this post was submitted on 09 May 2026
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[–] snoons@lemmy.ca 73 points 3 weeks ago

linics

hmmmm.... no, i don't like it

[–] midribbon_action@lemmy.blahaj.zone 45 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Cool story, but I already chose to believe Ken Thompson has no testicles some time ago.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 26 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Didn't expect this in the comments. What's this about?

[–] midribbon_action@lemmy.blahaj.zone 77 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Ken Thompson is one of the most influential unix of all time.

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 30 points 3 weeks ago

*very angry upvote*

[–] Vajra_furor@lemmy.blahaj.zone 25 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

When she showed me this joke, I had to leave the room. She was so proud of how funny she is.

[–] Ludicrous0251@piefed.zip 15 points 3 weeks ago

She is very funny. She should be proud.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I still don't get it. Am I whooshing or do I just not have enough details yet? I just woke up btw...

[–] auntieclokwise@lemmy.world 19 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

The word Unix sounds very close to the word for a castrated male.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago

Oh my god, of course. lol, thanks!

[–] peterhorvath@mastodon.de 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

@auntieclokwise @victorz :-) What is the language on which you are thinking on?

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

If I'm reading English text, I think in English. Otherwise it varies between my native tongue and English.

[–] peterhorvath@mastodon.de -1 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

@victorz They are not even similar on English.

[–] J_N_F@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

Unix and eunuchs. They are very similar.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

But yes they are.

Also I think you mean "in English". Is your native language perhaps Scandinavian or otherwise close to German?

[–] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 9 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

eunuchs (a word used to describe testicle-less men working for various different rulers around the world)

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

Thanks 😄

[–] peterhorvath@mastodon.de 1 points 3 weeks ago

@sbeak @victorz It is "unix car parts shop"

[–] meowmeow@quokk.au 31 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Just wait until lynucks gets revealed

[–] swab148@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)
[–] Jarix@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I dig it. Make it so

[–] meowmeow@quokk.au 1 points 3 weeks ago
[–] tux0r@snac.rosaelefanten.org 1 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] swab148@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 3 weeks ago

Famously, not a Linux distro

[–] Grass@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 weeks ago

O Penbee Esdee

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

I need a jynnan tonnyx.

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 25 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Now the question is, did he put the x as a variable i.e. they couldn't agree how to write it so he used x as a stand-in, or was he using x phonetically.

Probably the latter, and yet...

[–] Gullible@sh.itjust.works 21 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Dang, people should email him for 15 years to find out!

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 30 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Let's leave it unsettled so future nerd historians, 100 years from now, can hate us for not asking and write books speculating about it.

[–] modus@lemmy.world 14 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Or post the question on a forum, then post "response deleted" and then post a third one to say "Thanks! That was super-interesting!"

[–] FunStuffIsFun@eviltoast.org 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Share a screenshot, but be sure that the screenshot is a photobucket 404.

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

And this, for the readers in the future reading this post from their flying cars on Mars (or Roko's Basilisk), is what we call trolling in the ancient times.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 weeks ago

X = GNU achtually

[–] mech@feddit.org 10 points 3 weeks ago

Now try asking Ken M

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago

Answer transcribed by moi:

Unix was named (phonetically) by bwk. I don't think he ever spelled it, but since it was a play on multics, he thought it was unics (you can ask him).

At the time, Unix was compiled on the central computer at Bell Labs (GE-635) that produced a PDP-7 paper tape. Usually, I just ran the tape and threw it away. When I needed to save a tape, I wrote "Unix" on the tape. It [the name] stuck after that.

[–] x00z@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

It really feels like I knew this already.

[–] Paranoidfactoid@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I wish someone would make a Plan 9 distribution.

[–] tux0r@snac.rosaelefanten.org 1 points 1 week ago

A couple of Plan 9 distributions exist.

[–] scathliath@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 weeks ago

This should be made into a purity seal.