You guys always jump on me and accuse me of being cantankerous when I go off on a rant like this but, really, it’s too much to bear. I’ve noticed lately that some people are referring to Emacs as “eMacs” as if Emacs stood for “electronic macs”, or “electronic macros”, or something. It doesn’t. Emacs is widely understood to stand for “Editing MACroS”, although Irreal’s go to guy for Emacs history, Lars Brinkhoff, says he can find no evidence for that. Regardless, the E certainly does not stand for “electronic” so if you’re going to write about Emacs, can you please name it correctly and not make it look like a marketing term?
Yes, yes. I know it’s a small thing and hardly worth commenting on but names do matter and it’s important to get them right. Otherwise, as with the word “hacker”, the ignorant will kidnap the term and change its meaning. Don’t let that happen to our beloved editor. Fight this abomination whenever and wherever it raises its ugly head.
Added before publication: Perhaps this explains it.