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[Terry Lambert]

Jeff Walters wrote:
> I know people in the BSD world are picky about the spelling of "daemon", but I
> can't figure out why.  According to Merriam-Webster daemon is "variant of
> demon."  The spelling doesn't matter to the meaning in common language, and
> it's not a trademark, so it must be a type of cult to be picky about it when
> people write "demon", or to intentionally avoid the more common spelling for
> the sake of distinctiveness and tradition.

Actually, that's not correct.  See:

	http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/Daemon.html

Specifically, the part about James Maxwell's gendanken
experiment.

> I agree that usage of FreeBSD is most likely not going to harm your soul, but
> regardless of the origins of the misperceptions, it's clearly doesn't add to
> positive PR of FreeBSD.  Definition 1(a) of "demon" in Merriam-Webster is "an
> evil spirit".  (See www.m-w.com)  Definition 2 is the FreeBSD definition, "an
> attendant power or spirit".  Regardless of what BSD in general intends it to
> mean, the meaning to the uninvolved man on the street is a satanic image,
> dressed up like a cartoon.

Only to people who are unaware of the history of science.  We
don't like those people anyway.  8-).


> This reminds me a lot of the state flag debate going on here in Georgia, where
> there's a fight in the state government to put the old Confederate battle
> emblem back on the flag.  Some say it's a symbol of racial hate, others say
> it's a symbol of southern heritage.  Should we be concerned about those who
> are offended by the well-known symbol, which represents hate to them, even if
> others are not offended by it and find the symbol traditional?  Likewise with
> the FreeBSD demon.

Frankly, penguins terrify most of us on this list...

But not as much as political correctness revisionists who try
to turn the entire world into something that might have been
manufactured by Fisher-Price.

PS: Next time use a better dictionary; I reccomend the Oxford
English Dictionary.

<http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon>
<http://www.kokogiak.com/logolepsy/ow_d.html#daemon>

-- Terry