What is the Origin of 'Foo' 75
Another from the numerous Clan Anonymous
Coward asks this amusing question:
"What is the story behind 'Foo', the word
used for anything and everything
when teaching programming?" I remember
reading about this somewhere, but I've long
since forgotten it. Does anyone else
remember?
Jargon file tells all (Score:1)
possible origin of FOO... (Score:1)
Perhaps this generic term found it's way into the realms of programming, way back when...
Actually... (Score:1)
"It's Brazilian"
Two Origins? (Score:1)
In other internet discussions (maybe do a dejanews on alt.folklore.computer), the general consensus was that there is two origins for Foo.
(1) Fucked Up, as mentioned by many above
(2) A very old word for 'devil' or 'enemy' - this is is the "foo fighters" usage.
Of course, the word made into programming jargon through the military. The interesting point was that it dates back to the very earliest computer usage (much like bug does).
Foo-bar! (Score:1)
fubr
(I think)
Wich stands for
Fucked up Beyond Recognition
That is how I heard it
'Saxon
Daffy Duck on the subject (Score:1)
alternative (Score:1)
System Normal: All Fucked Up
--------
Derivation of FOO (Score:1)
Funny you should ask, I read this in the "Editors Corner" of the October 98 issue of the C++ Report. Its written by Robert C. martin the Editor.
"It took me 15 years, but I finally found out the significance of FOOBAR, or FUBAR as it is correctly spelled outside the software industry. Its roots remained a mystery to me. Where did the term come from?
Then, while watching "Saving Private Ryan," I heard the characters use the term in a nonchalant way. Indeed, finding the definition of the term was a sub-plot running through the entire movie. It is only towards the end that we discover its true meaning.
After the movie my curiosity was piqued. I also needed a way to vent the emotional savagery of the film. Computers still do it for me, so I did a Yahoo search on "fubar definition." I found that the term was indeed invented during WWII, and probably about the time of D-Day. It has its roots in the German word "furchtbar," which means "terrible" or "fearful"; the spelling was perverted to be an acronym.
I can only imagine that the authors of those ancient computer manuals my father dug up for me were ex-GIs who used the term as a way of commenting on the state of software of the day. If that is the case, then the continued use of the term is current softwarte books and manuals is quite appropriate."
Hope that answers your question.
after foo, bar? (Score:1)
--neil
Foo is Russian? (Score:1)
I have a suspicion that every language on this planet has a word that is pronounced "foo" and that nobody can find origins of. Maybe it comes from before-the-tower-of-Babel times?
mAx
Origin of FOO is *not* FUBAR (Score:1)
You'll find references to "foo" (and I think the "Foo Fighters" explanation may be the closest to the truth) long before you see it coupled with "bar." If you were looking for another word to couple with "foo," though, "bar" would be an obvious choice. However, assuming that the origin of "foo" is "FUBAR" because of the association is like saying that the origin of the word "slash" is from "Slashdot."
They may get used a lot together, but foo is _not_ derived from FUBAR.
Foo as a Metasyntactic Variable (Score:1)
metasyntactic variable
A name used in examples and understood to stand for whatever thing is under discussion, or any random member of a class of things under discussion. The word {foo} is the {canonical} example. To avoid confusion, hackers never (well, hardly ever) use "foo" or other words like it as permanent names for anything. In filenames, a common convention is that any filename beginning with a metasyntactic-variable name is a {scratch} file that may be deleted at any time.
foo
/foo/ A sample name for absolutely anything, especially programs and files (especially {scratch files}). First on the standard list of {metasyntactic variables} used in {syntax} examples. See also {bar}, {baz}, {qux}, {quux}, {corge}, {grault}, {garply}, {waldo}, {fred}, {plugh}, {xyzzy}, {thud}.
The etymology of "foo" is obscure. When used in connection with "bar" it is generally traced to the WWII-era Army slang acronym {FUBAR}, later bowdlerised to {foobar}.
However, the use of the word "foo" itself has more complicated antecedents, including a long history in comic strips and cartoons.
"FOO" often appeared in the "Smokey Stover" comic strip by Bill Holman. This surrealist strip about a fireman appeared in various American comics including "Everybody's" between about 1930 and 1952. FOO was often included on licence plates of cars and in nonsense sayings in the background of some frames such as "He who foos last foos best" or "Many smoke but foo men chew".
Allegedly, "FOO" and "BAR" also occurred in Walt Kelly's "Pogo" strips. In the 1938 cartoon "The Daffy Doc", a very early version of Daffy Duck holds up a sign saying "SILENCE IS FOO!". Oddly, this seems to refer to some approving or positive affirmative use of foo. It has been suggested that this might be related to the Chinese word "fu" (sometimes transliterated "foo"), which can mean "happiness" when spoken with the proper tone (the lion-dog guardians flanking the steps of many Chinese restaurants are properly called "fu dogs").
Earlier versions of this entry suggested the possibility that hacker usage actually sprang from "FOO, Lampoons and Parody", the title of a comic book first issued in September 1958, a joint project of Charles and Robert Crumb. Though Robert Crumb (then in his mid-teens) later became one of the most important and influential artists in underground comics, this venture was hardly a success; indeed, the brothers later burned most of the existing copies in disgust. The title FOO was featured in large letters on the front cover. However, very few copies of this comic actually circulated, and students of Crumb's "oeuvre" have established that this title was a reference to the earlier Smokey Stover comics.
