Foo?

For all those that have wanted an in-depth background on foo, here is all you need to know...

foo

/foo/ 1. interj. Term of disgust. 2. [very common] Used very generally as a sample name for absolutely anything, esp. programs and files (esp. scratch files). 3. 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.

When `foo' is used in connection with `bar' it has generally traced to the WWII-era Army slang acronym FUBAR (`Fucked Up Beyond All Repair'), later modified to foobar. Early versions of the Jargon File interpreted this change as a post-war bowdlerization, but it it now seems more likely that FUBAR was itself a derivative of `foo' perhaps influenced by German `furchtbar' (terrible) - `foobar' may actually have been the _original_ form.

For, it seems, the word `foo' itself had an immediate prewar history in comic strips and cartoons. The earliest documented uses were in the "Smokey Stover" comic strip popular in the 1930s, which frequently included the word "foo". Bill Holman, the author of the strip, filled it with odd jokes and personal contrivances, including other nonsense phrases such as "Notary Sojac" abd "1506 nix nix".

According to the Warner Brothers Cartoon Companion Holman claimed to have found the word "foo" on the bottom of a Chinese figurine. This is plausible; Chinese statuettes often have apotropaic inscriptions, and this may have been 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"). English speakers' reception of Holman's `foo' nonsense word was undoubtedly influenced by Yiddish `feh' and English `fooey' and `fool'.

Holman's strip featured a firetruck called the Foomobile that rode on two wheels. The comic strip was tremendously popular in the late 1930s, and legend has it that a manufacturer in Indiana even produced an operable version of Holman's Foomobile. According to the Encyclopedia of American Comics, `Foo' fever swept the U.S., finding its way into popular songs and generating over 500 `Foo Clubs.' The fad left `foo' references embedded in popular culture (including a couple of appearances in Warner Brothers cartoons of 1938-39) but with their origins rapidly forgotten.

One place they are known to have remained live is in the U.S. military during the WWII years. In 1944-45, the term `foo fighters' was in use by radar operators for the kind of mysterious or spurious trace that would later be called a UFO (the older term resurfaced in popular American usage in 1995 via the name of one of the better grunge-rock bands). Informants connected the term to the Smokey Stover strip.

The U.S. and British militaries frequently swapped slang terms during the war (see kluge and kludge for another important example) Period sources reported that `FOO' became a semi-legendary subject of WWII British-army graffiti more or less equivalent to the American Kilroy. Where British troops went, the graffito "FOO was here" or something similar showed up. Several slang dictionaries aver that FOO probably came from Forward Observation Officer, but this (like the contemporaneous "FUBAR") was probably a backronym.

Forty years later, Paul Dickson's excellent book "Words" (Dell, 1982, ISBN 0-440-52260-7) traced "Foo" to an unspecified British naval magazine in 1946, quoting as follows: "Mr. Foo is a mysterious Second World War product, gifted with bitter omniscience and sarcasm."

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. The Crumbs may also have been influenced by a short-lived Canadian parody magazine named `Foo' published in 1951-52.

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.) This definition used Bill Holman's nonsense word, only then two decades old and demonstrably still live in popular culture and slang, to a ha ha only serious analogy with esoteric Tibetan Buddhism. Today's hackers would find it difficulty to resist elaborating a joke
like that, and it would be hard to believe 1959's were any less susceptible. Almost the entire staff of what later became the MIT AI Lab was involved with TMRC, and the word spread from there.

Source: Jargon File 4.2.0

Amex Promotion

I am trying hard to get my BMW via the www.mylifemycard.com American Express promotion. Sure, there are only 3 available, but that won't stop me from trying.

Shelling out a mere $5K for a $42,500 car doesn't sound like a bad idea to me.

Go ahead, try your luck, too:

My Life My Card

One Month Til Kiawah

It is less than one month until the big half marathon at Kiawah Island (SC). I really need to get back to training. While I was in New Orleans last week, I managed to work out 4 out of 5 days during the week at the Hilton Riverside Fitness Club (awesome facility).

This week, however, I only ran once at the Duke Cross Country Trail, since I have been fighting a cold all week. It is still not gone, but I really need to hit the trails and get back in my routine.

I blame the 3 hours of leaf raking last Sunday for making me sick....yeah, that's it! This weekend, the lawn will need to be mowed I think.

Final Day

Today was the final day of MAX. It was a long day but the sessions today were very good.

We started off the day with breakfast on the Mississippi at Cafe Du Monde, and had coffee and beignets...yumm!

I was able to get into the Flex application building hands-on session first thing and that was awesome.

With the survey all filled out, and MAX 2004 drawn to a close, we headed to Mother's restaurant for a giant po-boy and closed the night with a trip to Harrah's Casino. (yep, we lost $$).

Mardi Gras World

Today was special event day! Mardi Gras World was awesome, we had a great part there and all of the diverse floats were very cool.

This was a huge improvement over Salt Lake City. The Olympic Oval was nice, but SLC cannot compare to the vibrant city of New Orleans!

The sessions today were great, as was the special reception held for Education and Government customers at the Hilton Riverside courtyard.

All Day Session

Today was the all day hands-on session on Blackstone.

Despite some minor technical difficulties, the session provided some great information on the new featues of the next ColdFusion.

For dinner, we went to the Bourbon House after the sponsor reception at the convention center.

Tuesday at MAX

Today I had some great sessions all day as well as an awesome general session this morning.

At the end of the day, drinks and appetizers were provided and there was a raffle provided by the user group coordinators. I WON! Yes, I was the first winner called and I won a very nice Macromedia bag.

After leaving the conference, we went to dinner at a brew pub called Gordon Biersch across from the hotel that was very good.