There's also the old network email program PINE, which is the only example I know of of a self-referential software name ("Pine Is Not Elm" -- apparently, it replaced an earlier program named after the other tree). ---Bill Spruiell -----Original Message----- From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of STAHLKE, HERBERT F Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2009 7:44 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: E-mail delete filters Let me reply with another bit of computer arcana (which I prefer to the overused "trivia" in this case). Anyone who's worked with UNIX is familiar with lots of odd command keywords. The mail command is "biff" or "bff" (I no longer remember which--UNIX was a long time ago). That was the name of the dog, a pet of the group at Bell Labs that developed UNIX, and they had trained Biff to fetch the mail for them. Herb Herbert F. W. Stahlke, Ph.D. Emeritus Professor of English Ball State University Muncie, IN 47306 [log in to unmask] ________________________________________ From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Don Stewart [[log in to unmask]] Sent: January 31, 2009 6:46 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: E-mail delete filters DD, A bit off-topic, but your mention of the e-mail program Eudora reminded me of an interesting bit of trivia. From the Eudora web site: Eudora was developed by Steve Dorner at the University of Illinois, where Mosaic was also eventually developed. Dorner was a computer programmer working on TCP/IP applications and servers for the computer science department on the Urbana-Champaign campus. After working on the new e-mail program for a year, Dorner was ready to release it for free to the Internet community at large. The working name was UIUCMail, which Dorner realized was a tongue twister. Then he remembered a short story written by Eudora Welty titled "Why I Live at the P.O." It's a story about a woman who decides to live at the post office where she works rather than put up with her family at home any longer. Dorner was processing so much e-mail at the time that he felt like he lived at the post office, and his program used a "post office" protocol to fetch mail, so he saw a metaphorical connection. -- Don Stewart Write for College ______________________ Keeper of the memory and method of Dr. Francis Christensen To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/