[linux-elitists] [Meta] Is it now possible to CC other addresses on email to linux-elitists?

[Ben Finney]

Paul Collins <paul at burly.ondioline.org> writes:

> Bob Bernstein <rs at bernstein.providence.ri.us> writes:
> 
> > On Sun, Mar 15, 2009 at 01:14:23PM +0200, Shlomi Fish wrote:
> >
> >> Hi all!
> >
> > What is the origin and purpose of the '[Meta]' prefix in the
> > Subject: line of this thread?
> 
> Well it's a very complex case, Bob, lotta ins, lotta outs,

You are The Dude and I claim my five dollars.

> but it boils down to a corruption of the phrase fragment "met a", as
> in if you met a thread like this in a dark alley it would not walk
> out again ifyaknowwhaddamean. It was kind of Mr. Fish to warn us,
> however obscurely.

Nice one.

Of course, Paul is only joking here. What the tag actually means is
Mr. Fish displaying both egocentrism and respect, in equal measure:
the tag is a conflation of “me”, indicating the preferred topic of
the thread, and “ta”, a common abbreviation of “thank you”, in
this case advance gratitude for discussing said topic.

-- 
 \         “I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the |
  `\        death your right to mis-attribute this quote to Voltaire.” |
_o__)                     —Avram Grumer, rec.arts.sf.written, May 2000 |
Ben Finney