this post was submitted on 09 May 2026
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[–] snoons@lemmy.ca 75 points 3 days ago (1 children)

linics

hmmmm.... no, i don't like it

[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 24 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] tux0r@snac.rosaelefanten.org 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago

Fanatics for fedora users?

I'm a Minatic myself.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

Answer transcribed by moi:

Unix was named (phonetically) by bwk. I don't think he ever spelled it, but since it was a play on multics, he thought it was unics (you can ask him).

At the time, Unix was compiled on the central computer at Bell Labs (GE-635) that produced a PDP-7 paper tape. Usually, I just ran the tape and threw it away. When I needed to save a tape, I wrote "Unix" on the tape. It [the name] stuck after that.

[–] midribbon_action@lemmy.blahaj.zone 46 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Cool story, but I already chose to believe Ken Thompson has no testicles some time ago.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 27 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Didn't expect this in the comments. What's this about?

[–] midribbon_action@lemmy.blahaj.zone 80 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Ken Thompson is one of the most influential unix of all time.

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 31 points 3 days ago

*very angry upvote*

[–] Vajra_furor@lemmy.blahaj.zone 25 points 3 days ago (1 children)

When she showed me this joke, I had to leave the room. She was so proud of how funny she is.

[–] Ludicrous0251@piefed.zip 15 points 3 days ago

She is very funny. She should be proud.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I still don't get it. Am I whooshing or do I just not have enough details yet? I just woke up btw...

[–] auntieclokwise@lemmy.world 19 points 3 days ago (2 children)

The word Unix sounds very close to the word for a castrated male.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago

Oh my god, of course. lol, thanks!

[–] peterhorvath@mastodon.de 0 points 3 days ago (1 children)

@auntieclokwise @victorz :-) What is the language on which you are thinking on?

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

If I'm reading English text, I think in English. Otherwise it varies between my native tongue and English.

[–] peterhorvath@mastodon.de -1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

@victorz They are not even similar on English.

[–] J_N_F@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Unix and eunuchs. They are very similar.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

But yes they are.

Also I think you mean "in English". Is your native language perhaps Scandinavian or otherwise close to German?

[–] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 9 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

eunuchs (a word used to describe testicle-less men working for various different rulers around the world)

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

Thanks 😄

[–] peterhorvath@mastodon.de 1 points 3 days ago

@sbeak @victorz It is "unix car parts shop"

[–] meowmeow@quokk.au 31 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Just wait until lynucks gets revealed

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

I need a jynnan tonnyx.

[–] swab148@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 3 days ago (3 children)
[–] Jarix@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I dig it. Make it so

[–] tux0r@snac.rosaelefanten.org 1 points 3 days ago (2 children)
[–] swab148@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 3 days ago

Famously, not a Linux distro

[–] Grass@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 days ago

O Penbee Esdee

[–] meowmeow@quokk.au 1 points 3 days ago
[–] mech@feddit.org 11 points 3 days ago

Now try asking Ken M

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 26 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Now the question is, did he put the x as a variable i.e. they couldn't agree how to write it so he used x as a stand-in, or was he using x phonetically.

Probably the latter, and yet...

[–] Gullible@sh.itjust.works 22 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Dang, people should email him for 15 years to find out!

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 30 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Let's leave it unsettled so future nerd historians, 100 years from now, can hate us for not asking and write books speculating about it.

[–] modus@lemmy.world 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Or post the question on a forum, then post "response deleted" and then post a third one to say "Thanks! That was super-interesting!"

[–] FunStuffIsFun@eviltoast.org 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Share a screenshot, but be sure that the screenshot is a photobucket 404.

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

And this, for the readers in the future reading this post from their flying cars on Mars (or Roko's Basilisk), is what we call trolling in the ancient times.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago

X = GNU achtually

[–] Paranoidfactoid@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

I wish someone would make a Plan 9 distribution.

[–] scathliath@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago

This should be made into a purity seal.

[–] x00z@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago

It really feels like I knew this already.