Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcvax!unido!iraun1!iraul1!schuetz
From: schuetz@iraul1.ira.uka.de (Elmar Schuetz)
Newsgroups: comp.emacs
Subject: Re: Automatic Mode switching
Summary: Read news.announce.newusers
Message-ID: <758@iraun1.ira.uka.de>
Date: 12 Jan 89 21:10:41 GMT
References: <MBADER.89Jan9140035@deep.cs.washington.edu> <3631@cs.Buffalo.EDU>
Sender: news@iraun1.ira.uka.de
Distribution: comp.emacs
Organization: University at Karlsruhe, FRG
Lines: 20

[Sorry for following up - but I don't know the network
 of Dale's address to reply - maybe ARPA? ----|	]
					      v
In article <3631@cs.Buffalo.EDU> ugwiles@sybil (Dale Wiles) writes:
>BTW, where the #$@#$ does "foo" and "bar" come from? Why "foo" and why
>"bar"?

From news.announce.newusers - Subject: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions:
# 2.	What is the derivation of "foo" as a filler word?
#
#	The favorite story is that it comes from "fubar" which is an
#	acronym for "fouled up beyond all recognition", which is supposed
#	to be a military term.  (Various forms of this exist, "fouled"
#	usually being replaced by a stronger word.) "Foo" and "Bar" have
#	the same derivation.

And, from experience:
$ Frequently used among Lisp-programmers.

Cheers, Elmar