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From: rwa@auvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: UNIX NAME ABBREVIATIONS
Message-ID: <428@auvax.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 28-Nov-87 15:15:37 EST
Article-I.D.: auvax.428
Posted: Sat Nov 28 15:15:37 1987
Date-Received: Mon, 30-Nov-87 07:06:40 EST
References: <10376@brl-adm.ARPA> <16550@topaz.rutgers.edu> <388@cogen.UUCP> <897@pembina.UUCP>
Organization: Athabasca U., Alberta, Canada
Lines: 19
Summary: I always thought it stood for...

In article <897@pembina.UUCP>, steve@alberta.UUCP (Steve Sutphen) writes:
> One command ... that isn't immediately obvious in its entymology is `dd'.
> My guess is that the author really wanted to call it `cc' (for Convert
> and Copy -- the title on the `man' page) but that letter pair was already
> used.

Locally, we refer to dd as 'd*mned dangerous', and this seems a fairly
accurate description of the beast.  The other possibility is that it
refers to ibm jcl (the infamous '//sysin dd *' statement). It always
makes me think of the jingle (sung to the tune of `Twinkle, twinkle, little
{star,bat}') :

		Slash-slash sysin deedee star,
		How I wonder what you are...

--
Ross Alexander @
Athabasca University
alberta!auvax!rwa