Clearing the air on SOA definitions

Last year, to clear the air, I assembled a list of definitive definitions of some of the most commonly misconstrued Web services terms.

However, despite my post, there continues to be quite a bit of confusion around all the service-oriented definitions and acronyms floating around. Here is a reposting of those definitions, plus some new terms:

ESBs, or enterprise service buses: Those vehicles that pick up and drop off employees around the Microsoft campus.

JBOWS: Just a bunch of Web services. 

SOA (pronounced "so-ah"): A phrase you use to buy a few milliseconds of time as you put your next thought together in a sentence. "SOA... where did you say you bought that new server?"

S.O.A. (letters spelled out): Society of Actuaries, who have found a new calling measuring and predicting the lifespans of IT applications, infrastructures and CIO job tenure.

WSDL (pronounced "wiz-dull"): A small wind instrument that is a cross between a whistle and a kazoo. A great entertainment value when parties or informal gatherings start to slow down or get dull. A WSDL favorite: "Louie, Louie."

WS-* standards (WS-Security, WS-Addressing, etc.): Originating in whole or in part from companies in "Washington State." This is part of a promotional branding campaign to boost products originating from the state, borrowing on the success of "Washington State Apples" (WS-Apples) from the agriculture sector.

Men In Black (MIB): Microsoft, IBM, and BEA, the original big three of Web services. (Not the Will Smith movie, not Mark Levin's book.)

REST: For those weary of SOAP. 

SOAP: The thing you got your mouth washed out with if you were overheard saying a bad word.

Interoperability: A bad word. (The meaning is fine, but the word itself is a tongue-twisting verbal contraption.)

AJAX: What you use when SOAP won't cut the dirt.