[thelist] Re: foo and message etiquette

Chris Marsh chris at ecleanuk.com
Wed Mar 19 10:43:10 CST 2003


[..]

> > > in "here is some code to help you out") check out this 
> definition: 
> > > http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci212139,00.html
> > 
> > How odd.  I always figured "foo" and "bar" were derivations of the 
> > militariesque acronym "FUBAR" which stands for "F'd Up Beyond All 
> > Recognition" I guess I learn something new every day.
> 
> Well, I think you are both right.  The article didn't really 
> address what the origin of foo and bar are, and I have also 
> always thought FUBAR.

Me too, but if you read http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3092.txt there is a
suggestion that FUBAR is a retronym and is perhaps derived *from* foo.
This was quite an interesting read, if one is interested in this type of
thing.

[..]

Regards

Chris Marsh

"It's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers
that might be wrong."

  - Richard Feynman



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