provocative maintenance
n. [common ironic mutation of `preventive maintenance'] Actions performed upon a machine at regularly scheduled intervals to ensure that the system remains in a usable state. So called because it is all too often performed by a field servoid who doesn't know what he is doing; such `maintenance' often _induces_ problems, or otherwise results in the machine's remaining in an _un_usable state for an indeterminate amount of time. See also scratch monkey.| a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes. |
| a chattering or flighty, light-headed person. |