From owner-freebsd-questions Sat Apr 20 05:51:31 1996 Return-Path: owner-questions Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) id FAA11305 for questions-outgoing; Sat, 20 Apr 1996 05:51:31 -0700 (PDT) Received: from virginia.edu (mars.itc.Virginia.EDU [128.143.2.9]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) with SMTP id FAA11300 for ; Sat, 20 Apr 1996 05:51:29 -0700 (PDT) Received: from archive.cs.virginia.edu by mail.virginia.edu id aa22368; 20 Apr 96 8:51 EDT Received: from stretch.cs.Virginia.edu (atf3r@stretch-fo.cs.Virginia.EDU [128.143.136.14]) by archive.cs.Virginia.EDU (8.7.1/8.6.6) with SMTP id IAA03898; Sat, 20 Apr 1996 08:51:26 -0400 (EDT) Received: by stretch.cs.Virginia.edu (4.1/SMI-2.0) id AA20644; Sat, 20 Apr 96 08:51:24 EDT Date: Sat, 20 Apr 1996 08:51:22 -0400 (EDT) From: "Adrian T. Filipi-Martin" Reply-To: adrian@virginia.edu To: Franz Hollerer Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: What means 'foo', 'majordomo'? In-Reply-To: <199604201100.NAA12784@pina1.telecom.at> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-questions@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk On Sat, 20 Apr 1996, Franz Hollerer wrote: > But now I have some more questions. > I don't know how to translate 'foo' and 'majordomo'. I often > read this words under FreeBSD and Linux. But I do not find them > in a dictionary. > 'foo' can mean everything. Is this right? > > Anyway, does someone know an electronic English/German dictionary > which runs under FreeBSD or Linux? > > Franz Hollerer > EEG, Hard&Software Development > Austria > We have no kangaroos. Servus, Close. 'Foo,' 'bar' and 'foobar' actually means nothing. In most cases, it means just as much as a variable name in an equation, e.g. X in X + Y. It is a generic value often used in examples by computer weenies. It is rumored to be a military slang derived from the acronym for "Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition." Hence, you will also see it spelled "fubar." As for majordomo, it is just a mailing list software package. Treat it as a proper name, i.e. do not translate it. cheers, Adrian adrian@virginia.edu ---->>>>| Support your local programmer, System Administrator --->>>| STOP Software Patent Abuses NOW! NVL, NIIMS and Telemedicine Labs -->>| For an application and information Member: League for Programming Freedom ->| see: http://www.lpf.org/