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676 B
Plaintext
4 lines
676 B
Plaintext
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wall
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interj. [WPI] 1. An indication of confusion, usually spoken with a quizzical tone: Wall?? 2. A request for further explication. Compare octal forty. 3. [Unix, from write all ] v. To send a message to everyone currently logged in, esp. with the wall (8) utility. It is said that sense 1 came from the idiom like talking to a blank wall. It was originally used in situations where, after you had carefully answered a question, the questioner stared at you blankly, clearly having understood nothing that was explained. You would then throw out a Hello, wall? to elicit some sort of response from the questioner. Later, confused questioners began voicing Wall? themselves.
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