[ale] OT: Re: ping

[Robert Reese]

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
On 8/22/2006 at 12:02 PM S C C wrote:

>On 8/22/06, Rev. Johnny Healey <rev.null at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I was under the impression that PING was a reference to the sound a sonar
>> makes.
>>
>> This is according to the inventor of ping:
>> http://ftp.arl.mil/~mike/ping.html <http://ftp.arl.mil/%7Emike/ping.html>
>>
>
>>From that article:
>" From my point of view PING is *not* an acronym standing for Packet
>InterNet Grouper, it's a sonar analogy. However, I've heard second-hand
>that
>Dave Mills offered this expansion of the name, so perhaps we're both right.
>Sheesh, and I thought the government was bad about expanding acronyms! :-)"

IIRC, you are; my memory indicates that the term was patterned after the sonar ping, and afterward the term's acronym was invented as you suggest.  Again, if memory serves, this was a common computer geek trait back in the 70s and 80s: come up with a cool term then make up the acronym to fit.

But I'm old.  We all know what can happen with old memory.

Cheers,
Robert~

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