cokebottle

cokebottle
 /kohk'bot.l/, n.

   Any very unusual character, particularly one you can't type because it
   isn't on your keyboard. MIT people used to complain about the
   `control-meta-cokebottle' commands at SAIL, and SAIL people complained
   right back about the `escape-escape-cokebottle' commands at MIT. After
   the demise of the {space-cadet keyboard}, cokebottle faded away as
   serious usage, but was often invoked humorously to describe an
   (unspecified) weird or non-intuitive keystroke command. It may be due
   for a second inning, however. The OSF/Motif window manager, mwm(1),
   has a reserved keystroke for switching to the default set of
   keybindings and behavior. This keystroke is (believe it or not)
   `control-meta-bang' (see {bang}). Since the exclamation point looks a
   lot like an upside down Coke bottle, Motif hackers have begun
   referring to this keystroke as cokebottle. See also {quadruple bucky}.
    

cokebottle

   <character, humour> /kohk'bot-l/ Any unusual character,
   particularly one you can't type because it isn't on your
   keyboard.  {MIT} people used to complain about the
   "control-meta-cokebottle" commands at {SAIL}, and {SAIL}
   people complained about the "{altmode}-altmode-cokebottle"
   commands at {MIT}.  After the demise of the {space-cadet
   keyboard}, "cokebottle" was used less, but was often used to
   describe weird or non-intuitive keystrokes.

   The {OSF}/{Motif} {window manager}, "{mwm}" keystroke for
   switching to the default keybindings and behaviour is
   control-meta-{bang}.  Since {exclamation mark} might be
   thought to look like a Coke bottle, {Motif} hackers referred
   to this keystroke as "cokebottle".

   See also {quadruple bucky}.

   [{Jargon File}]

   (1995-01-04)