quux

[Mythically, from the Latin semi-deponent verb quuxo, quuxare, quuxandum iri; noun form variously `quux' (plural `quuces', anglicized to `quuxes') and `quuxu' (genitive plural is `quuxuum', for four u-letters out of seven in all, using up all the `u' letters in Scrabble).]

1. Originally, a {metasyntactic variable} like {foo} and {foobar}. Invented by Guy Steele for precisely this purpose when he was young and naive and not yet interacting with the real computing community. Many people invent such words; this one seems simply to have been lucky enough to have spread a little. In an eloquent display of poetic justice, it has returned to the originator in the form of a nickname.
2. interj. See {foo}; however, denotes very little disgust, and is uttered mostly for the sake of the sound of it.
3. Guy Steele in his persona as `The Great Quux', which is somewhat infamous for light verse and for the `Crunchly' cartoons.
4. In some circles, used as a punning opposite of `crux'. "Ah, that's the quux of the matter!" implies that the point is not crucial (compare {tip of the ice-cube}).
5. quuxy: adj. Of or pertaining to a quux.

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