Re: FOO vs FO

Perhaps baz arises on its own because other options
are already spoken for:

bac baq bak - what your spine holds up
bad - the quality of my speling
baf - baffling
bag - that thing under my eye
bah - humbug
baj - of honor
bal - ance 
bam - *ouch*
ban - what you do to a good book
bap - the sound of a light tap
bar - beyond all reason, already used
bas - a fish or an instrument
bat - the animal or stick
bav - this would be good but sounds too unnatural
baw - bawl or paw
bax - backs away
bay - of water or leaves

Few words begin with "baz": Basil, Basilio, Bazaar, Bazooka
(did I miss any?) and is easy to pronounce. 

On the other hand, a quick Google search turned up the following 
(at http://www2.4dcomm.com/millenia/UAETYM1X.html) on Ural-Altaic
etymology:

basz(ik) = f**k (Mg - According to MÉK, of Turkic origin) // [? bâc^c^e
= press (Lp)] // bas- = press; print;
tread (Tk) // buser- = to commit sodomy (Ma) // bâsu = sex act (Su) (F-U
information from COL)

Wendell Piez wrote:
> 
> I think we are asymptotically approaching some kind of "knowledge" on this
> important question.
> 
> My own folk etymology cortical implant tells me that "Foobar" is an
> adaptation of "FUBAR", a military acronym (originally ca. WWII) that stands
> for "f****d up beyond all recognition". As in "Situation normal -- foobar".
> 
> (Jim, "Fouled Up Beyond All Belief" would be "FUBAB" wouldn't it? but it'd
> get past your obscenity filter anyhow.)
> 
> How it got from that, to being CS nonsense-word placeholders, I dunno. But
> of course a great deal of early programming happened in the military. David
> Marston's explanation of "foo" from the Smokey Stover comic strip seems (to
> this ear) altogether plausible. Maybe when they needed a second one, since
> they had "foo" they went to "bar" since they all knew about "fubar" (and
> didn't care too much how it was spelled).
> 
> Anyone have a notion as to "baz"?
> 
> Anyway,
> Wendell
> 
> At 07:58 AM 9/6/01, Doug wrote:
> >Does anyone know why FOO was chosen to mean anything?
> >
> > >From the W3 site, in a message at
> >"http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/msg00613.html", someone asked
> >"What does foo.bar mean in CSS?". The response was:
> >
> >         Ah, a puzzle!
> >
> >         1. The literal answer is probably not the answer the author is
> >looking for.
> >
> >         2. `foo' and `bar' are commonly used as placeholders for arbitrary
> >character strings.
> >
> >In XML Bible by E. Harold, page 52, the author says that FOO means "whatever
> >you want it to". Further down, on page 517, we find that for formatting
> >objects, the defacto standard prefix is "FO".
> >
> >Why was FOO and FO chosen instead of something less confusing? I can
> >understand FO for formatting objects, but why FOO? Why not XXX or ABC??
> >
> >  XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list
> 
> ___&&__&_&___&_&__&&&__&_&__&__&&____&&_&___&__&_&&_____&__&__&&_____&_&&_
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>       the directors, like the sparrows, which I perceive use it
>       extensively for a perch." -- Thoreau
> 
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--                                                                       
--
Within three years, knowledge bases will disappear into the network.
Mitch C. Amiano                              
Mitch.C.Amiano@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Software Development Engineer             Advanced Design Process
(ES/ET&PE)
Raleigh, NC                                                      Alcatel
USA

 XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list