EOU

character, humour The mnemonic of a mythical ASCII control

character (End Of User) that would make an ASR-33 Teletype

explode on receipt. This construction parodies the numerous

obscure delimiter and control characters left in ASCII from

the days when it was associated more with wire-service

teletypes than computers (e.g. FS, GS, RS, US, EM,

SUB, ETX, and especially EOT). It is worth remembering

that ASR-33s were big, noisy mechanical beasts with a lot of

clattering parts; the notion that one might explode was

nowhere near as ridiculous as it might seem to someone sitting

in front of a tube or flatscreen today.

[Jargon File]

(1996-06-29)