double bucky

adj. Using both the CTRL and META keys. The command to burn all LEDs is
double bucky F. This term originated on the Stanford extended-ASCII
keyboard, and was later taken up by users of the space-cadet keyboard at
MIT. A typical MIT comment was that the Stanford bucky bits (control and
meta shifting keys) were nice, but there weren't enough of them; you could
type only 512 different characters on a Stanford keyboard. An obvious way to
address this was simply to add more shifting keys, and this was eventually
done; but a keyboard with that many shifting keys is hard on touch-typists,
who don't like to move their hands away from the home position on the
keyboard. It was half-seriously suggested that the extra shifting keys be
implemented as pedals; typing on such a keyboard would be very much like
playing a full pipe organ. This idea is mentioned in a parody of a very fine
song by Jeffrey Moss called Rubber Duckie , which was published in The
Sesame Street Songbook (Simon and Schuster 1971, ISBN 0-671-21036-X). These
lyrics were written on May 27, 1978, in celebration of the Stanford
keyboard: DoubleBucky Doublebucky,you'retheone! Youmakemykeyboardlotsoffun.
Doublebucky,anadditionalbitortwo: (Vo-vo-de-o!) Controlandmeta,sidebyside,
AugmentedASCII,ninebitswide! Doublebucky!Halfathousandglyphs,plusafew! Oh,
IsurewishthatI Hadacoupleof Bitsmore! Perhapsa Setofpedalsto Makethenumberof
Bitsfour: Doubledoublebucky! Doublebucky,leftandright
OR'dtogether,outtasight! Doublebucky,I'dlikeawholewordof
Doublebucky,I'mhappyIheardof Doublebucky,I'dlikeawholewordofyou!
TheGreatQuux(withapologiestoJeffreyMoss) See also meta bit, cokebottle,
and quadruple bucky.
