xyzzy
/X-Y-Z-Z-Y/, /X-Y-ziz'ee/, /ziz'ee/, or /ik-ziz'ee/
[from the ADVENT game] adj. The canonical `magic word'.
This comes from ADVENT, in which the idea is to explore an
underground cave with many rooms and to collect the treasures you
find there. If you type `xyzzy' at the appropriate time, you can
move instantly between two otherwise distant points. If,
therefore, you encounter some bit of magic, you might remark
on this quite succinctly by saying simply "Xyzzy!" "Ordinarily
you can't look at someone else's screen if he has protected it, but
if you type quadruple-bucky-clear the system will let you do it
anyway." "Xyzzy!" 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 ADVENT 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, by the way, AOS/VS
responds "Twice as much happens". See also plugh.
