A poll conducted among INFOCUS magazine readers had established "waka" as the proper pronunciation for the angle-bracket characters (<), though some readers held out resolutely for "norkies." In honor of computer symbology's increased role in our vocabulary, INFOCUS published the following poem , written by Fred Bremmer and Steve Kroese of Calvin College & Seminary of Grand Rapids, MI. >> ! * ' ' # ^ " ` $ $ - ! * = @ $ _ % * < > ~ # 4 & [ ] . . / | { , , SYSTEM HALTED The poem can only be appreciated by reading it aloud, to wit: Waka waka bang splat tick tick hash, Caret quote back-tick dollar dollar dash, Bang splat equal at dollar under-score, Percent splat waka waka tilde number four, Ampersand bracket bracket dot dot slash, Vertical-bar curly-bracket comma comma CRASH. Send this poem to a friend 1 Login incorrect. Only perfect spellers may enter this system. Send this poem to a friend 2 Chaos reigns within. Reflect, repent, and reboot. Order shall return. Send this poem to a friend 3 Server's poor response Not quick enough for browser. Timed out, plum blossom. Send this poem to a friend 4 Everything is gone; Your life's work has been destroyed. Squeeze trigger (yes/no)? Send this poem to a friend 5
