Notes on  BANG 

1. n. Common spoken name for ! (ASCII 0100001), especially when used
in pronouncing a BANG PATH in spoken hackish. In ELDER DAYS this
was considered a CMUish usage, with MIT and Stanford hackers
preferring EXCL or SHRIEK; but the spread of Unix has carried
`bang' with it (esp. via the term BANG PATH) and it is now
certainly the most common spoken name for !. Note that it is used
exclusively for non-emphatic written !; one would not say
"Congratulations bang" (except possibly for humorous purposes), but
if one wanted to specify the exact characters "foo!" one would speak
"Eff oh oh bang". See SHRIEK, ASCII.

2. interj. An exclamation signifying roughly "I have achieved
enlightenment!", or "The dynamite has cleared out my brain!" Often
used to acknowledge that one has perpetrated a THINKO immediately
after one has been called on it.

J3N Research Labs

---