fred

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'.

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