
Etymology of “Foo” (2001) - ptio
https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3092.txt
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stcredzero
I always thought that Foo and Bar were derived from FooBar, which comes from
FUBAR, which is an acronym for F#cked Up Beyond All Recognition. (Which seems
related to SNAFU: Situation Normal; All F#cked Up.) This is mentioned at the
end of the text.

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asp_hornet
and the beginning under 2. Definition and Etymology

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Herodotus38
That was actually much more interesting and detailed than I was expecting. I
didn't know about all the pre-WWII foo usage in comics, popular slang, and
cartoons. I also found the bit about the existence of "foo clubs" odd. It's
like a meme where we only have scraps of the 7th iteration.

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user51442
"foo" occurs in the lyrics to Cab Calloway's 1939 Jumpin' Jive, as in this
clip, also featuring fabulous tap dancing from the Nicholas Brothers:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8yGGtVKrD8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8yGGtVKrD8)

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nikofeyn
this memo is kind of funny in its informational tone. i had always just
assumed foo and bar came from fubar once i became familiar with the usage.

on another note, i have always disliked the usage of these terms. they stand
only for internal lingo and serve no useful purpose. in every case, there are
better names that can be used, and i feel foo and bar do nothing but distract
me from the example and use case at hand. also, as a student in my first
assembly programming course, the professor just started using foo and bar
indiscriminately and frequently. i was thoroughly confused at least the entire
duration of that lecture and maybe the next until i realized these were
seemingly arbitrary words he had picked and not, as i had originally thought,
meaningful words or even instructions. i'll take a and b any day.

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ergothus
> not, as i had originally thought, meaningful words or even instructions.
> i'll take a and b any day.

I get where you're coming from, but an advantage to foo and bar is that once
we understand they are arbitrary words, that's a reliable rule. I do a little
teaching and new students are incredibly literal. (Which makes sense, the kid
that answers "what time is it" with the exact hour/minute/second is more
likely to grow into a programmer - I certainly did).

As a result I can't use "better" words, because any meaningful word will be
taken to be the requirement. "a" and "b", as you suggest, have issues with
being TOO small, too similar, and already have a meaning in sort() uses, not
to mention that learning "a" and "b" being meaningless terms is just as hard
as learning foo and bar. Pretty much any terms you use will face the same
issues, so often the route of least pain is to use the same set of arbitrary
terms, and a set that we have a general common agreement as being arbitrary so
when a student reads a book, blog post, or watches a video each one of these
don't have to explain that foo and bar are arbitrary - we each have to learn
that once.

Which isn't to say that foo/bar/baz aren't overused in places, but I doubt
it'd be a good idea to replace them entirely or even mostly.

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jachee
I aspire to be able to be as seriously silly as an RFC author on April First.
Seldom does a joke have such well-researched due diligence.

~~~
bassman9000
One of the best IMHO: IP over Avian Carrier

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers)

and the QoS update with ASCII diagram included

[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2549](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2549)

 _Category: Experimental_

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basicplus2
Real-life implementation

On 28 April 2001, IPoAC was actually implemented by the Bergen Linux user
group, under the name CPIP (for "Carrier Pigeon Internet Protocol").

[4] They sent nine packets over a distance of approximately five kilometers
(three miles), each carried by an individual pigeon and containing one ping
(ICMP Echo Request), and received four responses.

~~~
bassman9000
55% packet loss!!

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grondilu
I wonder if it's somehow related to the French "fou" which means "crazy".

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leoc
Forward Observation Officer isn't a backronym:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artillery_observer#British_For...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artillery_observer#British_Forward_Observation_Officer)

