CHAT: When is an Apache not an apache? (was: When is a class not a class?)

Keith Gaughan scripsit:

> >Yes, I think so. BTW, I recently learned that Apache
> >is pronounced like "Apatshee" by the Anglo-Saxon,
> >while we say "Apash". So my knowledge is not totally
> >null on that topic :-)
>
> There's a joke in the name (which you probably learned when you
> discovered the pronounciation of the server's name) and that's
> that it's a pun on "A patchy server", owing to it starting as a
> bunch of patches on NCSA's server software.
The worst social mortification my wife ever experienced (before my
time, at least), was when she was invited by letter to "An Apache Party"
and came dressed as an Apache rather than as un(e) apache.
The latter sense is first recorded (in French) in 1902, so she had
history on her side -- but to no avail.

--
There are three kinds of people in the world:   John Cowan
those who can count,                            http://www.reutershealth.com
and those who can't.                            jcowan@reutershealth.com

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