Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!iuvax!cica!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!@rice.edu:MWE@UKACRL.BITNET From: @rice.edu:MWE@UKACRL.BITNET Newsgroups: comp.lang.asm370 Subject: (none) Message-ID: <8908160050.AA08710@brazos.rice.edu> Date: 16 Aug 89 05:51:29 GMT Reply-To: IBM 370 Assembly Programming Discussion List <@rice.edu:ASM370%UCF1VM.BITNET@icsa.rice.edu> Distribution: inet Organization: The Internet Lines: 25 Message-id: <15 Aug 89 20:32:41 BST MWE@UK.AC.RL.IB> Date: Tue, 15 Aug 89 20:32:41 BST From: "Mike Ellwood (0235) 21900 X 6161" (MWE at UKACRL)To: ASM370 at DEARN Subject: IBM Terminology: VARY I too used to be bemused by this term (before I became so totally brainwashed into accepting IBM-speak as normal) I assume it is yet another facet of the IBM lack of imagination; They decided that all their OS commands could have (only) 1-letter abbreviations; They might have used the slightly more logical verb "CHANGE", or "SET", "MAKE" but those abbrevations were taken up (C CANCEL, and SET means something different; M MOUNT ..... etc. That's my belief, anyway. (It could be worse; someone in IBM may have actually thought that VARY sounded right...who can tell?). I presume that VM borrowed VARY from OS, but changed the syntax (even if more logically, annoyingly), and forgot to allow an abbreviation...grr.. OK, they gave us CMS execs to bury such silly commands, but.... Today's decisions are no doubt just as silly, just more sophisticated... :)