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.
