> names they're given. "The Beatles" probably sounded like a really  
> dumb name for a band once.

But maybe less dumb than 'The Quarrymen', which was the original name of
the band. (They all went to Quarry Bank school, now Calderstones.)

Perhaps the renaming, unfettered by their history or by a desire to not
fix what ain't broken, helped them along their way to superstardom.

I'm not sure if there is a lesson to be learned here. As I haven't
previously spoken on the subject, I'll weigh in to express a slight
preference for the name grep, though I like Larry's idea of a
generalised 'divvy'. Last year, teaching ML, I taught the definition of
the 'filter' function as 'grep', simply because I'd forgotten that it
was called 'filter' in ML. Mind you, as it had been a year or two since
I'd last used ML, I'd also forgotten a few of the other keywords, a
problem I have with other languages too. Do you 'throw' or 'raise' an
exception? Do you use 'else if', 'elseif', 'elsif', or 'elif'? I can see
how aliases can be a Bad Thing, but when my mind is elsewhere I would
appreciate some loan words from other languages.

-- 
And for mile after mile you'll never see me tire/You'll never me me slow
down for a while/'Cause I am the fox, like it or not/I'm always gonna be
there  running over the rock/ Yes I am the fox,  a fascinating cross/ Of
sharp as a whip and tough as an ox              Bernie Taupin, 'The Fox'

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