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.