fred

n. 1. The personal name most frequently used as a metasyntactic variable
(see foo ). Allegedly popular because it's easy for a non-touch-typist to
type on a standard QWERTY keyboard. In Great Britain, fred , jim and sheila
are common metasyntactic variables because their uppercase versions were
official names given to the 3 memory areas that held I/O status registers on
the lovingly-remembered BBC Microcomputer! (It is reported that SHEILA was
poked the most often.) Unlike J. Random Hacker or J. Random Loser , the name
fred has no positive or negative loading (but see Dr. Fred Mbogo ). See also
barney. 2. An acronym for Flipping Ridiculous Electronic Device ; other
F-verbs may be substituted for flipping.