17 Jan
2007
17 Jan
'07
1:48 a.m.
> Fred Cisin wrote:
> > Remember that "boot" is short for "bootstrap". The
relevance of THAT
> > goes back to Baron Von Munchausen. The good baron, although oft
> > accused of exaggeration, told many tales of his travels. One time,
> > he was stuck in a swamp, and sinking fast. There was nothing
> > overhead to grab, and nothing solid on any side. So, he reached
> > down, grabbed the straps of his boots, and lifted himself out of it.
On Tue, 16 Jan 2007, Chris M wrote:
hmmm. So bootstrapping has nothing to do with
getting
on a horse?
Not unless you lift yourself by your bootstraps to do it.
It is obviously a physical impossibility, just like using the operating
system functions that are available once the OS is loaded, for loading the
operating system.
"To bootstrap" also shows that verbizing nouns has been around for quite a
while.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com