The date: late April,
1989. The scene:
B. Dalton store in
Willowbrook Mall, my new job. MODERNANGEL, in
skinny 80's retail clerk tie and clerkish black jeans; ANDY, part-time stock clerk and round-the-clock
art queen, in crisp preppy attire; CUSTOMER, in cheap navy business-school suit complete with red
power tie.
Customer (To ModernAngel):
Hi, do you have any books on UNIX?
ModernAngel (quizzically):
Eunuchs? Er, um, no, I don't think so; if you have a specific title in mind I could check stock...
Andy (taking charge):
Our computer section is right over here, we should have something in the operating systems section...
UNIX? Eunuchs? This "unfortunate acronym" (to quote my museum curator/art queen associate) has been a source of personal merriment since I heard of it that fateful day. Forget the inherent inadvisability of
Dr. Ruth's
Sex for Dummies, who's the genius who thought it would be a good idea to name an operating system with a
homophone for
emasculation?