[OT?] What is (a) "plunger"?

[rickyt]

I've a question and a story to explain it, both of which are
unlikely to be topical, but one never knows. Posting here
because it's the only NG I've access to that might have an
answer.

I work in a software house as a tech writer. My cube is in
the block next to the coder's bullpen, so I sometimes hear
their discussions. I listen automatically because I have to
be authoritative on the terminology, and never know when I'll
hear something useful in any case.

One fellow, an outside contractor programmer who shows up on
a regular basis and takes part in these discussions, is always
noticeable because he has a high nasal drawl that is somewhat
irritating and difficult to ignore. He likes to run on and on
about programming languages and especially C and C++.

A week or so ago I heard a word in his monologue that I've
not heard before: "plunger". In context, it seemed to be a
reference of some sort, maybe for C or C++ language standards.
Thing is, I'm not sure I heard the word correctly. It could
have been "plugger", given his nasal twang. End of part one.

Yesterday I was looking at a recent copy of CUJ and ran across
an editorial by P.J. Plauger, recommending the Usenet as an
undervalued source of information. He listed the C and C++
oriented groups as those he read regularly, and said that he
tries to stay disciplined as a lurker, but occasionally does
contribute as well.

So I was sitting there looking at his signature and several
things occured to me at once. 1) I've no idea how he
pronounces his name. 2) The word I heard as "plunger/plugger"
might actually have been Plauger, which would explain the
context in which it was used. 3) The nasal voiced programmer
may or may not know how to pronounce "Plauger". Like me, he
may never have heard the name spoken. 4) As Mr. Plauger reads
here regularly, maybe he would be so kind as to provide a
phonetic rendering of his name.

Or maybe there is in fact such a term that I've never read
or heard before.

Whatever the case, I do find that lurking here is often useful,
but will probably not have reason to post again. Apologies to
those who find this post objectionable.

Thanks for any useful responses.

RJT

 

[Dave Vandervies]

I've a question and a story to explain it, both of which are
unlikely to be topical, but one never knows.
[snip]

A week or so ago I heard a word in his monologue that I've
not heard before: "plunger". In context, it seemed to be a
reference of some sort, maybe for C or C++ language standards.
Thing is, I'm not sure I heard the word correctly. It could
have been "plugger", given his nasal twang. End of part one.

At this point I was thinking `Plauger?'.

Yesterday I was looking at a recent copy of CUJ and ran across
an editorial by P.J. Plauger, recommending the Usenet as an
undervalued source of information. He listed the C and C++
oriented groups as those he read regularly, and said that he
tries to stay disciplined as a lurker, but occasionally does
contribute as well.

He's written several books related to programming and C, at least one[1]
of which would definitely be considered on-topic here and several others
which would be considered close enough if the rest of the post they were
mentioned in was C-related.
He also runs(?) a company that sells a complete implementation of
the C (and C++, but that's not relevant here) standard library, see
http://www.dinkumware.com/ .

So I was sitting there looking at his signature and several
things occured to me at once. 1) I've no idea how he
pronounces his name. 2) The word I heard as "plunger/plugger"
might actually have been Plauger, which would explain the
context in which it was used. 3) The nasal voiced programmer
may or may not know how to pronounce "Plauger". Like me, he
may never have heard the name spoken. 4) As Mr. Plauger reads
here regularly, maybe he would be so kind as to provide a
phonetic rendering of his name.

I can't help you with this one.

Or maybe there is in fact such a term that I've never read
or heard before.

I can't thinking of anything else it might have been.



dave

[1] _The Standard C Library_, ISBN 0131315099

--
Dave Vandervies (e-mail address removed)

Read this!

Don't have to. I wrote the first draft of it.
--P.J. Plauger roasts a troll in comp.lang.c

 

[Joe Wright]

I've a question and a story to explain it, both of which are
unlikely to be topical, but one never knows.

[snip]


A week or so ago I heard a word in his monologue that I've
not heard before: "plunger". In context, it seemed to be a
reference of some sort, maybe for C or C++ language standards.
Thing is, I'm not sure I heard the word correctly. It could
have been "plugger", given his nasal twang. End of part one.

