Notes on  FRED 

1. The personal name most frequently used as a
METASYNTACTIC VARIABLE (see FOO). Allegedly popular because it's
easy for a non-touch-typist to type on a standard QWERTY keyboard. In
Great Britain, `fred', `jim' and `sheila' are common metasyntactic
variables because their uppercase versions were official names given
to the 3 memory areas that held I/O status registers on the
lovingly-remembered BBC Microcomputer! (It is reported that SHEILA
was poked the most often.) Unlike J. RANDOM HACKER or J. Random
Loser, the name `fred' has no positive or negative loading (but see
DR. FRED MBOGO). See also BARNEY.

2. An acronym for `Flipping Ridiculous Electronic Device'; other
F-verbs may be substituted for `flipping'.

J3N Research Labs

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