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xyzzy

xyzzy


  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Jargon  File  (4.2.3,  23  NOV  2000)  [jargon]: 
 
  xyzzy  /X-Y-Z-Z-Y/,  /X-Y-ziz'ee/,  /ziz'ee/,  or  /ik-ziz'ee/  adj 
  [from  the  ADVENT  game]  The  {canonical}  `magic  word'.  This  comes  from 
  {ADVENT},  in  which  the  idea  is  to  explore  an  underground  cave  with  many 
  rooms  and  to  collect  the  treasures  you  find  there  If  you  type  `xyzzy' 
  at  the  appropriate  time,  you  can  move  instantly  between  two  otherwise 
  distant  points.  If  therefore,  you  encounter  some  bit  of  {magic}, 
  you  might  remark  on  this  quite  succinctly  by  saying  simply  "Xyzzy!" 
  "Ordinarily  you  can't  look  at  someone  else's  screen  if  he  has  protected 
  it  but  if  you  type  quadruple-bucky-clear  the  system  will  let  you  do 
  it  anyway."  "Xyzzy!"  It's  traditional  for  xyzzy  to  be  an  {Easter  egg} 
  in  games  with  text  interfaces. 
 
  Xyzzy  has  actually  been  implemented  as  an  undocumented  no-op 
  command  on  several  OSes;  in  Data  General's  AOS/VS,  for  example,  it  would 
  typically  respond  "Nothing  happens",  just  as  {ADVENT}  did  if  the  magic 
  was  invoked  at  the  wrong  spot  or  before  a  player  had  performed  the  action 
  that  enabled  the  word  In  more  recent  32-bit  versions,  by  the  way 
  AOS/VS  responds  "Twice  as  much  happens". 
 
  Early  versions  of  the  popular  `minesweeper'  game  under  Microsoft 
  Windows  had  a  cheat  mode  triggered  by  the  command 
  `xyzzy'  that  turns  the  top-left  pixel  of  the  screen 
  different  colors  depending  on  whether  or  not  the  cursor  is  over  a  bomb. 
  This  feature  temporarily  diasappeared  in  Windows  98,  but  reappeared  in 
  Windows  2000. 
 
  The  following  passage  from  "The  Wonderful  Wizard  of  Oz"  by  L. 
  Frank  Baum,  suggesting  a  possible  pre-ADVENT  origin,  has  recently  come 
  to  light: 
 
  "Ziz-zy,  zuz-zy,  zik!"  said  Dorothy,  who  was  now  standing  on  both 
  feet.  This  ended  the  saying  of  the  charm,  and  they  heard  a  great 
  chattering  and  flapping  of  wings,  as  the  band  of  Winged  Monkeys  flew  up 
  to  them 
 
  The  text  can  be  viewed  at  Project  Gutenberg 
  (ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext93/wizoz10.txt). 
 
  Another  possible  pre-ADVENT  porigin  is  discussed  at  the  XYZZY 
  page  (http://people.delphi.com/rickadams/adventure/c_xyzzy.html). 
 
  =  Y  =  ===== 
 
 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  xyzzy 
 
    The  {canonical}  "magic  word"  from  the  {ADVENT} 
  adventure  game,  in  which  the  idea  is  to  explore  an  underground 
  cave  with  many  rooms  and  to  collect  the  treasures  you  find 
  there  If  you  type  xyzzy"  at  the  appropriate  time,  you  can 
  move  instantly  between  two  otherwise  distant  points.  If 
  therefore,  you  encounter  some  bit  of  {magic},  you  might  remark 
  on  this  quite  succinctly  by  saying  simply  "Xyzzy!" 
  "Ordinarily  you  can't  look  at  someone  else's  screen  if  he  has 
  protected  it  but  if  you  type  quadruple-bucky-clear  the  system 
  will  let  you  do  it  anyway."  "Xyzzy!"  Xyzzy  has  actually  been 
  implemented  as  an  undocumented  no-op  command  on  several  OSes; 
  in  Data  General's  AOS/VS,  for  example,  it  would  typically 
  respond  "Nothing  happens",  just  as  {ADVENT}  did  if  the  magic 
  was  invoked  at  the  wrong  spot  or  before  a  player  had  performed 
  the  action  that  enabled  the  word  In  more  recent  32  bit 
  versions,  by  the  way  AOS/VS  responds  "Twice  as  much  happens". 
  See  also  {plugh}. 
 
  [{Jargon  File}]