At this point I was thinking `Plauger?'.

Yesterday I was looking at a recent copy of CUJ and ran across
an editorial by P.J. Plauger, recommending the Usenet as an
undervalued source of information. He listed the C and C++
oriented groups as those he read regularly, and said that he
tries to stay disciplined as a lurker, but occasionally does
contribute as well.

He's written several books related to programming and C, at least one[1]
of which would definitely be considered on-topic here and several others
which would be considered close enough if the rest of the post they were
mentioned in was C-related.
He also runs(?) a company that sells a complete implementation of
the C (and C++, but that's not relevant here) standard library, see
http://www.dinkumware.com/ .

So I was sitting there looking at his signature and several
things occured to me at once. 1) I've no idea how he
pronounces his name. 2) The word I heard as "plunger/plugger"
might actually have been Plauger, which would explain the
context in which it was used. 3) The nasal voiced programmer
may or may not know how to pronounce "Plauger". Like me, he
may never have heard the name spoken. 4) As Mr. Plauger reads
here regularly, maybe he would be so kind as to provide a
phonetic rendering of his name.

I can't help you with this one.

Or maybe there is in fact such a term that I've never read
or heard before.

I can't thinking of anything else it might have been.

Until P.J. shows up, I'll offer that Plau can only be plow and that
ger probably has no 'r' sound. More like guh. Say "Plow guh". But of
course, this is only grist for the mill. Only P.J. knows.

 

[rickyt]

My family has always pronounced it PLAWgr, but it's been rendered
quite a number of ways. Even so, PLUNgr is a stretch.

P.J. Plauger
Dinkumware, Ltd.
http://www.dinkumware.com

Thanks for responding, sir!

I suspect the 'n' was the speaker's nasality, so not quite that
much of a stretch. Do I infer correctly that the 'g' is soft?

Thanks again,

rjt

 

[Dave Vandervies]

[posted and mailed to (e-mail address removed)]

On 2004-09-15, P.J. Plauger <[email protected]> wrote:

[An article that didn't show up on my newsswerver]

To forestall another "Why can't I
see Plauger's posts" thread like the one at
http://groups.google.com/[email protected]
, I'll point everybody to my contribution to that thread (at
http://groups.google.com/[email protected]
), which said in part:
--------
In the time-honored usenet tradition of making unwarrantedly definite
statements from vague or nonexistent evidence, I'm going to suggest that
perhaps the host that's being used to post the articles doesn't have a
hostname configured and that's what's breaking the Message-ID.

'Tmight be a good idea to find the person responsible and arrange for
a hostname to be set.
--------

The References line in the reply that did show up here leads me to
believe that the Message-ID on PJP's non-appearing post this time around
is <41482d46$0$4686$afc38c87@>, so the same problem may be reoccurring.

PJP's posts started showing up here shortly after I posted this last
time around, so perhaps it's time to apply the appropriate magic again.


dave

--
Dave Vandervies (e-mail address removed)

Note that I'm not disputing you: as a learner, I'm requesting clarification.

Oh, dispute away. I'm used to it by now.
--John Doherty and Richard Heathfield in comp.lang.c

 

[rickyt]

Nope, hard.

P.J. Plauger
Dinkumware, Ltd.
http://www.dinkumware.com

Thanks.

rjt

 

[Old Wolf]

So I was sitting there looking at his signature and several
things occured to me at once. 1) I've no idea how he
pronounces his name. 2) The word I heard as "plunger/plugger"
might actually have been Plauger, which would explain the
context in which it was used. 3) The nasal voiced programmer
may or may not know how to pronounce "Plauger". Like me, he
may never have heard the name spoken. 4) As Mr. Plauger reads
here regularly, maybe he would be so kind as to provide a
phonetic rendering of his name.

While we're on (off) this topic - I've seen him referred to
as "Bill Plauger" but I don't see how "Bill" comes from "P.J.".

PS. If the man himself replies to this with one of his
"invisible messages", could someone do me the kindness of
re-posting with a complete quote?

