14 lines
2.6 KiB
HTML
14 lines
2.6 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>wall</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="../W.html" title="W"/><link rel="previous" href="walking-drives.html" title="walking drives"/><link rel="next" href="wall-follower.html" title="wall follower"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">wall</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="walking-drives.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">W</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="wall-follower.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="wall"/><dt xmlns="" id="wall"><b>wall</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">interj.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [WPI] </p></dd><dd><p> 1. An indication of confusion, usually spoken with a quizzical tone:
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“<span class="quote">Wall??</span>” </p></dd><dd><p> 2. A request for further explication. Compare
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<a href="../O/octal-forty.html"><i class="glossterm">octal forty</i></a>. </p></dd><dd><p> 3. [Unix, from ‘write all’] <span class="grammar">v.</span> To send a message to everyone currently logged
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in, esp. with the
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<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">wall</span>(8)</span>
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utility.</p><p>It is said that sense 1 came from the idiom ‘like talking to a
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blank wall’. It was originally used in situations where, after you
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had carefully answered a question, the questioner stared at you blankly,
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clearly having understood nothing that was explained. You would then throw
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out a “<span class="quote">Hello, wall?</span>” to elicit some sort of response from the
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questioner. Later, confused questioners began voicing “<span class="quote">Wall?</span>”
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themselves.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="walking-drives.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../W.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="wall-follower.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">walking drives </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> wall follower</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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