Re: unix acronyms -collecting a list?

Article View: comp.unix.shell

Article #4367

#4367

From: Vic Abell
Date: Tue, 27 May 1997 00:00

18 lines
1982 bytes

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

Technical Details

Message-ID: <5mf90e$pkv@mozo.cc.purdue.edu>

Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!unknown!not-for-mail

References:

<5ldtv3$jnm@eve.speakeasy.org> <337B0F6C.4C71614A@indiana.edu> <slrn5nmfqo.dl7.hdm@stress.noc.demon.net> <EAK0sq.M8n@cogsci.ed.ac.uk>

Show Full Headers

Complete Article Headers

X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit
X-Google-Thread: 10eb3b,3d362ec564ebdcba
X-Google-Attributes: gid10eb3b,public
X-Google-Thread: 1103af,3d362ec564ebdcba
X-Google-Attributes: gid1103af,public
X-Google-Thread: 1025b4,3d362ec564ebdcba
X-Google-Attributes: gid1025b4,public
X-Google-Thread: f4bda,3d362ec564ebdcba
X-Google-Attributes: gidf4bda,public
X-Google-Thread: fa705,3d362ec564ebdcba
X-Google-Attributes: gidfa705,public
X-Google-Thread: 11035d,3d362ec564ebdcba
X-Google-Attributes: gid11035d,public
X-Google-Thread: faa64,3d362ec564ebdcba
X-Google-Attributes: gidfaa64,public
X-Google-Thread: 1012a6,3d362ec564ebdcba
X-Google-Attributes: gid1012a6,public
From: abe@cc.purdue.edu (Vic Abell)
Subject: Re: unix acronyms -collecting a list?
Date: 1997/05/27
Message-ID: <5mf90e$pkv@mozo.cc.purdue.edu>
X-Deja-AN: 244313763
Distribution: inet
References: <5ldtv3$jnm@eve.speakeasy.org> <337B0F6C.4C71614A@indiana.edu> <slrn5nmfqo.dl7.hdm@stress.noc.demon.net> <EAK0sq.M8n@cogsci.ed.ac.uk>
Organization: Purdue University
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

Reply to Parent Message