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AIBU?

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Original poster

IBM (help settle an argument)

69 replies

DontEatCrisps · 20/07/2023 19:59

Without looking it up, do you know what IBM stands for?

Yabu- I know
Yanbu- I don’t know.

OP posts:
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Rainbowshit · 21/07/2023 15:05

DH always uses to say IBM should stand for I've been married as there was a high divorce rate. Mainly due to all the travel.

5foot5 · 21/07/2023 09:43

ChocolateHelps · 20/07/2023 22:24

Yes. Used to be a big head office near Portsmouth

I went there for the second round of interviews (milk round anyone?) for their graduate intake in 1984. Didn't like the look of them at all, but that was obviously reciprocated because they didn't offer me a job Grin

However, years later the company I did join got taken over by them so I ended up with them anyway. Not for long though. I found I disliked working for them even less than I thought I would so left and got another job.

Rainbowshit · 21/07/2023 09:41

Yes because DH worked for them.

annonymousse · 21/07/2023 09:37

Yes as my dad worked for them for many years

5foot5 · 21/07/2023 09:34

Yup. But both DH and I worked for them about 100 years ago and DH receives a very nice pension payment from them every month

Simonjt · 21/07/2023 09:34

International business machines (corporation)

Sweetladyjane · 21/07/2023 09:34

Yes, but only because I worked for them for 15 years.

emmetgirl · 21/07/2023 09:33

International business machines

SoupDragon · 21/07/2023 09:33

YABU.

Read it in a book once as part of a story once where someone's relative had olds shares in a start up called"..." which turned into IBM.

WinchSparkle80 · 21/07/2023 09:30

Alternative acronyms… 🤣

I’ve Been Moved
I’ve Been Married
I Blown Monkeys

WinchSparkle80 · 21/07/2023 09:29

Yes I worked for them for over 20 years!

YouCantBeSadHoldingACupcake · 21/07/2023 09:27

I know it's something to do with computers, that is the extent of my knowledge though

80sMum · 21/07/2023 09:13

Yes, I do. In one of my first jobs, in the late 1970s, I used to process requisitions and orders for a government department that used very large high-end computer systems. IBM was the major supplier of such machines in those days.

TeenDivided · 21/07/2023 09:09

The joke round here was IBM stood for 'I've Been Moved' due to them relocating people so much.

BarbaraofSeville · 21/07/2023 09:07

Yogibearspicnic · 20/07/2023 20:28

I didn't know, but on a tangent, who knows what SCS (the sofa place) stands for?

Seriously crap sofas?

I knew IBM was International Business Machines, not sure why, but I'm now thinking of the original 'computers' like the women portrayed in Hidden Figures, doing calculations manually for NASA, who then bought a giant machine to do them for them - IBM might have had a mention in the film.

Now for a tricky one, can anyone say without Googling, the origin behind the name IKEA?

sashh · 21/07/2023 09:01

I have found my people.

EnergyJaguar · 21/07/2023 08:22

Yes but don’t know why I know! I do have a brain that retains random facts!

HelpMeGetThrough · 21/07/2023 08:20

sashh · 21/07/2023 05:28

OK hands up who knows what ASCII means?

American Standard Code for Information Interchange

I'll raise you ODBC and DDE

sashh · 21/07/2023 05:28

OK hands up who knows what ASCII means?

sashh · 21/07/2023 05:24

International Business Machines.

They used to have a very interesting way of becoming the biggest supplier of cash registers. It involved shooting rival sales men (and they were all men then).

HelpMeGetThrough · 21/07/2023 04:54

EBearhug · 20/07/2023 23:09

Ah, I remember AS400. I also did an OS390 course once, too, though I had no interest in working on mainframes.

This is about the time that someone even older than me pipes up with, "VAX was the best."

I worked on VAX kit as well, writing endless amounts of COBOL code. Was nicer than writing RPG code for the AS/400.

Still writing code now, but a million miles away from COBOL and RPG.

mupup · 20/07/2023 23:41

No

Lavendersquare · 20/07/2023 23:40

Yes, yabu I've known for years what IBM stands for.

FrostieBoabby · 20/07/2023 23:35

Inter-continental ballistic missile is the first thing that comes to mind followed by the tech company my DH did some sub-contracted work for 20 years ago.

bluebeardswife7 · 20/07/2023 23:27

No, but I know HAL is the letters next to IBM.

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