Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site amdahl.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!oliveb!hplabs!amdahl!gam From: gam@amdahl.UUCP (G A Moffett) Newsgroups: net.nlang,net.misc Subject: d*mn, sh*t, f*ck, un*x: Patterns You May Not Have Considered Message-ID: <1753@amdahl.UUCP> Date: Tue, 9-Jul-85 01:17:03 EDT Article-I.D.: amdahl.1753 Posted: Tue Jul 9 01:17:03 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 13-Jul-85 08:06:13 EDT Reply-To: gam@amdahl.UUCP (G A Moffett) Distribution: net Organization: Blue Mouse Trailer Resort, Hellmouth, CA Lines: 43 Xref: watmath net.nlang:3362 net.misc:8208 Why do people use 'sh*t', 'f*ck', 'd*mn', and 'un*x' when they know darn (damn?) well WE know what they're saying, and THEY know what they're saying, but they won't come out and say it! To illustrate the dangers of using '*' in place of a real letter, I have scanned our local dictionary for words which match these patterns, as if each word were to be expanded as the Shell does (ignoring the case of letters). For 'sh*t' we have: Shabbat shaft shallot shan't sharpshoot sheet sherbet shift shirt shit shoot short shortcut shot shouldn't shout showboat Shreveport shrift shunt shut shutout For 'd*mn', we have just: damn For 'f*ck': feedback fiddlestick Fitzpatrick flack flashback fleck flick flintlock flock Franck Frederick Frick frock fuck fullback Finally, we have for 'un*x': uniplex Unix (I should point out here that in our dictionary it did not say "Unix is a trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories" but just the work "Unix" by itself. Our lawyers are looking into this....). I hope that by your reading this you are now more alert to the dangers of the ambiguous '*' and will no longer use it in contexts where the pattern might be confused for something else (except for 'd*mn', which is apparently unique). -- Gordon A. Moffett ...!{ihnp4,cbosgd,sun}!amdahl!gam