An old-time member reports that in the 1959 "Dictionary of the TMRC Language", compiled at {TMRC} there was an entry that went something like this:
FOO: The first syllable of the sacred chant phrase "FOO MANE PADME HUM." Our first obligation is to keep the foo counters turning.
For more about the legendary foo counters, see {TMRC}. Almost the entire staff of what became the {MIT} {AI LAB} was involved with TMRC, and probably picked the word up there.
Another correspondant cites the nautical construction "foo-foo" (or "poo-poo"), used to refer to something effeminate or some technical thing whose name has been forgotten, e.g. "foo-foo box", "foo-foo valve". This was common on ships by the early nineteenth century.
Very probably, hackish "foo" had no single origin and derives through all these channels from Yiddish "feh" and/or English "fooey".
Definitions from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (12Dec98) [foldoc]:
others you've missed (Score:1)
New FOO (F00, actually) (Score:1)
And they pronounce it 'Foo', too...
Don't forget Mr. T (Score:1)
"I pity da foo!"
foo = foolano; bell = belltrano; sync = syncrano (Score:1)
Orgin of F00 (Score:1)
On the original IBM PC the address was formed by overlaying a segment register with a pointer register to form a 20 bit address. With all bits set high the maximum address that could be reached was 1,048,575. In order to reach all of the last (15th) segment with the instruction pointer, the segment register had to contain F000, which usually pointed to the area that contained ROM Basic and/or BIOS code. The original IBM documentation had a listing of the BIOS code which contained a lot of references to this F000 segment, and people got used to referring to the segment address as "F00" verbally, and eventually in written examples. Some examples in the first IBM macro assembler published in 1981 used F00 in examples of AND and OR (page 2-29 & 30) Mov AX,F00 And 7FFFH, also, Mov AX,F00 or 8000H, as well as other places. So, in my opinion, it was the fact that the BIOS code resided in a segment address of F000 that started it all!
FUBAR! (Score:1)
for Failed Unibus Address Register. This was basically a write-only register that, immediately
after being written, was put into the dump file
generated before the machine successfully rebooted.
Of course, it also comes from the same WWII genesis as SNAFU.
bar, bat . . . sounds Jewish to me (Score:1)
foo, bar, mitzvah...
Don't forget Mr. T (Score:1)
FUBAR (Score:1)
I don't think anyone really knows ... (Score:1)
I don't think anyone really knows where the word 'foo' came from, I myself, use it a lot.. Just, to replace something I don't know. Many people use foo to represnt blanks, then again as I saw foo can mean many things, So I really don't think the foo origin in FUBAR, but from the military, foo-fighters.
FOLDOC has the answer (Score:1)
What's the origin of "foo" (Score:1)
"foo" and "notary sojac" were both used very
frequently in an old-time surrealistic comic
strip called "Smokey Stover" which was popular
back in the 40s & 50s.
The history that I know... (Score:1)
foo (Score:1)
Fuck is a "bad" word. That is, it is not the kind of word that a gentleman would casually use in the presence of ladies nor would any decent boy say it in front of his mother. Technically it refers to coital activity as in "She stood on her toes facing the wall and I fucked her from behind". Although the usage has grown to include all sorts of foul meanings.
Generally, being fucked(up) is a bad thing. After a long hard night out drinking, the next morning it would be appropriate to say "Owww, turn off the lights! My head is all fucked up. I need an aspirin." Obviously, if it is a fine looking member of the opposite sex that is responsible for the fucking, then it is not such a bad situation.
Typical expressions:
"Aw man, he's really fucked up."
"Shit! We've been fucked."
"No fucking way I'm going to let you..."
Another common phrase that is often used as an insult is "You mother fucker...". Now these words being used for insult might at first seem odd since this fucking is what fathers typically do to mothers and there's nothing bad about being a father or mother. The insult derives from the situation where a man is fucking a mother, and he is _not_ her husband(although he is possibly the father of her children).
Fsck used in this context is also an appropriate pun that references a rather unpopular utility. That is, you don't really want to ever have to use the fsck utility. Quite often when you do have to use the fsck utility, it is because your file system is fucked up. If the fsck util can't fix everything by itself, then things on your disk are likely to be F-ucked U-p B-eyond A-ll R-ecognition.
See man fsck.
You gotta be very careful... (Score:1)
As for the word "fulano", there is very little doubt that it comes from arabic...
However, I am pretty sure it has nothing to do with Foo...
Zebulon.
foo (bar) (Score:1)
alternative (Score:1)
Situation Normal: All F*cked Up.
But, as with most acronyms, there are multiple meanings.
NAVY = Never Again Volunteer Yourself
ARMY = Aren't Ready to be Marines Yet
MARINE = Muscles Are Required, Intelligence Not Expected (or) My Ass Rides In Navy Equipment
USAF = Under Sexed Ass F*ckers. (If any one knows one for full "Air Force", I'd like it... It was my service.)
Origin of foo (Score:1)
which is a derivation of the acronym fubar
which originated in WWI or WWII.
The real question is, when was the foobar derivative adopted by programmers.
*Faux* Fighters (Score:1)
very funny but... (Score:1)
*Faux* Fighters (Score:1)