Re: "Vanilla" ???

From: Andrew Barton <AndrewBarton_at_...>
Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 16:21:41 -0500


> I guess that'd have to be an Americanism then.

Jane Williams:
> After a bit of hunting both hard-copy and on-line dictionaries, yes, it
> is. I've tracked it as far back as the early 1990s, and it seems to have
> mainly spread as a bit of computing jargon.

I came across it in that sense before then. In object-oriented programming systems you have a tree of classes or objects (the terminology varies a bit between systems) each inheriting properties from those nearer the root.

So the most basic of all classes has no distinctive properties. In one early system this class was named 'tofu', in another 'vanilla'. I came across these in the late 80's, including when I had dealings with a software firm that rejoiced in the name The Vanilla Flavor Company.

A still earlier reference with a possibly related meaning occurs in the works of EE 'Doc' Smith, IIRC in 'Skylark DuQuesne'. A human character has just been addressed by an alien, giving the alien rationale for being willing to make a treaty. The human exclaims 'Holy Cow! If that's logic, I'll take vanilla!'

Andrew

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