damn, forgot to put a source explanation... bd Deneb... fix it now....
http://www.logophilia.com/jargon/jargon_28.html#TAG1136
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Deneb Pettersson (LMF) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: 1. elokuuta 2001 9:43
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: RE: Way off topic...
>
>
> well FUBAR is what you said.
>
> <-------------copypasted-------------->
>
> metasyntactic variable /n./
>
> A name used in examples and understood to stand for whatever
> thing is under discussion, or any random member of a class of
> things under discussion. The word foo is the canonical
> example. To avoid confusion, hackers never (well, hardly
> ever) use `foo' or other words like it as permanent names for
> anything. In filenames, a common convention is that any
> filename beginning with a metasyntactic-variable name is a
> scratch file that may be deleted at any time.
>
> To some extent, the list of one's preferred metasyntactic
> variables is a cultural signature. They occur both in series
> (used for related groups of variables or objects) and as
> singletons. Here are a few common signatures:
>
>
> foo, bar, baz, quux, quuux, quuuux...:
> MIT/Stanford usage, now found everywhere (thanks largely to
> early versions of this lexicon!). At MIT (but not at
> Stanford), baz dropped out of use for a while in the 1970s
> and '80s. A common recent mutation of this sequence inserts
> qux before quux.
> bazola, ztesch:
> Stanford (from mid-'70s on).
> foo, bar, thud, grunt:
> This series was popular at CMU. Other CMU-associated
> variables include gorp.
> foo, bar, fum:
> This series is reported to be common at XEROX PARC.
> fred, barney:
> See the entry for fred. These tend to be Britishisms.
> corge, grault, flarp:
> Popular at Rutgers University and among GOSMACS hackers.
> zxc, spqr, wombat:
> Cambridge University (England).
> shme
> Berkeley, GeoWorks, Ingres. Pronounced /shme/ with a short /e/.
> snork
> Brown University, early 1970s.
> foo, bar, zot
> Helsinki University of Technology, Finland.
> blarg, wibble
> New Zealand.
> toto, titi, tata, tutu
> France.
> pippo, pluto, paperino
> Italy. Pippo /pee'po/ and Paperino /pa-per-ee'-no/ are the
> Italian names for Goofy and Donald Duck.
> aap, noot, mies
> The Netherlands. These are the first words a child used to
> learn to spell on a Dutch spelling board.
> Of all these, only `foo' and `bar' are universal (and baz
> nearly so). The compounds foobar and `foobaz' also enjoy very
> wide currency.
>
> Some jargon terms are also used as metasyntactic names; barf
> and mumble, for example. See also Commonwealth Hackish for
> discussion of numerous metasyntactic variables found in Great
> Britain and the Commonwealth.
>
>
>
> <---------end copypaste--------------->
>
> Hth
>
> Deneb
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Bkwyrm [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> > Sent: 1. elokuuta 2001 1:13
> > To: Ryan Davis/Pamela Karr; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Subject: Re: Way off topic...
> >
> >
> > Le Tue, Jul 31, 2001 at 04:58:17PM -0500, Ryan Davis/Pamela
> > Karr a dit le suivant:
> > } Where did 'foo' and 'bar' come from?
> >
> > I was always under the impression that they came from the old
> > military(?) acronym FUBAR, which stood for
> > "f*cked up beyond all recognition", at least according to good
> > ol' dad. :)
> >
> > --
> >
> > Namaste,
> >
> > Kristin
> >
> > Kristin Anne Igaki [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Internal Engineering 1010 Turquoise, Ste. 201
> > BlueMountain.com San Diego, CA 92109
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> >
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