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No. 40800
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Whereas for english programmers "foo/bar" is used as dummy variable, Japanese programmers use "hoge/fuga". I don't know etymology of this, and it seems it's not even to the Japanese
Quoted from https://togetter.com/li/47113
The epicenter of the variable is in the vicinity of the following five epicenters. (0)-(4) are in chronological order, with (0) being the oldest. At the moment, we guess that the center of the spillover is mainly at (0), (1), (2), and (4). The ripple effect of (1) ASCII-related and (2) WIDE-related seems to be particularly large. The impact of (3) is probably limited.
(0) @hoge_mix, started using it around 1976-1977.
Around 1979-81, he created an Apple II-compatible board, which became known as the HOGE board.
After that, he worked in the PC communication Nikkei Mix under the ID hoge.
Meta-syntactic variable: hoge
Receiving: Apple II compatibility board users, Nikkei MIX, etc. I confirmed that @hoge_mix's account name at that time (HOGE) was known in ASCII.
Etymology: A nickname given to @hoge_mix. The name was spontaneous and has no special origin.
(1) Around early 1980s? Around ASCII (according to @shigeyas)
Meta-syntactic variables: hoge, tako, ika, tentsu
Spillover: MMA, Univ. of Dentsu, WIDE, various places via ASCII, etc.
Etymology: research required
(2) Around 1983, Dr. Osamu Nakamura used to say this (from @kanamono). Around Dr. Jun Murai (from Dr. Yutaka Ishikawa, who was at the University of Tokyo at the time of the summary).
Meta-syntax variable: hoge, unknown after that.
Ripple: Universities, WIDE, etc. The ripple effect seems to be large.
Etymology: to be investigated.
(3) Mid-1980s, near Yamate-dori, Nagoya, Japan
Meta-syntactic variables: hoge, piyo, (third variable*), hogehoge, piyopiyo, (third variable) repeated twice, hogepiyo, hoge with (third variable) added
Ripple: Nagoya University related. Various places via the "Page to Think about Hoge" http://kmaebashi.com/programmer/hoge.html.
Etymology: From a vague sense of the word. No conscious manga influence, but may have been unconsciously influenced by manga. Prior to reading Hollow Earth Defense Forces at the time. Another reason is that the repetition of the word "hoge," "hogehoge," "hogehogehoge," "piyo," "piyopiyo," "piyopiyopiyo" and so on can increase the number of meta-syntactic variables. The etymology of piyopiyo comes from Kyoko-san's apron in "Mezon Ikkoku".
The word "piyopiyo" is derived from "Mezon Ikkoku's" Kyoko-san's apron. I have information that Prof. Izumi Kimura used to use it when he was at Tokyo Institute of Technology, from 1992 to 1996 (from @masahiko_kimoto).
The third meta-syntax variable is not shown here for the sake of etymological research. People related to the Nagoya Univ. Radio Dept. may remember it.
(4) 1988? From @kazukey
Meta-syntactic variables: hige, huge, hege, hoge
Spillover: → spread to over 3,000 people at an external seminar hosted by DEC, WIDE
Etymology: Ha-hi-fu-he-ho with "ge" and without "hage", from hige, fuge, hege, and hoge, as the fourth meta-syntactic variable. There is no conscious cartoon influence.
Whether (0), (1), and (2) occur independently is still under investigation, but it appears that (0) was known to (1), although it is unclear whether as a meta-syntactic variable.
(3) and (4) are probably both independent, but if hoge was ever published in ASCII magazine, it is possible that it was unintentionally derived from there.
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