Chobe

Chobe is a slang term for one who lacks in experience. It can have derogatory connotations, but is mostly used for descriptive purposes, without any true value judgment. The word has a stronger resemblance to "newb" compared to "noob" in that it is not as derogatory as the latter but has stronger negative connotations associated with it than the former. Usually someone designated as a chobe has a general knowledge that they are lacking in experience. This is directly contrasted with pure "noobs," those that think they are very skilled when in fact they are not.

Origin
The Korean term chobo (ì´ˆë³´) has roughly the same connotations as "newbie," and has been popularized in the English speaking world via the presence of large numbers of South Koreans in some online gaming communities. The antonym of chobo is gosu (ê³ ìˆ˜). The word "chobe" is a single-syllable truncation of chobo which takes on a different meaning.

One origin of "chobe" can be traced back to Lloyd House at the Caltech in the fall of 2007. Other origins have not yet been documented.

Alternative Forms
The main alternative spelling of "chobe" is the adjective form: "chobes."

The adjective form mainly appears in phrases such as:
"That was pretty chobes." - when referring to a "newb" action.
"It's pretty chobes up in here." - referring to an environment filled with chobe.

Meanings and Usage
Two major uses of chobe and its alternative chobes are when regarding male-female relationships and games. However, the meaning of chobe can be widespread and is not limited to online games or internet communities at all and thus is different from derivations of "newb" and "chobo."

Example 1 - Glomming
"Glomming" refers to a practice commonly performed at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) by men desiring female companionship. Due to the lopsided demographics (70% male, 30% female), one finds a dearth of women at Caltech. Thus, several men tend to court a woman at once. So, glomming refers to the practice of several men hooking onto (not literally) to one woman.

This situation mainly arises from the usually lack of interpersonal and female relationship experience attributed to the males. Since real world, glomming does not occur anywhere near as frequently, one would refer to a glomming situation as "chobes." However, due to the intrinsic introverted nature of much of the population, this lack of experience cannot be avoided and therefore the situation must occur. The word "chobe" fits perfectly for this situation since "newb" and "noob" have much stronger online gaming associations. Since it is exceedingly difficult to ignore the fact that there is actually only one female present in the group and all the males are surrounding her, the males usually have a basic idea of what they are doing, yet they do it regardless. That is chobes.

Example 2 - Gaming Usage
Another example to refine the usage of chobe can be described using the popular RTS known as StarCraft. Due to the game being almost a decade old, it is extremely rare to find players who have not played the game before. In this regard, they are not strictly "newbies" or "newbs." However, their skills at the game may have also deteriorated over time. When such a player makes an error in their gameplay, they are considered a chobe. This is because the player may actually realize they have made a serious error. This gives a chobe massive potential to increase skills while a "noob" does not have the same potential.

Example 3 - Widespread Usage
The more widespread usage of chobe is still being implemented. An example of this usage could be an attempt to a math derivation or calculation for a homework / set. If an algebraic mistake is both made AND caught, then the person will be considered a chobe. This is contrasted to a "newb" who has not learned enough material to even obtain the solution or a "noob" who has the material but simply fails at math.

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