Kent Covert ([log in to unmask]) wrote:
: In article <[log in to unmask]>,
 Jamie Howard <[log in to unmask]> writes:
: > So why do they call it a TTY?  Does that stand for something?  And why
: > does VMS call it an NTY?
 
: I'll let someone else answer the TTY question.  As to NTY, I think it
: stands for network TTY.  That's just a guess, though.
 
I believe that "tty" stands for "TeleTYpe", after early teletype
terminals.
 
Ahh, UNIX.  The One True OS (TM), yet contains many charming historical
anachronisms!  tty! biff!
 
That reminds me.  A while back one of the original creators/implementors
of AT&% UNIX was being interviewed, and the interviewer asked him (I think
it was Dennis Ritchie, but I'm not sure) what he'd do differently if he
were to implement UNIX today, and he said something along the lines of,
"I'd spell cron "chron"."
 
-- adr