BIFF
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BIFF
(1)/bif/ (Or "B1FF", from Usenet) The most famous pseudo, and
the prototypical newbie. Articles from BIFF are
characterised by all uppercase letters sprinkled liberally
with bangs, typos, "cute" misspellings (EVRY BUDY LUVS GOOD
OLD BIFF CUZ HE'S A K00L DOOD AN HE RITES REEL AWESUM THINGZ
IN CAPITULL LETTRS LIKE THIS!!!), use (and often misuse) of
fragments of chat abbreviations, a long sig block
(sometimes even a doubled sig), and unbounded naivete. BIFF
posts articles using his elder brother's VIC-20. BIFF's
location is a mystery, as his articles appear to come from a
variety of sites. However, BITNET seems to be the most
frequent origin. The theory that BIFF is a denizen of BITNET
is supported by BIFF's (unfortunately invalid) electronic mail address: <BIFF@BIT.NET>.
[1993: Now It Can Be Told! My spies inform me that BIFF was originally created by Joe Talmadge <jat@cup.hp.com>, also the author of the infamous and much-plagiarised "Flamer's Bible". The BIFF filter he wrote was later passed to Richard Sexton, who posted BIFFisms much more widely. Versions have since been posted for the amusement of the net at large. - ESR]
[1993: Now It Can Be Told! My spies inform me that BIFF was originally created by Joe Talmadge <jat@cup.hp.com>, also the author of the infamous and much-plagiarised "Flamer's Bible". The BIFF filter he wrote was later passed to Richard Sexton, who posted BIFFisms much more widely. Versions have since been posted for the amusement of the net at large. - ESR]
biff
(2)/bif/ To notify someone of incoming mail. From the BSD
utility "biff(1)", which was in turn named after a friendly
golden Labrador who used to chase frisbees in the halls at UCB
while 4.2BSD was in development (it had a well-known habit
of barking whenever the mailman came). No relation to BIFF.
This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)
BIFF
(1) (Binary Interchange File Format) A spreadsheet file format that holds data and charts, introduced with Excel Version 2.2 in 1989.(2) A novice on the Usenet bulletin board. Also spelled "B1FF," a BIFF is a newbie who tries to be "cool" by, among other things, abbreviating words with clever misspellings. See Usenet and leetspeak.
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