A bit of trivia: what does usr stand for?

[Bill Moran]

Gary W. Swearingen wrote:
> Bill Moran <wmoran at potentialtech.com> writes:
> 
> 
>>The urban myth is believeable, though, since it seems silly to abbreviate
>>"user" with "usr" ... I mean, you're only saving 1 letter.
> 
> Most programmers back then didn't think it was at all silly.  In
> addition to the already-mentioned teletype, some of us had to program
> on punch cards (eg, my college) and via 110 baud terminals (eg, my
> first job).  Not only typing was slow; correcting typing errors with
> the primative "line editors" was even slower, and the less you had to
> type, the fewer errors you had to correct.  Abbreviations were
> rampant, with "unnecessary" syllables and vowels being dropped
> whenever feasible.  That "usr" might have been a victim of habit, or,
> more likely, the high frequency of typing it was considered.

It's easy to forget where much of this comes from.

Teletypes were before my time, but I do remember edlin ... and I assume
that's the class of editor you're talking about.

-- 
Bill Moran
Potential Technologies
http://www.potentialtech.com