Unix Acronyms Incorrect! Possible Paradox...

jlturbos · 02-04-2004, 06:13 PM

This is driving me crazy! Can you put an acronym inside an acronym?

ex:
GNU = GNU's Not Unix = How can GNU's be embedded in GNU
APSFILTER = Apsfilter Prints So Fine, It Leads To Extraordinary Results = You know what I'm sayin'.

Could someone please explain this to me? Is this a paradox, maybe?

Thanks,
JL

XavierP · 02-04-2004, 06:16 PM

GNU = GNU is not Unix
WINE = WINE Is Not an Emulator

These are all self referring acronyms. The acronym talks about the thing it is an acronym of. It's humour. That's all.

There are others around.

Joey.Dale · 02-04-2004, 06:16 PM

It is called a recusive(sp?) acronym

jlturbos · 02-04-2004, 06:17 PM

Thanks for the replies!

Is it a paradox tho?

Nis · 02-04-2004, 06:19 PM

It's just a play on the whole acronym thing. It's less a paradox and more of an infinite recursion thing. Here's a few more:
pine - pine is not elm
LAME: LAME Ain't an MP3 Encoder
and my personal favorite, from the GNU Hurd website

Quote:

According to Thomas Bushnell, BSG, the primary architect of the Hurd:

`Hurd' stands for `Hird of Unix-Replacing Daemons'. And, then, `Hird' stands for `Hurd of Interfaces Representing Depth'. We have here, to my knowledge, the first software to be named by a pair of mutually recursive acronyms.

Who can think of some more?

XavierP · 02-04-2004, 06:21 PM

No. A Paradox is a self contradiction. GNU is, indeed, not Unix - no paradox there.

Joey.Dale - you are right, I just couldn't think of the correct word at the time.

h3rb1 · 02-04-2004, 06:33 PM

This is totally irrelavant and useless but "Infinite Recursion", reminds me of the movie "Dude wheres my car?" and that scene with the tatoos.

Nis · 02-04-2004, 06:38 PM

For a geeky example of infinite recursion here's a way in bash:

Code:

dumb()
{
  if [ -x /dev/null ]
  then  
   dumb()
  fi
}
dumb()

SciYro · 02-04-2004, 06:46 PM

when it doupt just remember 2 things
1) there is no such thing as a paradox sience the universe is perfect
2)recursion is beuteyful, dont belive me just go look at pictures of some good fractles

wapcaplet · 02-04-2004, 06:50 PM

Another good explanation: Recursive acronym (Wikipedia). One you might not know of: VISA (the credit card) stands for "VISA International Service Association."

Jose Muñiz · 02-04-2004, 07:53 PM

How do they decide on the first letter, though?

Thymox · 02-04-2004, 08:32 PM

Well, in the case of GNU - RMS was trying to find a real English word that would enable him to have Is Not Unix but he couldn't find any real words ending in INU, but he did find one that would work if he dropped the I: xNU where x can be replaced = GNU!

Often the first letter is the recursed one and if chosen so that the acronym sounds nice.

There are also things called recipricol(sp?) acrynyms:

HURD = Hird of Unix-Replacing Daemons
HIRD = Hurd of Interfaces Representing Depth

Now, how cool/sad (delete as appropriate

) is that? Forget your recursive acronyms!

Crito · 02-05-2004, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Nis
According to Thomas Bushnell, BSG, the primary architect of the Hurd:

`Hurd' stands for `Hird of Unix-Replacing Daemons'. And, then, `Hird' stands for `Hurd of Interfaces Representing Depth'. We have here, to my knowledge, the first software to be named by a pair of mutually recursive acronyms.

Since we're getting all geeky with each other, that one would be a circular reference, not infinite recursion.

LOL

fatman · 02-05-2004, 09:35 AM

PHP - PHP Hypertext Preprocessor

XINU - XINU Is Not Unix

jspenguin · 02-06-2004, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by fatman
XINU - XINU Is Not Unix [/B]

Now why didn't RMS think of that one? Not only is it recursive, it's also UNIX in reverse.