kkramer@ARDEC.arpa (11/19/87)
> We have been wondering: what does foo, foobar etc. really mean? We saw your > explanation on the net but I'm afraid there's something we're missing. > Kjeld Borch Egevang > Dansk Data Elektronik > Danmark When teaching computer use to novices, it is occasionally difficult to indicate when a word is to be taken as a variable; for example, if the expression "cp filename" is put on the blackboard, a beginning student often does not understand that the name of a file is to be substituted for "filename". Even if "cp apple" or "cp john" is used, the student sometimes thinks that the words "apple" or "john" must be used. Using a known nonsense word--one that has no meaning--seems to help. "Foo" is recognized as a nonsense word by native English speakers. Often it is used to indicate baby talk. Or it might have come from "fooey", a semi-nonsense word which is used to indicate derision, dislike or dis- belief. "Foobar" was coined by extension. The logic was already dis- cussed on the net: origins are possibly (a) the negation of "foo"; (b) "foo" over 2*pi by analogy with h-bar; or (c) conversion/merging with "fubar", an acronym from World War II (?) meaning f_____ up beyond all recognition. I don't know when the terms first appeared. Kimball Kramer kkramer@ardec.arpa