metasyntactic variable

metasyntactic variable n.  A name used in examples and
   understood to stand for whatever thing is under discussion, or any
   random member of a class of things under discussion.  The word
   {foo} is the {canonical} example.  To avoid confusion,
   hackers never (well, hardly ever) use `foo' or other words like
   it as permanent names for anything.  In filenames, a common
   convention is that any filename beginning with a
   metasyntactic-variable name is a {scratch} file that may be
   deleted at any time.

   To some extent, the list of one's preferred metasyntactic variables
   is a cultural signature.  They occur both in series (used for
   related groups of variables or objects) and as singletons.  Here
   are a few common signatures:

     {foo}, {bar}, {baz}, {quux}, quuux, quuuux...:
          MIT/Stanford usage, now found everywhere (thanks largely to
          early versions of this lexicon!).  At MIT (but not at
          Stanford), {baz} dropped out of use for a while in the 1970s
          and '80s. A common recent mutation of this sequence inserts
          {qux} before {quux}.
     bazola, ztesch:
          Stanford (from mid-'70s on).
     {foo}, {bar}, thud, grunt:
          This series was popular at CMU.  Other CMU-associated
          variables include {gorp}.
     {foo}, {bar}, fum:
          This series is reported to be common at XEROX PARC.
     {fred}, {barney}:
          See the entry for {fred}.  These tend to be Britishisms.
     {corge}, {grault}, {flarp}:
          Popular at Rutgers University and among {GOSMACS} hackers.
     zxc, spqr, wombat:
          Cambridge University (England).
     shme
          Berkeley, GeoWorks, Ingres.  Pronounced /shme/ with a short
          /e/.
     {foo}, {bar}, zot
          Helsinki University of Technology, Finland.
     blarg, wibble
          New Zealand.
     toto, titi, tata, tutu
          France.
     pippo, pluto, paperino
          Italy.  Pippo /pee'po/ and Paperino /pa-per-ee'-no/ are the
          Italian names for Goofy and Donald Duck.
     aap, noot, mies
          The Netherlands.  These are the first words a child used to
          learn to spell on a Dutch spelling board.

   Of all these, only `foo' and `bar' are universal (and {baz}
   nearly so).  The compounds {foobar} and `foobaz' also enjoy
   very wide currency.

   Some jargon terms are also used as metasyntactic names; {barf}
   and {mumble}, for example.  See also {{Commonwealth Hackish}}
   for discussion of numerous metasyntactic variables found in Great
   Britain and the Commonwealth.