23 lines
3.4 KiB
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23 lines
3.4 KiB
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>luser</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../L.html" title="L"/><link rel="previous" href="lurker.html" title="lurker"/><link rel="next" href="../M.html" title="M"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">luser</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="lurker.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><th width="60%" align="center">L</th><td width="20%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="../M.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="luser"/><dt xmlns="" id="luser"><b>luser</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="pronunciation">/loo<6F>zr/</span>, <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [common] A <a href="../U/user.html"><i class="glossterm">user</i></a>; esp. one who is also a
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<a href="loser.html"><i class="glossterm">loser</i></a>. (<a href="luser.html"><i class="glossterm">luser</i></a> and
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<a href="loser.html"><i class="glossterm">loser</i></a> are pronounced identically.) This word was
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coined around 1975 at MIT. Under ITS, when you first walked up to a
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terminal at MIT and typed Control-Z to get the computer's attention, it
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printed out some status information, including how many people were already
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using the computer; it might print “<span class="quote">14 users</span>”, for example.
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Someone thought it would be a great joke to patch the system to print
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“<span class="quote">14 losers</span>” instead. There ensued a great controversy, as
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some of the users didn't particularly want to be called losers to their
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faces every time they used the computer. For a while several hackers
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struggled covertly, each changing the message behind the back of the
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others; any time you logged into the computer it was even money whether it
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would say “<span class="quote">users</span>” or “<span class="quote">losers</span>”. Finally, someone
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tried the compromise “<span class="quote">lusers</span>”, and it stuck. Later one of the
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ITS machines supported <b class="command">luser</b> as a
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request-for-help command. ITS died the death in mid-1990, except as a
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museum piece; the usage lives on, however, and the term <span class="firstterm">luser</span> is often seen in program comments and on
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Usenet. Compare <a href="../M/mundane.html"><i class="glossterm">mundane</i></a>,
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<a href="../M/muggle.html"><i class="glossterm">muggle</i></a>, <a href="../N/newbie.html"><i class="glossterm">newbie</i></a>,
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<a href="../C/chainik.html"><i class="glossterm">chainik</i></a>.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="lurker.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../L.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="../M.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">lurker<EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"><EFBFBD>M</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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