Message-Id:	<199910011452.RAA11916@ankara.Foo.COM>
From:	"S. M. Halloran" <mitch AT duzen DOT com DOT tr>
Organization:	User RFC 822- and 1123-compliant
To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Date:	Fri, 1 Oct 1999 18:58:21 +0200
MIME-Version:	1.0
Subject:	Re: off topic: what is foo?
In-reply-to:	<7t2er4$uoq$1@nnrp1.deja.com>
X-mailer:	Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12)
Reply-To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
X-Mailing-List:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
X-Unsubscribes-To:	listserv AT delorie DOT com

On 1 Oct 99, chongkong AT my-deja DOT com was found to have commented thusly:

> can anyone explain to me just why is so many sample code uses foo as a
> variable or function name?

A question that usually gets many answers.  Depending upon whom you ask,
you may hear any of the following:

1. short for 'foo bar', which is an alternate spelling of 'fubar', which is 
supposed to be an acronym (of military origin naturally) mean 'f****d up beyond 
all repair'...a favorite expression of techie types, be they in the military or 
in the computer science laboratory.  The word f****d might be 'fouled' or 
'fried' or ....

2. foo = (f)unction of (o)bscure (o)rigin

I am sure there are more.  There always is.

Mitch Halloran
Research (Bio)chemist
Duzen Laboratories Group
Ankara       TURKEY

- Raw text -