etymology of "foo"

[Baker, John]

        To the extent that I'm able to evaluate the information, it appears
to be accurate.  I suspect that the April 1 date is effectively a comment on
the subject matter; no other RFCs (Requests for Comments, the standards that
define the Internet) deal with etymology.  The humor derives from the use of
serious analysis applied to a subject that normally would be considered
inappropriate, as in the classic law review article, "The Common Law Origins
of the Infield Fly Rule."

John Baker


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gareth Branwyn [SMTP:garethb2 at EARTHLINK.NET]
> Sent: Friday, April 27, 2001 3:34 PM
> To:   ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject:      Re: etymology of "foo"
>
> The article appears to have been co-authored by Eric S. Raymond and its
> contents is similar to his FOO entry in the Hacker's Dictionary entry,
> so I think it's legit.
>
> emckean at ENTERACT.COM wrote:
> >
> > Someone sent me this link today. I'm not making any pronouncements on it
> > but I thought people here would like to see it. I'm a little worried by
> > the date on the document: 1 April 2001 (!).
> >
> > http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3092.txt?number=3092
> >
> > Erin McKean
> > editor at verbatimmag.com