• don@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    GNU Hurd.

    It’s time [to] explain the meaning of “Hurd”. “Hurd” stands for “Hird of Unix-Replacing Daemons”. And, then, “Hird” stands for “Hurd of Interfaces Representing Depth”. We have here, to my knowledge, the first software to be named by a pair of mutually recursive acronyms.

    – Thomas (then Michael) Bushnell

    • cook_pass_babtridge@feddit.uk
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      3 months ago

      But I thought LAME Ain’t an MP3 Encoder?!

      Actually I never got that. WINE isn’t an emulator, but LAME very much is an MP3 encoder

    • Evil_incarnate@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      Pine was already taken by an email reader. One of the early ascii email readers was called elm, for ELectronic Mail. Pine was made after elm and it stands for Pine Is Not Elm.

      • skulblaka@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        I’m starting to get the impression that most software older than me is defined more by what it isn’t than by what it is.

    • 4am@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      It’s a cheeky play on “WINdows Emulator” as well as “WINE’s Is Not an Emulator”, but I think for both legal (trademark) and logistical (it really isn’t an emulator) reasons, you’ll never officially see that bit sanctioned

  • Dizzy Devil Ducky@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    My personal favorite acronym like that definitely goes to AROS (Amiga Research Operating System) that if I remember correctly had to - for legal reasons - change the name. Rather than come up with a completely new name, went with AROS Research Operating System.

    Edit: name change was apparently to avoid any trademark issues with the Amiga name.