From owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Dec 20 17:03:52 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8FE3516A4CE for ; Sat, 20 Dec 2003 17:03:52 -0800 (PST) Received: from sccrmhc11.comcast.net (sccrmhc11.comcast.net [204.127.202.55]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2CEE443D3F for ; Sat, 20 Dec 2003 17:03:51 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from underway@comcast.net) Received: from localhost.localdomain (12-230-74-101.client.attbi.com[12.230.74.101]) by comcast.net (sccrmhc11) with ESMTP id <2003122101035001100ilnnse>; Sun, 21 Dec 2003 01:03:50 +0000 Received: from localhost.localdomain (localhost [127.0.0.1]) hBL13VgS006090 for ; Sat, 20 Dec 2003 17:03:31 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from underway@comcast.net) Received: (from jojo@localhost) by localhost.localdomain (8.12.10/8.12.10/Submit) id hBL13QII006089; Sat, 20 Dec 2003 17:03:26 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from underway@comcast.net) To: chat@freebsd.org References: <5.0.2.1.1.20031220224013.02cf25c0@popserver.sfu.ca> <3FE4D580.6050001@potentialtech.com> From: underway@comcast.net (Gary W. Swearingen) Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2003 17:03:25 -0800 In-Reply-To: <3FE4D580.6050001@potentialtech.com> (Bill Moran's message of "Sat, 20 Dec 2003 18:04:32 -0500") Message-ID: User-Agent: Gnus/5.1002 (Gnus v5.10.2) XEmacs/21.4 (Portable Code, berkeley-unix) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Subject: Re: A bit of trivia: what does usr stand for? X-BeenThere: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Non technical items related to the community List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 01:03:52 -0000 Bill Moran writes: > The urban myth is believeable, though, since it seems silly to abbreviate > "user" with "usr" ... I mean, you're only saving 1 letter. Most programmers back then didn't think it was at all silly. In addition to the already-mentioned teletype, some of us had to program on punch cards (eg, my college) and via 110 baud terminals (eg, my first job). Not only typing was slow; correcting typing errors with the primative "line editors" was even slower, and the less you had to type, the fewer errors you had to correct. Abbreviations were rampant, with "unnecessary" syllables and vowels being dropped whenever feasible. That "usr" might have been a victim of habit, or, more likely, the high frequency of typing it was considered.