brain-damaged
English
Etymology 1
brain + damaged
Adjective
brain-damaged (comparative more brain-damaged, superlative most brain-damaged)
- Suffering from an injury to the brain.
Etymology 2
Generalization of “Honeywell Brain Damage” (HBD), a notional disease invented to explain certain poor design decisions in Honeywell Multics.[1]
Adjective
brain-damaged (comparative more brain-damaged, superlative most brain-damaged)
- (computing, slang, derogatory) Poorly designed; obviously wrong.
- Synonyms: cretinous, demented
Usage notes
- This is a harsh insult, suggesting that the mistake is so egregious that only a brain-damaged person could have committed it.
References
- “brain-damaged”, in The Jargon File, accessed 2008-06-27