[TUHS] On computerese

[Steffen Nurpmeso]

Henry Bent wrote in
 <CAEdTPBcGoBDb-r4vkbnqueb397G99XFBthqNMb3h5DaZ0o+gyg at mail.gmail.com>:
 |On Mon, 30 Sept 2024 at 16:51, Steffen Nurpmeso <steffen at sdaoden.eu> wrote:
 |> Henry Bent wrote in
 |>  <CAEdTPBeK4HOjuiqJPtpneqrDj0CF3=5=jv5aOPjYPBisDkPmyg at mail.gmail.com>:
 |>|On Mon, 30 Sept 2024 at 14:08, Dan Cross <crossd at gmail.com> wrote:
 |>|> This makes me wonder when the `apropos` command was introduced; surely
 |>|> the name was also somewhat of an obscure joke ("what is apropos of
 |>|> listing a directory?" is not exactly the phrase that springs
 |>|> immediately to mind when wondering how to list a directory).
 |>|
 |>|Looks like it was introduced in 2BSD, written by Bill Joy, though the
 |>|4.4BSD manpage claims that it was introduced in 3BSD.  Neither the BSD
 |>|source nor manpage are particularly enlightening about the choice of
 |> name.
 |>
 |> "a pro position" maybe.
 |>
 |> needs a "pro user" from the start; AI would instead and
 |> additionally clean your back i would assume.
 |
 |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:

Oh!  Apropos is known in Germany as a (*that*) word, too, also
commonly heard, even in the (upper) middle class, but sounding
like "apro-poh" here.  Ef "Apropos -- have i already" etc etc.
I was "only leaving of the e of that creat", so to say.
(I am not looking at the online "Duden" because they now require
Javascript and tracking, if i recall correctly.)

 |--
 |*Apropos* wears its ancestry like a badge—or a beret. From the French
 |phrase *à propos*, meaning “to the purpose,” the word’s emphasis lands on
 |its last syllable, which ends in a silent “s”: \ap-ruh-POH. *Apropos*
 |typically functions as an adjective describing what is suitable or
 |appropriate (“an apropos comment”), or as a preposition (with or without
 |*of*) 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.
 |--
 |
 |-Henry
 --End of <CAEdTPBcGoBDb-r4vkbnqueb397G99XFBthqNMb3h5DaZ0o+gyg at mail.gmail\
 .com>

--steffen
|
|Der Kragenbaer,                The moon bear,
|der holt sich munter           he cheerfully and one by one
|einen nach dem anderen runter  wa.ks himself off
|(By Robert Gernhardt)