What is smop.?
October 13, 2016 8:08 PM Subscribe
Someone put a sticker in the elevator lobby of my building that says "smop." with three lines above it (picture under the fold). Today I saw someone wearing a shirt with the same logo and words. What on earth does it mean? I am at a tech school in Atlanta, GA.
Image here. Quite honestly, it makes me crack up whenever I see it. A cursory Google search reveals nothing. Urban Dictionary thinks it's "sucking my own penis", which doesn't seem right. Is this some kind of startup? An indie band? A club for people who like sucking their own penises? Something else entirely? I am at my wit's end.
Image here. Quite honestly, it makes me crack up whenever I see it. A cursory Google search reveals nothing. Urban Dictionary thinks it's "sucking my own penis", which doesn't seem right. Is this some kind of startup? An indie band? A club for people who like sucking their own penises? Something else entirely? I am at my wit's end.
I tried a reverse google image search which didn't turn up anything useful. In addition to Chocolate Pickle's alternate acronym definition, it apparently is used as an abbreviation for a program that converts matlab to python; apparently, in this context it stands for Small Matlab and Octave to Python compiler. (I know nothing about programming so I'm probably butchering this explanation.)
posted by litera scripta manet at 8:39 PM on October 13, 2016
posted by litera scripta manet at 8:39 PM on October 13, 2016
Response by poster: Not to threadsit, but I did some initial searching and found the "small matter of programming" and Matlab explanations. However, I fail to see how that corresponds to a logo or something someone might wear on a shirt.
posted by scruffy-looking nerfherder at 8:44 PM on October 13, 2016
posted by scruffy-looking nerfherder at 8:44 PM on October 13, 2016
Upside down it says "dows" with a smiley face. That doesn't answer your question, but it's a fact.
posted by DanSachs at 8:47 PM on October 13, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by DanSachs at 8:47 PM on October 13, 2016 [6 favorites]
The top part is very like i-ching iconograpy. If you co soldered the text row below to be a straight line you would have a trigram... I've got nothing.
posted by Iteki at 9:55 PM on October 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Iteki at 9:55 PM on October 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
For what it's worth, a google search for "smop shirt" turns up this Secret Make Out Party shirt.
And if you turn the picture you posted upside down, it kind of looks like a face with a prominent mouth.
OK, it's an incredible reach but I figured I'd throw it into the mix.
posted by yankeefog at 12:44 AM on October 14, 2016
And if you turn the picture you posted upside down, it kind of looks like a face with a prominent mouth.
OK, it's an incredible reach but I figured I'd throw it into the mix.
posted by yankeefog at 12:44 AM on October 14, 2016
Ooh! Update! I just googled "SMOP Atlanta" and found the Small Opera Company. Nothing on their page looks like the logo you found but I think it's promising. You could contact them via their Facebook page and ask if it's them.
posted by yankeefog at 12:49 AM on October 14, 2016
posted by yankeefog at 12:49 AM on October 14, 2016
A very unlikely answer, but here is a short-lived tumblr full of someone writing "SMOP" in various public places, likely tied to an equally short-lived Portuguese band on (NSFW album cover) bandcamp
posted by btfreek at 1:41 AM on October 14, 2016
posted by btfreek at 1:41 AM on October 14, 2016
Could the lines be long short short? As in a beep code? Like a video issue? Or an unable to start up issue?
posted by miles1972 at 2:10 AM on October 14, 2016
posted by miles1972 at 2:10 AM on October 14, 2016
In a tech school, the obvious reference would be to the phrase “a simple / small matter of programming”. Usually used in a heavily sarcastic / ironic fashion in conversation between programmers, acknowledging between peers that there’s no such thing as a simple matter of programming - every program is a fresh opportunity for the programmer to discover horrible gotchas that have to be wrestled with before their code has a hope of working.
See also: “No plan survives contact with the enemy”.
But it might be something else. Do let us know :)
posted by pharm at 4:58 AM on October 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
See also: “No plan survives contact with the enemy”.
But it might be something else. Do let us know :)
posted by pharm at 4:58 AM on October 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
I always heard this a "simple matter of programming". w a different connotation than @pharm's. the way we mean it in my company is, it's not a particularly difficult problem to solve, it would just take some time to build. Not sure about the logo though.
posted by pyro979 at 4:38 PM on October 14, 2016
posted by pyro979 at 4:38 PM on October 14, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
For other possibilities, see here.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:16 PM on October 13, 2016