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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.Hawaii.Edu!news.caldera.com!enews.sgi.com!ix.netcom.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!howland.erols.net!newshub2.home.com!newshub1.home.com!news.home.com!nick.arc.nasa.gov!purdue!mozo.cc.purdue.edu!abe From: abe@cc.purdue.edu (Vic Abell) Newsgroups: comp.unix.shell,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.x,alt.os.linux,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,gnu.misc.discuss,comp.unix.solaris Subject: Re: unix acronyms -collecting a list? Date: 27 May 1997 18:26:22 GMT Organization: Purdue University Lines: 17 Distribution: inet Message-ID: <5mf90e$pkv@mozo.cc.purdue.edu> References: <5ldtv3$jnm@eve.speakeasy.org> <337B0F6C.4C71614A@indiana.edu> <slrn5nmfqo.dl7.hdm@stress.noc.demon.net> <EAK0sq.M8n@cogsci.ed.ac.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: vic.cc.purdue.edu Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.shell:45483 comp.os.linux.misc:177374 comp.os.linux.x:62715 alt.os.linux:21636 comp.unix.bsd.misc:3431 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:41753 gnu.misc.discuss:31511 comp.unix.solaris:107785 richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin) writes: >I suppose I shouldn't bring this one up, since there's probably no >documentary evidence, but what about dsw (the predecessor to rm -i)? >I seem to recall hearing that it was "delete using switches", where >the switches were the ones on the front panel. Its etymology was >described as "amusing", and a comment that the name was "ill-advised" >had been removed by sixth edition. Dsw stood for the Russian "goodbye" -- das v'dania. (Please pardon my mangling of the Cyrillic transliteration.) This shorthand is still sometimes used by amateur radio operators when communicating in Morse code. I've often wondered if the originator of the UNIX dsw was a ham. :-) Vic Abell <abe@purdue.edu> W9RGB