fred n.
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'.