Alime.163 net.general utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!duke!chico!harpo!npois!houxi!houxg!lime!glenn Thu Feb 11 08:53:44 1982 Re: what's a foobar? I first saw "foo" in DEC TOPS-10 monitor/utility code about 12 years ago. It is heavily used in most internal PDP-10 software, sometimes as a sort of verbal poltice, sometimes as a general pronoun. I've always liked it and have used it lots and seen it in lots of other places, but I'm SURE it predates UNIX. Seems to me I saw it in some early MULTICS code too, come to think of it. "Foobar" is actually spelled "fubar" and stands for "#$&*^! Up Beyond All Recognition." (I should be congratulated for restraining myself.) - Glenn Golden ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.