quux

quux

/kwuhks/ [Mythically, from the Latin semi-deponent verb quuxo,quuxare, quuxandum iri; noun form variously "quux" (plural"quuces", anglicised to "quuxes") and "quuxu" (genitive pluralis "quuxuum", for four u-letters out of seven in all, using upall the "u" letters in Scrabble).] 1. Originally, ametasyntactic variable like foo and foobar. Invented byGuy Steele for precisely this purpose when he was young andnaive and not yet interacting with the real computingcommunity. Many people invent such words; this one seemssimply to have been lucky enough to have spread a little. Inan eloquent display of poetic justice, it has returned to theoriginator in the form of a nickname.

2. See foo; however, denotes very little disgust, and isuttered mostly for the sake of the sound of it.

3. Guy Steele in his persona as "The Great Quux", which issomewhat infamous for light verse and for the "Crunchly"cartoons.

4. In some circles, used as a punning opposite of "crux"."Ah, that's the quux of the matter!" implies that the point is*not* crucial (compare tip of the ice-cube).