alt /awlt/
1. n. The alt shift key on an IBM PC or clone keyboard; see bucky bits, sense 2 (though typical PC
usage does not simply set the 0200 bit). 2. n. The `option' key
on a Macintosh; use of this term usually reveals that the speaker
hacked PCs before coming to the Mac (see also feature key, which is sometimes
incorrectly called `alt'). 3. n.,obs. [PDP-10; often
capitalized to ALT] Alternate name for the ASCII ESC character
(ASCII 0011011), after the keycap labeling on some older
terminals; also `altmode' (/awlt'mohd/). This character was
almost never pronounced `escape' on an ITS system, in TECO, or under TOPS-10 -- always alt, as in "Type
alt alt to end a TECO command" or "alt-U onto the system" (for
"log onto the [ITS] system"). This usage probably arose because
alt is more convenient to say than `escape', especially when
followed by another alt or a character (or another alt
and a character, for that matter). 4. The _alt_
hierarchy on Usenet, the tree of newsgroups created by users
without a formal vote and approval procedure. There is a myth,
not entirely implausible, that _alt_ is acronymic for
"anarchists, lunatics, and terrorists"; but in fact it is simply
short for "alternative".
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alt bit /awlt bit/ [from alternate] adj.
See meta bit.