[comp.misc] So roff is short for runoff, now what does that mean?

root@lsuc.UUCP (The Super User) (10/20/87)

>> To continue, what does [nt]roff stand for ? (I believe 'off' is something
>> like 'output format filter')
>
>Multics had "runoff" (quite a reasonable name).

And, as Dennis Ritchie and others have explained, all the other names derive
from this.  However, nobody has yet pointed out why "runoff" is "quite a
reasonable name" for a text formatter; it always seemed very obscure to me.
(This, of course, depends on whether you think of the thing as a "text
formatter" or a "run-off program"...)

Anyway, the reason is that you use it when you want to "run a document off"
on the printer.  Now you know.