksqueal! Can we talk about something–anything else?

In general, geeksqueal is a dense, non-mainstream form of communication that can be somewhat opaque to outsiders.