alt: /awlt/ 1. n. The alt shift key on an IBM PC or clone
keyboard; see bucky bits, sense 2 (though typical PC usage does
not simply set the 0200 bit). 2. n. The `option' key on a
Macintosh; use of this term usually reveals that the speaker hacked
PCs before coming to the Mac (see also feature key, which is
sometimes _incorrectly_ called `alt'). 3. n.,obs. [PDP-10; often
capitalized to ALT] Alternate name for the ASCII ESC character
(ASCII 0011011), after the keycap labeling on some older terminals;
also `altmode' (/awlt'mohd/). This character was almost never
pronounced `escape' on an ITS system, in TECO, or under TOPS-10 --
always alt, as in "Type alt alt to end a TECO command" or "alt-U
onto the system" (for "log onto the [ITS] system"). This usage
probably arose because alt is more convenient to say than `escape',
especially when followed by another alt or a character (or another
alt _and_ a character, for that matter). 4. The alt hierarchy on
Usenet, the tree of newsgroups created by users without a formal
vote and approval procedure. There is a myth, not entirely
implausible, that alt is acronymic for "anarchists, lunatics, and
terrorists"; but in fact it is simply short for "alternative".
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