Comparatives

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From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  Comparatives
  
  Finally, note that many words in hacker jargon have to be understood as
  members of sets of comparatives. This is especially true of the adjectives
  and nouns used to describe the beauty and functional quality of code. Here
  is an approximately correct spectrum:


  
    monstrosity  brain-damage  screw  bug  lose  misfeature
    crock  kluge  hack  win  feature  elegance  perfection
  
  The last is spoken of as a mythical absolute, approximated but never
  actually attained. Another similar scale is used for describing the
  reliability of software:
  
    broken  flaky  dodgy  fragile  brittle
    solid  robust  bulletproof  armor-plated
  
  Note, however, that `dodgy' is primarily Commonwealth Hackish (it is rare
  in the U.S.) and may change places with `flaky' for some speakers.
  
  Coinages for describing {lossage} seem to call forth the very finest in
  hackish linguistic inventiveness; it has been truly said that hackers have
  even more words for equipment failures than Yiddish has for obnoxious
  people.