Ob

[SOWHALE...@ncsuvm.cc.ncsu.edu]

OK, *sigh*, once again I will voluntarily reveal my Obtuseness to the
whole glObe. I have seen at various times in these discussions:
ObStuff, ObNitPick, OBquote, etc. Will someone tell me what the Ob
stands for, please? (Obvious? Obsessive? Obligatory?) Nothing I
can think of seems to fit all the contexts I've seen this prefix used
in.

Obsequiously,

-Bucky "Is my dog dead, ma'am?" Whaley
sowh...@ecuvm1.bitnet

[Louis Alten]

Ob stands for obligatory. As in ObSimpsons, it means "Obligatory Simpsons
remark," or whatever. When people post to newsgroups and stray off the subject,
they insert an Ob*whatever* in a feeble attempt to show the rest of the readers
that they know they shouldn't have wasted the bandwidth in the first place :-)

Louis

--
===============================================================================
Louis Alten
think about it
lo...@math.uh.edu

[Gillett, David]

-----------Message forwarded from IPSA Mailbox-------------
no. 6109438 filed 19.16.45 tue 31 mar 1992
from dgil
to locun
subj Re: Ob
ref 6106917

'Obligatory'. It's generally an acknowledgement by the writer that the
post has strayed far off the topic for the forum; the author is inserting an
'obligatory' reference to the nominal subject to 'justify' posting to the
forum.

For instance: in *this* case, alt.tv.simpsons/simpsons mailing list, a
post about details of different makes and models of cars (a subject which has
come up several times!) MIGHT include an 'ObSimp', 'obligatory Simpsons
reference' acknowledging that this is not rec.auto.*....

Dave Gillett