<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">Apropos of apropos: <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=apropos">https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=apropos</a><div><br></div><div>etymonline.com is my goto etymological dictionary site. <br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfMessage"><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div>On Sep 30, 2024, at 2:25 PM, Henry Bent <henry.r.bent@gmail.com> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">On Mon, 30 Sept 2024 at 16:51, Steffen Nurpmeso <<a href="mailto:steffen@sdaoden.eu">steffen@sdaoden.eu</a>> wrote:</div><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Henry Bent wrote in<br>
<CAEdTPBeK4HOjuiqJPtpneqrDj0CF3=5=<a href="mailto:jv5aOPjYPBisDkPmyg@mail.gmail.com" target="_blank">jv5aOPjYPBisDkPmyg@mail.gmail.com</a>>:<br>
|On Mon, 30 Sept 2024 at 14:08, Dan Cross <<a href="mailto:crossd@gmail.com" target="_blank">crossd@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
|> This makes me wonder when the `apropos` command was introduced; surely<br>
|> the name was also somewhat of an obscure joke ("what is apropos of<br>
|> listing a directory?" is not exactly the phrase that springs<br>
|> immediately to mind when wondering how to list a directory).<br>
|><br>
|<br>
|Looks like it was introduced in 2BSD, written by Bill Joy, though the<br>
|4.4BSD manpage claims that it was introduced in 3BSD. Neither the BSD<br>
|source nor manpage are particularly enlightening about the choice of name.<br>
<br>
"a pro position" maybe. <br>
<br>
needs a "pro user" from the start; AI would instead and<br>
additionally clean your back i would assume.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>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:</div><div><br></div><div>--<br></div><div>
<em>Apropos</em> wears its ancestry like a badge—or a beret. From the French phrase <em>à propos</em>, meaning “to the purpose,” the word’s emphasis lands on its last syllable, which ends in a silent “s”: \ap-ruh-POH. <em>Apropos</em>
typically functions as an adjective describing what is suitable or
appropriate (“an apropos comment”), or as a preposition (with or without
<em>of</em>) 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. </div><div>--</div><div><br></div><div>-Henry<br></div></div></div>
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