what is 'frobbed'?
Francois-Michel Lang
lang at PRC.Unisys.COM
Fri Sep 8 22:48:19 AEST 1989
In article <925 at manta.NOSC.MIL> psm at manta.nosc.mil (Scot Mcintosh) writes:
>In looking at some unix source code, I've encountered several uses of
>the word 'frobbed'. From the context, it appears that it means
>'manipulated in some unspecified way'. Is this an accurate
>interpretation, or is there another meaning? Is this even a
>unix-domain word, or just some neologism generated by a bored
>programmer?
>From the hacker's dictionary:
FROB 1. n. (MIT) The official Tech Model Railroad Club definition is
"FROB = protruding arm or trunnion", and by metaphoric extension
any somewhat small thing. See FROBNITZ. 2. v. Abbreviated form of
FROBNICATE.
FROBNICATE v. To manipulate or adjust, to tweak. Derived from
FROBNITZ (q.v.). Usually abbreviated to FROB. Thus one has the
saying "to frob a frob". See TWEAK and TWIDDLE. Usage: FROB,
TWIDDLE, and TWEAK sometimes connote points along a continuum.
FROB connotes aimless manipulation; TWIDDLE connotes gross
manipulation, often a coarse search for a proper setting; TWEAK
connotes fine-tuning. If someone is turning a knob on an
oscilloscope, then if he's carefully adjusting it he is probably
tweaking it; if he is just turning it but looking at the screen he
is probably twiddling it; but if he's just doing it because turning
a knob is fun, he's frobbing it.
FROBNITZ, pl. FROBNITZEM (frob'nitsm) n. An unspecified physical
object, a widget. Also refers to electronic black boxes. This
rare form is usually abbreviated to FROTZ, or more commonly to
FROB. Also used are FROBNULE, FROBULE, and FROBNODULE. Starting
perhaps in 1979, FROBBOZ (fruh-bahz'), pl. FROBBOTZIM, has also
become very popular, largely due to its exposure via the Adventure
spin-off called Zork (Dungeon). These can also be applied to
non-physical objects, such as data structures.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Francois-Michel Lang
Paoli Research Center, Unisys lang at prc.unisys.com (215) 648-7256
Dept of Comp & Info Science, U of PA lang at linc.cis.upenn.edu (215) 898-9511
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