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In computing, 'xyzzy' is sometimes used as a metasyntactic variable or as a video game cheat code, the canonical "magic word". In mathematics, 'xyzzy' is used as an mnemonic for the cross product.

Contents

Origin

Uses

References

Origin

Modern usage derives primarily from one of the earliest computer games, Colossal Cave Adventure, in which the idea is to explore an underground cave with many rooms and to collect the treasures you find there. By typing "xyzzy" at the appropriate time, the player could move instantly between two otherwise distant points. Therefore, upon encountering some bit of magic, one might remark on this quite succinctly by saying simply “Xyzzy!” The approximate meaning would be "That's like magic!". Many interactive fiction games contain responses to the command XYZZY as a tribute to ''Colossal Cave Adventure''.^[1] More recent games have shown a trend of increasingly more elaborate and in-jokey responses.
Where Crowther got the word has been the subject of debate. While one common story is that he "made it up from whole cloth" when writing the game, Rick Adams points out that the mnemonic "XYZZY" has long been taught by math teachers to remember the process for doing cross products (it lists the order of subscripts to be multiplied first). Everything you ever wanted to know about…the magic word XYZZY Rick Adams
The following passage from ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' by L. Frank Baum suggests another possible origin to some: “Ziz-zy, zuz-zy, zik!” said Dorothy, who was now standing on both feet. This ended the saying of the charm, and they heard a great chattering and flapping of wings, as the band of Winged Monkeys flew up to them." Having said the word, Dorothy is then magically transported.
The XYZZY Awards are presented annually by XYZZYnews editor Eileen Mullin to notable works of interactive fiction.^[2]

Uses

Xyzzy has actually been implemented as an undocumented no-op command on several OSes; in Data General's AOS/VS, for example, it would typically respond “Nothing happens”, just as the game did if the magic was invoked at the wrong spot or before a player had performed the action that enabled the word. In more recent 32-bit versions, AOS/VS responds “Twice as much happens”.
The popular ‘Minesweeper’ game under Microsoft Windows has a cheat mode triggered by the command ‘xyzzy’ that turns the top-left pixel of the screen different colors depending on whether or not the cursor is over a bomb.^[3] This feature is present in all versions, but under Windows 95, 98 and NT 4.0 the pixel is only visible if the standard Explorer desktop is not running.
The low-traffic usenet newsgroup alt.xyzzy is used for test messages, to which other readers (if there are any) customarily respond, "Nothing happens" as a note that the test message was successfully received.

References

1. xyzzy responses David Welbourn A web page giving responses to "xyzzy" in many games of interactive fiction
2. The magazine for interactive fiction enthusiasts
3. http://www.eeggs.com/items/6818.html