:mung: /muhng/ [in 1960 at MIT, `Mash Until No Good'; sometime
after that the derivation from the {{recursive acronym}} `Mung
Until No Good' became standard] vt. 1. To make changes to a file,
esp. large-scale and irrevocable changes. See {BLT}. 2. To
destroy, usually accidentally, occasionally maliciously. The
system only mungs things maliciously; this is a consequence of
{Finagle's Law}. See {scribble}, {mangle}, {trash},
{nuke}. Reports from {USENET} suggest that the pronunciation
/muhnj/ is now usual in speech, but the spelling `mung' is
still common in program comments (compare the widespread confusion
over the proper spelling of {kluge}). 3. The kind of beans of
which the sprouts are used in Chinese food. (That's their real
name! Mung beans! Really!)
Like many early hacker terms, this one seems to have originated at
{TMRC}; it was already in use there in 1958. Peter Samson
(compiler of the original TMRC lexicon) thinks it may originally
have been onomatopoeic for the sound of a relay spring (contact)
being twanged. However, it is known that during the World Wars,
`mung' was army slang for the ersatz creamed chipped beef better
known as `SOS'.
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary
after that the derivation from the {{recursive acronym}} `Mung
Until No Good' became standard] vt. 1. To make changes to a file,
esp. large-scale and irrevocable changes. See {BLT}. 2. To
destroy, usually accidentally, occasionally maliciously. The
system only mungs things maliciously; this is a consequence of
{Finagle's Law}. See {scribble}, {mangle}, {trash},
{nuke}. Reports from {USENET} suggest that the pronunciation
/muhnj/ is now usual in speech, but the spelling `mung' is
still common in program comments (compare the widespread confusion
over the proper spelling of {kluge}). 3. The kind of beans of
which the sprouts are used in Chinese food. (That's their real
name! Mung beans! Really!)
Like many early hacker terms, this one seems to have originated at
{TMRC}; it was already in use there in 1958. Peter Samson
(compiler of the original TMRC lexicon) thinks it may originally
have been onomatopoeic for the sound of a relay spring (contact)
being twanged. However, it is known that during the World Wars,
`mung' was army slang for the ersatz creamed chipped beef better
known as `SOS'.
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary
Related:
- mung /muhng/ vt.
[in 1960 at MIT, `Mash Until No Good';
sometime after that the derivation from the recursive... - foo /foo/
1. interj. Term of disgust. 2. [very
common] Used very generally as a sample name for absolutely
anything,
esp. programs and files (esp. scratch files). 3. First... - TMRC /tmerk'/ n.
The Tech Model Railroad Club at MIT,
one of the wellsprings of hacker culture. The 1959... - bug n.
An unwanted and unintended property of a program or
piece of hardware,
esp. one that causes it to malfunction. Antonym... - trash: vt. To destroy the contents of (said of a data structure).
The most common of the family of near-synonyms including... - DDT /D-D-T/ n.
[from the insecticide
para-dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethene] 1.
Generic term for a program that assists in debugging... - TMRC and the MIT hacker culture of the early '60s seems to
have developed in a milieu that remembered and still used some WWII
military slang (see also foobar).
It seems likely that `kluge' came to MIT via alumni... - bit-paired keyboard n.,obs.
(alt. `bit-shift
keyboard') A non-standard keyboard layout that seems to have
originated with the Teletype ASR-33 and remained common for several
years on early computer equipment.
The ASR-33 was a mechanical device (see EOU), so... - trash vt.
To destroy the contents of (said of a data
structure).
The most common of the family of near-synonyms including...
