$DEITY

See also: deity

English

Alternative forms

• $deity

Etymology

From the syntax of environment variables in Unix shells, and the practice of putting paths to user's software of choice in generically named variables like EDITOR or PAGER.

Pronunciation

• same as deity, or as dollar sign deity (see the respective entries)

Noun

$DEITY (plural $DEITIES)

1. (computing slang, humorous) A generic deity; the listener's or reader's god of choice.
   • 2000, Justin Warren, “Re: newbie learns an arcane command”, in alt.sysadmin.recovery‎^[2] (Usenet):

     No real init that actually works the way it's supposed to. No snoop. No truss/strace. The whole stupid application install method with it's^[sic] /opt /etc/opt/, /var/opt, /tmp/var/etc/opt $DEITY dammit!

   • 2000, 2:1, “Re: Malloy digest”, in comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy‎^[3] (Usenet):

     For $DEITY's sake, stop `digesting' each other and advocate something useful!

   • 2015 March 30, Daniel James, “Re: [anti-topic] rant, idiots should probably avoid”, in comp.mobile.android‎^[4] (Usenet):

     Thank $DEITIES for Open Source!

Usage notes

Often substitutes for god/God in set phrases like thank God or for God's sake.

Further reading

• Jargon File, Chapter 5. Hacker Writing Style