mu

/moo/ The correct answer to the classic trick question Have you stopped
beating your wife yet?. Assuming that you have no wife or you have never
beaten your wife, the answer yes is wrong because it implies that you used
to beat your wife and then stopped, but no is worse because it suggests that
you have one and are still beating her. According to various Discordians and
Douglas Hofstadter the correct answer is usually mu , a Japanese word
alleged to mean Your question cannot be answered because it depends on
incorrect assumptions. Hackers tend to be sensitive to logical inadequacies
in language, and many have adopted this suggestion with enthusiasm. The word
mu is actually from Chinese, meaning nothing ; it is used in mainstream
Japanese in that sense. In Chinese it can also mean have not (as in I have
not done it ), or lack of , which may or may not be a definite, complete
'nothing').