 

[Mike Wahler]

While we're on (off) this topic - I've seen him referred to
as "Bill Plauger" but I don't see how "Bill" comes from "P.J.".

I read somewhere that it was because his little sister
could not pronounce "Phil".

-Mike

 

[name]

Close. It was an older sister, who was 18 months old when I was
born. One theory is that she mispronounced my name. Another (from
my father) is that she saw an adult family friend named Bill and
shouted a greeting to him as I came in the door from the hospital.
She was much more interested in someone who would pay her some
attention than in me. For whatever reason, however, the name
stuck. Only my father's family has persisted in calling me Phil.

I now respond equally well to either P.J. or Bill. Anybody who
calls me Phil (other than paternal aunts and uncles) I assume
is a life insurance salesman.

P.J. Plauger
Dinkumware, Ltd.
http://www.dinkumware.com

In any case, it would seem that Mr. Plauger has attained a certain celebrity
status if the pronounciation of his name has become an issue. I also saw
the editorial in CUJ and enjoyed same.

In addition, I saw the lead article in a recent issue of DDJ, wherein he was
awarded by DDJ for his contributions. Though my opinion in this regard has
little value, I think he is to be congratulated! One hopes he finds this
new status less than onerous... <grin>

Fair dinkum, sir!!

(ummm... did I get that right? lol!!)

 

[CBFalconer]

In any case, it would seem that Mr. Plauger has attained a certain celebrity
status if the pronounciation of his name has become an issue. I also saw
the editorial in CUJ and enjoyed same.

In addition, I saw the lead article in a recent issue of DDJ, wherein he was
awarded by DDJ for his contributions. Though my opinion in this regard has
little value, I think he is to be congratulated! One hopes he finds this
new status less than onerous... <grin>

The following is the references line from your posting. Maybe
this will help someone track down why PJPs posts never appear on
many ISPs. For the same reason I have not snipped anything.

References: <[email protected]>
<[email protected]>
<[email protected]>
<414ad91b$0$28634$afc38c87@>

The above paragraph is actually one line.

 

[Kevin D. Quitt]

I now respond equally well to either P.J. or Bill. Anybody who
calls me Phil (other than paternal aunts and uncles) I assume
is a life insurance salesman.

Heh. Similar here. All these years I've indicated in my .sig that the
'e' in Kevin is a long 'e'. Anybody who knows me knows this. Calls for
"my good friend Kevin" are sales calls.

 

[Joona I Palaste]

Heh. Similar here. All these years I've indicated in my .sig that the
'e' in Kevin is a long 'e'. Anybody who knows me knows this. Calls for
"my good friend Kevin" are sales calls.

So it's "kee-vin", not "kev-in"? Where did you get a name like that?
Just curious.

--
#include <standard.disclaimer>
_
Kevin D Quitt USA 91387-4454 96.37% of all statistics are made up
Per the FCA, this address may not be added to any commercial mail list

_
Signature quoted on purpose to illistrate Kevin's point.

 

[Dan Pop]

So it's "kee-vin", not "kev-in"?

He said a long 'e', so it must be something like "keh-vin".

Dan

 

[Joona I Palaste]

He said a long 'e', so it must be something like "keh-vin".

Pronounced like the German "Kehwin"? (There is no such German word or
name. I made that up to illustrate the pronunciation.)

--
/-- Joona Palaste ([email protected]) ------------- Finland --------\
\-- http://www.helsinki.fi/~palaste --------------------- rules! --------/
"'So called' means: 'There is a long explanation for this, but I have no
time to explain it here.'"
- JIPsoft

 

[Keith Thompson]

He said a long 'e', so it must be something like "keh-vin".

In normal English usage, a "long 'e'" is the sound of the double e in
"screen". I'm not sure whether that's what you meant by "keh-vin".

 

[Kevin D. Quitt]

So it's "kee-vin", not "kev-in"?
Correct.


Where did you get a name like that? Just curious.

Anglicization of the Hebrew name 'Akiva' - the name of the man I was named
after.