UN*X

UN*X

(operating system, convention)Used to refer to the Unixoperating system (a trademark of AT&T) in writing, butavoiding the need for the ugly (TM) typography. Also used torefer to any or all varieties of Unixoid operating systems.Ironically, lawyers now say that the requirement for theTM-postfix has no legal force, but the asterisk usage isentrenched anyhow.

It has been suggested that there may be a psychologicalconnection to practice in certain religions (especiallyJudaism) in which the name of the deity is never written outin full, e.g. "YHWH" or "G--d" is used.

See also glob.