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Newsgroups: comp.unix.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc,alt.folklore.computers Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!feed1.news.erols.com!uunet!in2.uu.net!world!dp From: dp@world.std.com (Jeff DelPapa) Subject: Re: On the Naming of UNIX Things Message-ID: <E0L92J.4tM@world.std.com> Organization: Chaos and Confusion References: <55vhpf$q3o@mail1.wg.waii.com> <560146$t9c@mail1.wg.waii.com> Date: Sat, 9 Nov 1996 05:39:55 GMT Lines: 23 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.misc:26201 comp.unix.bsd.misc:1443 alt.folklore.computers:124246 In article <560146$t9c@mail1.wg.waii.com>, Mark Whetzel <markw@zeus.wg.waii.com> wrote: >Following up to my own post... > >In comp.unix.misc Mark Whetzel <markw@zeus.wg.waii.com> wrote: >: I was having a discussion with some of my co-workers on WHY things >: are named as they are in UNIX. Anybody have some of the >: tales behind the odd things that bound in unix history? > Biff was someones dog that barked when the mailman came. The biggest conclusion that you can draw from the oldest of unix commands, (cp,rm,ln,cmp, and directories like /tmp /usr) is that the original authors were vwl alrgc. <dp> (or possibly native Check speakers who had vowels, but never wrote them down. ex: Plzn, a town famous for its beer. If I remeber correctly, Dave Barry speculates that all the excess vowels were sold to the Hawiians)