gam@amdahl.UUCP (G A Moffett) (03/04/86)
[ from net.announce.newusers ] In article <2868@gatech.CSNET> usenet@gatech.UUCP writes: > Original-from: jerry@eagle.UUCP (Jerry Schwarz) > [Most recent change: 24 January 1986 by spaf] > > Frequently Submitted Items > ... > 2. What is the derivation of "foo" as a filler word? > > The favorite story is that it comes from "fubar" which is an > acronym for "fouled up beyond all recognition", which is supposed > to be a military term. (Various forms of this exist, "fouled" > usually being replaced by a stronger word.) "Foo" and "Bar" have > the same derivation. I am tired of this sanitized (and vague) explanation of the origin of "fubar": it really is a military term (that is, popular among enlisted men) created during World War II, and it stands for "fucked up beyond all recognition" (yes, really). "Snafu" has a similar (and probably related) history. Also, I think "filler word" is a bit weak. Somewhere I read "foo" referred to as a "metasyntactic name" -- one which would safely not occur in any existing programing language and could thus be used as a variable name. Even if that is not the context in which "foo" is used, isn't there something more descriptive than "filler word"? References: "Dictionary of American Slang", Harold Wentworth & Stuart Berg Flexner (Crowell, 1967) "I Hear America Talking - An Illustrated History of American Words and Phrases", Stuart Berg Flexner (Touchstone, 1976 [ NOTE: followups are aimed at net.nlang ] -- Gordon A. Moffett ...!{ihnp4,seismo,hplabs}!amdahl!gam I speed up to run over unicorns.