"A scientist can discover a new star, but he cannot make one. He would have to ask an engineer to do that." — Gordon L. Glegg, British Engineer, 1969.
I don't know where most of those came from, they were floating around on the 'Net.
"For an optimist the glass is half full, for a pessimist it's half empty, and for an engineer is twice bigger than necessary."
| What is said | What it means |
|---|---|
| A number of different approaches are being tried. | We don't know where we're going, but we're moving. |
| An extensive report is being prepared on a fresh approach to the problem. | We just hired three guys... We'll let them kick it around for a while. |
| Developed after years of intensive research. | It was discovered by accident. |
| Modifications are underway to correct certain minor difficulties. | We threw the whole thing out and are starting from scratch. |
| Preliminary operational tests were inconclusive. | The darn thing blew up when we threw the switch. |
| Test results were extremely gratifying. | It works, and boy are we surprised ! |
| The design will be finalized in the next reporting period. | We haven't started this job yet, but we've got to say something. |
| The entire concept is unworkable. | The only guy who understood the thing just quit. |
| We need close project coordination. | We should have asked someone else. Alternate: Let's spread the responsibility for this. |
"Clothes are the lowest priority for an engineer, assuming the basic thresholds for temperature and decency have been satisfied. If no appendages are freezing or sticking together, and if no genitalia or mammary glands are swinging around in plain view, then the objective of clothing has been met. Anything else is a waste."
"You can't spell Geek without EE."
"The H in ENGINEERING stands for happiness."
From the back page of the Engineering Weekly ("Ingenioren," a weekly paper for Danish engineers) on May 19th, 1995.
"Q: What is the difference between Mechanical Engineers and Civil Engineers ?
A: Mechanical Engineers build weapons, Civil Engineers build targets."
"Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet." — Scott Adams.
"Variables won't, constants aren't" — Old engineering saying.
"Boring: See Engineers." — From the Yellow Pages.
A man was crossing a road one day when a frog called out to him and said: "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess".
He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket. The frog spoke up again and said: "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will stay with you for one week."
The man took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to the pocket. The frog then cried out: "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you and do ANYTHING you want". Again the man took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket.
Finally, the frog asked: "What is the matter ? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess, that I'll stay with you for a week and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me ?"
The man said, "Look I'm a software engineer. I don't have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog is cool."
"Some engineers are trying to measure the height of a high pole. They try building a contraption by piling up unstable ladders, but after one of them gets hurt falling off of it, a technician comes, removes the pole, lays it on the ground and measures it. One of the engineers sneers at him: 'what an idiot, he didn't measure the height, he measured the length'..."
"Some engineer out there has solved P=NP and it's locked up in an electric eggbeater calibration routine." — Randall Munroe.
Three men — a mathematician, a biologist, and an engineer — are discussing their love lives. The mathematician starts off talking about how much he loves having a wife. She takes care of him. She always there for him. She's so constant, just everything he could want.
But the biologist disagrees. "What you really need is a mistress", he says. "My wife is boring, but my mistress always makes sure there's something new and exciting going on".
Those two argue back and forth for a little while until, finally, they ask the engineer to break the tie. Which is better, a wife, or a mistress ?
"I like having both", says the engineer. "That way, one of them always assumes I'm off spending time with the other one, and I can go into the office and get some work done".
Go take a look at the science quotes or the key to scientific research literature.
