Alternative forms

• $deity

Etymology

From the syntax of environment variables in Unix shells, and the practice of putting paths to user's software of choice in generically named variables like EDITOR or PAGER.

Pronunciation

• same as deity, or as dollar sign deity^[1] (see the respective entries)

Noun

$DEITY (plural $DEITIES)Category:English lemmas#$DEITYCategory:English nouns#$DEITYCategory:English countable nouns#$DEITYCategory:English terms spelled with $#$DEITYCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#$DEITYCategory:Pages with entries#$DEITYCategory:Pages with 1 entry#$DEITY

1. (Internet slangCategory:English internet slang#$DEITY, humorousCategory:English humorous terms#$DEITY) A generic deity; the listener's or reader's god of choice.
   • 2000, Justin Warren, “Re: newbie learns an arcane command”, in alt.sysadmin.recovery‎ (Usenet):

     No real init that actually works the way it's supposed to. No snoop. No truss/strace. The whole stupid application install method with it's^[sic] /opt /etc/opt/, /var/opt, /tmp/var/etc/opt $DEITY dammit!

     Category:English terms with quotations#$DEITY

   • 2000, 2:1, “Re: Malloy digest”, in comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy‎ (Usenet):

     For $DEITY's sake, stop `digesting' each other and advocate something useful!

     Category:English terms with quotations#$DEITY

   • 2015 March 30, Daniel James, “Re: [anti-topic] rant, idiots should probably avoid”, in comp.mobile.android‎ (Usenet):

     Thank $DEITIES for Open Source!

     Category:English terms with quotations#$DEITY

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:$DEITY.

References

Further reading

• Jargon File, Chapter 5. Hacker Writing Style