EOU
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]Last updated: 1996-06-29
Nearby terms:
Envoy ♦ EOF ♦ EOL ♦ EOR ♦ EOT ♦ EOU ♦ EOUG ♦ EP ♦ EPCS ♦ ephemeral port ♦ EPILOG
Try this search on Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Google, OneLook.
