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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’.
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