May 15, 2003

wall

interj.

[WPI]

1. An indication of confusion, usually spoken with a quizzical tone: Wall??

2. A request for further explication. Compare octal forty.

3. [Unix, from ‘write all’] v. To send a message to everyone currently logged in, esp. with the wall8 utility.

It is said that sense 1 came from the idiom ‘like talking to a blank wall’. It was originally used in situations where, after you had carefully answered a question, the questioner stared at you blankly, clearly having understood nothing that was explained. You would then throw out a Hello, wall? to elicit some sort of response from the questioner. Later, confused questioners began voicing Wall? themselves.

Posted by Jargon File at May 15, 2003 10:24 AM

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