Laggy

[anona]

I tried playing laggy in yesterday's Standard game, which really was stupid of me and a triumph of hope over experience as I had tried it before, and recently.

I thought that if a non computer literate person like me knew the word then it must be acceptable and perhaps I'd misremembered its being rejected on the previous occasion.

Is it a candidate for inclusion?

[birdy]

I don't know that one, anona.  Does it describe a slow computer?

[anona]

Yes, birdy, that's right, although Wiktionary gives another use as well.

I've just googled laggy and there are lots of references. I'll copy below a little chunk of three definitions:

laggy Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary
https://dictionary.cambridge.org › laggy
A laggy computer, computer game, or internet connection is slow to react: Online play is really laggy on this. The laptop was laggy on some internet flash games. The camera movement in the game feels a little laggy.

laggy - Wiktionary
https://en.wiktionary.org › wiki › laggy
Having a delayed response to a change in the factors influencing it. Gasoline prices usually show a laggier response to crude-oil price reduction than to crude-oil price increases. (computing, Internet, video games, informal) Tending to lag, or respond slowly because of network latency.

laggy | Definition of laggy in English by Oxford Dictionaries
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com › laggy
Definition of laggy - (of a computer, video game, or Internet connection) slow to respond.

[birdy]

I wonder if it's a British term.  I haven't heard it used here.  Or maybe I just play computer games with the right people.

[cmh]

Why do the computer nerds feel the need to invent words? What may I ask is wrong with the lovely olde worlde word "slow" as in going slowly or slowing down .

[anona]

I don't know whether it's a British English term. One of the people on a help site asking for help with his laggy computer gave a lot of information about how it was set up, including that it used US English, so there's a fighting chance he at least was American.

[TRex]

I don't know whether it's a British English term. One of the people on a help site asking for help with his laggy computer gave a lot of information about how it was set up, including that it used US English, so there's a fighting chance he at least was American.

You might be surprised how many people outside the U.S. of A. have their computers set to English-US.

[Les303]

I tried playing laggy in yesterday's Standard game, which really was stupid of me and a triumph of hope over experience as I had tried it before, and recently.

I thought that if a non computer literate person like me knew the word then it must be acceptable and perhaps I'd misremembered its being rejected on the previous occasion.

Is it a candidate for inclusion?

G'day anona,

I also attempted to play " laggy "  as it was a word that i immediately identified with so i do support your suggestion for its inclusion.
No doubt, you will be shocked to learn that despite my extensive knowledge of all this computer terminology, i only identified with the word  " laggy " because it is often used in Australia to describe a person who is "Dragging along & has that feeling that they are half asleep and barely making it through the day ".

Probably an appropriate word to describe how Penny might be feeling on her first day back at work.

Cheers Les

[Hobbit]

Spot on Les!  That's exactly how I was feeling yesterday - particularly after 11 & a half hours at the coalface!
I've never come across the word laggy before.  A new one on me.  Perhaps I'm just a bit out of touch!
Pen

[Jacki]

I have never heard of laggy.

[Alan W]

Sorry about my laggy response to this suggestion. The word is, as anona pointed out, listed in some dictionaries. It appears quite often in publications, especially in reviews of electronic products. An example was in the Radio Times (UK) in an article on the 9th of this month about the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on TV panel shows:

Just look at Loose Women. While ITV’s daily discussion show has returned to the airwaves after a few weeks offscreen, they’ve still had to drop their regular studio audience, socially distance their panellists and resign guests to (occasionally laggy) videocalls rather than the usual in-person chats.

The OED has examples of this sense of the word dating back to 1991. But it also has an earlier meaning: "Chiefly North American. Sluggish, listless, indolent." Basically, the meaning that came to Les's mind.

Laggy will be allowed in future, as a rare word.

[mkenuk]

I wonder if there is a connection between the words laggy, the verb lag (behind) and the noun (time) lag?

It feels like there should be.

[TRex]

I wonder if there is a connection between the words laggy, the verb lag (behind) and the noun (time) lag?

It feels like there should be.

It certainly would seem so. I was going to check the OED, but am having trouble accessing.