VDict mobile



/kohk'bot-l/ 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 about the
"altmode-altmode-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", has a reserved keystroke for
switching to the default set of keybindings and behaviour.
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.
(1995-01-04)