From owner-freebsd-questions Sat Apr 20 05:49:37 1996 Return-Path: owner-questions Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) id FAA11219 for questions-outgoing; Sat, 20 Apr 1996 05:49:37 -0700 (PDT) Received: from DATAPLEX.NET (SHARK.DATAPLEX.NET [199.183.109.241]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) with ESMTP id FAA11214 for ; Sat, 20 Apr 1996 05:49:35 -0700 (PDT) Received: from 199.183.109.242 by DATAPLEX.NET with SMTP (MailShare 1.0fc5); Sat, 20 Apr 1996 07:49:31 -0600 Message-ID: Date: 20 Apr 1996 07:49:18 -0500 From: "Richard Wackerbarth" Subject: Re: What means 'foo', 'majordomo'? To: "Franz Hollerer" , "freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG" X-Mailer: Mail*Link PT/Internet 1.6.0 Sender: owner-questions@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk > 'foo' can mean everything. Is this right? 'foo' and 'bar' have come to replace 'x' and 'y' as generic variables. They derive from FUBAR (pronounced foo-bar) which is an acronym for F*cked Up Beyond All Recognition 'majordomo' is in my English dictionary. It derives from the Latin. major domus, and refers to "a man in charge of a great, royal, or noble household; the chief steward" In the computer context, it refers to a program that administers multiple mailing lists. It is "the man in charge of the lists" in that it automates functions which were previously done by humans.