Etymology of "Foo"
RFC 3092
Network Working Group D. Eastlake 3rd
Request for Comments: 3092 Motorola
Category: Informational C. Manros
Xerox
E. Raymond
Open Source Initiative
1 April 2001
Etymology of "Foo"
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
Approximately 212 RFCs so far, starting with RFC 269, contain the
terms `foo', `bar', or `foobar' as metasyntactic variables without
any proper explanation or definition. This document rectifies that
deficiency.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................1
2. Definition and Etymology................................2
3. Acronyms................................................5
Appendix...................................................7
Security Considerations...................................11
References................................................12
Authors' Addresses........................................13
Full Copyright Statement..................................14
1. Introduction
Approximately 212 RFCs, or about 7% of RFCs issued so far, starting
with [RFC269], contain the terms `foo', `bar', or `foobar' used as a
metasyntactic variable without any proper explanation or definition.
This may seem trivial, but a number of newcomers, especially if
English is not their native language, have had problems in
understanding the origin of those terms. This document rectifies
that deficiency.
Eastlake, et al. Informational [Page 1]
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Section 2 below describes the definition and etymology of these words
and Section 3 interprets them as acronyms.
As an Appendix, we include a table of RFC occurrences of these words
as metasyntactic variables.
2. Definition and Etymology
bar /bar/ n. [JARGON]
1. The second metasyntactic variable, after foo and before baz.
"Suppose we have two functions: FOO and BAR. FOO calls BAR...."
2. Often appended to foo to produce foobar.
foo /foo/
1. interj. Term of disgust.
2. Used very generally as a sample name for absolutely anything, esp.
programs and files (esp. scratch files).
3. First on the standard list of metasyntactic variables used in
syntax examples (bar, baz, qux, quux, corge, grault, garply,
waldo, fred, plugh, xyzzy, thud). [JARGON]
When used in connection with `bar' it is generally traced to the
WW II era Army slang acronym FUBAR (`Fucked Up Beyond All
Repair'), later modified to foobar. Early versions of the Jargon
File [JARGON] interpreted this change as a post-war
bowdlerization, but it now seems more likely that FUBAR was itself
a derivative of `foo' perhaps influenced by German `furchtbar'
(terrible) - `foobar' may actually have been the original form.
For, it seems, the word `foo' itself had an immediate prewar
history in comic strips and cartoons. In the 1938 Warner Brothers
cartoon directed by Robert Clampett, "The Daffy Doc", a very early
version of Daffy Duck holds up a sign saying "SILENCE IS FOO!"
`FOO' and `BAR' also occurred in Walt Kelly's "Pogo" strips. The
earliest documented uses were in the surrealist "Smokey Stover"
comic strip by Bill Holman about a fireman. This comic strip
appeared in various American comics including "Everybody's"
between about 1930 and 1952. It frequently included the word
"FOO" on license plates of cars, in nonsense sayings in the
background of some frames such as "He who foos last foos best" or
"Many smoke but foo men chew", and had Smokey say "Where there's
foo, there's fire". Bill Holman, the author of the strip, filled
it with odd jokes and personal contrivances, including other
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RFC 3092 Etymology of "Foo" 1 April 2001
nonsense phrases such as "Notary Sojac" and "1506 nix nix".
According to the Warner Brothers Cartoon Companion [WBCC] Holman
claimed to have found the word "foo" on the bottom of a Chinese
figurine. This is plausible; Chinese statuettes often have
apotropaic inscriptions, and this may have been the Chinese word
`fu' (sometimes transliterated `foo'), which can mean "happiness"
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