humma // excl.
A filler word used on various `chat' and `talk' programs when
you had nothing to say but felt that it was important to say
something. The word apparently originated (at least with this
definition) on the MECC Timeshare System (MTS, a now-defunct
educational time-sharing system running in Minnesota during the
1970s and the early 1980s) but was later sighted on early Unix
systems. Compare the U.K's wibble.
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hung adj.
[from `hung up'; common] Equivalent to wedged, but more common at Unix/C sites. Not
generally used of people. Syn. with locked up, wedged; compare hosed. See also hang.
A hung state is distinguished from crashed or down,
where the program or system is also unusable but because it is
not running rather than because it is waiting for something.
However, the recovery from both situations is often the same. It
is also distinguished from the similar but more drastic state
wedged - hung software can be woken
up with easy things like interrupt keys, but wedged will need a
kill -9 or even reboot.
Node:hungry puppy, Next:hungus, Previous:hung, Up:= H
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hungry puppy n.
Syn. slopsucker.