[TUHS] Re: On computerese

Henry Bent wrote in <CAEdTPBcGoBDb-r4vkbnqueb397G99XFBthqNMb3h5DaZ0o+gyg(a)mail.gmail.com>: |On Mon, 30 Sept 2024 at 16:51, Steffen Nurpmeso <steffen(a)sdaoden.eu> wrote: |> Henry Bent wrote in |> <CAEdTPBeK4HOjuiqJPtpneqrDj0CF3=5=jv5aOPjYPBisDkPmyg(a)mail.gmail.com>: |>|On Mon, 30 Sept 2024 at 14:08, Dan Cross <crossd(a)gmail.com> wrote: |>|> This makes me wonder when the `apropos` command was introduced; surely |>|> the name was also somewhat of an obscure joke ("what is apropos of |>|> listing a directory?" is not exactly the phrase that springs |>|> immediately to mind when wondering how to list a directory). |>| |>|Looks like it was introduced in 2BSD, written by Bill Joy, though the |>|4.4BSD manpage claims that it was introduced in 3BSD. Neither the BSD |>|source nor manpage are particularly enlightening about the choice of |> name. |> |> "a pro position" maybe. |> |> needs a "pro user" from the start; AI would instead and |> additionally clean your back i would assume. | |Well, I no longer have institutional access to the full Oxford English |Dictionary, but Merriam Webster is happy to provide an extended paragraph |(!) on the etymology: Oh! Apropos is known in Germany as a (*that*) word, too, also commonly heard, even in the (upper) middle class, but sounding like "apro-poh" here. Ef "Apropos -- have i already" etc etc. I was "only leaving of the e of that creat", so to say. (I am not looking at the online "Duden" because they now require Javascript and tracking, if i recall correctly.) |-- |*Apropos* wears its ancestry like a badge—or a beret. From the French |phrase *à propos*, meaning “to the purpose,” the word’s emphasis lands on |its last syllable, which ends in a silent “s”: \ap-ruh-POH. *Apropos* |typically functions as an adjective describing what is suitable or |appropriate (“an apropos comment”), or as a preposition (with or without |*of*) meaning “with regard to,” as in “apropos (of) the decision, |implementation will take some time.” The phrase “apropos of nothing” |suggests that something does not relate to a specified topic. |-- | |-Henry --End of <CAEdTPBcGoBDb-r4vkbnqueb397G99XFBthqNMb3h5DaZ0o+gyg(a)mail.gmail\ .com> --steffen | |Der Kragenbaer, The moon bear, |der holt sich munter he cheerfully and one by one |einen nach dem anderen runter wa.ks himself off |(By Robert Gernhardt)