bang
:bang: 1. n. Common spoken name for `!' (ASCII 0100001), especially when
used in pronouncing a bang path
in spoken hackish. In elder days
this was considered a CMUish usage, with MIT and Stanford hackers
preferring excl
or shriek
but the spread of Unix has carried `bang'
with it (esp. via the term bang path
and it is now certainly the most
common spoken name for `!'. Note that it is used exclusively for
non-emphatic written `!'; one would not say "Congratulations bang"
(except possibly for humorous purposes), but if one wanted to specify
the exact characters `foo!' one would speak "Eff oh oh bang". See
shriek
, ASCII
. 2. interj. An exclamation signifying roughly "I
have achieved enlightenment!", or "The dynamite has cleared out my
brain!" Often used to acknowledge that one has perpetrated a thinko
immediately after one has been called on it.
Jargon File Version 4.3.1, 29 JUN 2001 =
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