mkhaw@teknowledge-vaxc.ARPA (Mike Khaw) (01/20/88)
Why is "vaxen" the plural for "vax"? Is it just something to show that
you are one of the initiated (i.e., only ignorant dolts say "vaxes")?
Or, as I've heard from an associate, is it because vax is to vaxen as ox
is to oxen?
Mike Khaw
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USnail: Teknowledge Inc, 1850 Embarcadero Rd, POB 10119, Palo Alto, CA 94303ethies@ecsvax.UUCP (Eric Thies) (01/22/88)
In article <20383@teknowledge-vaxc.ARPA> mkhaw@teknowledge-vaxc.ARPA (Mike Khaw) writes: >Why is "vaxen" the plural for "vax"? Is it just something to show that >you are one of the initiated (i.e., only ignorant dolts say "vaxes")? >Or, as I've heard from an associate, is it because vax is to vaxen as ox >is to oxen? > >Mike Khaw I have a feeling you're right about the "ox is to oxen" thingy. I imagine folks like to think of their machines as some sort of possibly cute animal. So Vaxen makes it sound like you've got vaxes grazing in your machines room. And this ties in nicely with the phrase "disk farm". There is some really good word that means "giving the attributes of a living thing to an in- animate object" but I just can't think of it right now. Oh, and I prefer to say vaxes, probably because so many people say vaxen. :-) eric ---- Eric Thies ethies@ecsvax.uucp ethies@ecsvax.bitnet ethies@uncg.bitnet
ciaraldi@cs.rochester.edu (Mike Ciaraldi) (01/26/88)
In article <4463@ecsvax.UUCP> ethies@ecsvax.UUCP (Eric Thies) writes: >>(someone else) Why is "vaxen" the plural for "vax"? I think it is also a pun on the word "vixen", i.e. female fox, as in "Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vaxen". >There is some really >good word that means "giving the attributes of a living thing to an in- >animate object" but I just can't think of it right now. It's "anthropomorphism", or so my cute little dictionary tells me. ;-) Mike Ciaraldi University of Rochester Computer Science Dept. arpa: ciaraldi@cs.rochester.edu uucp: seismo!rochester!ciaraldi