I'd never heard "foo upon thee" as such, but it resonates with me, evoking several confounded sources: 1. Ezekiel 21:31 2. "Out [up]on thee" -- a medieval imprecation popular in monastic circles as expressing rage without blasphemy or explicit damnation, prob. arising from 1. It is attested in a Whitby, N.Yorkshire folk ceremony called the Penny Hedge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Hedge 3. I still pick foo during a stressful testing session as a throwaway name for an ad-hoc verb. A habit I picked up in APL circles in the 1970s. I trace it back to FUBAR, an impolite WW2 acronym scrawled upon irreparable equipment. US Army usage, I believe: Brits would have written Kaputt -- or Napoo Fini. Raul's references are pertinent.
On Sat, 18 Mar 2023 at 11:56, Raul Miller <rauldmil...@gmail.com> wrote: > I remember "foo" showing up a lot in some boston related contexts, and > a quick web search finds: > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foobar > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Foo > > ... both of which sound plausible as influences. > > -- > Raul > > On Sat, Mar 18, 2023 at 7:46 AM Elijah Stone <elro...@elronnd.net> wrote: > > > > The phrase 'foo upon thee' appears many times in the j test suite. > > > > A google search reveals a forum post by roger from 1994 > > (http://computer-programming-forum.com/9-apl/a0e17b293b053c07.htm) and > an > > article by robert bernecky from 1975 > > (http://www.snakeisland.com/IPSANewsletter_1974_75_12_01.pdf). Does > anyone > > know where it originates? > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
