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bang
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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.
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