What is the meaning of "GNU" and how should it be displayed on a cremation urn?
score:3
Discworld reference applicable to memorial
As @NigelJ found in the Urban Dictionary, GNU refers to a telegraphic code that Sir Terry Pratchett invented in his Discworld comic fantasy book series:
- G: send the message on
- N: do not log the message
- U: turn the message around at the end of the line and send it back again
so that the book character's son's name John Dearheart is memorialized forever as long as the "clacks towers" (a telegraphic device) is still in use. Chapter 4 prologue of Going Postal (a book in the series) says:
A man is not dead while his name is still spoken
(Source: GNU Terry Pratchett Home page)
Rendering
As for the rendering, the computer geek fans of Discworld seem to have established a convention right after Terry's death in 2015 to memorialize him: "GNU Terry Pratchett": GNU <first name> <last name> :
See a Jan 2020 reddit post title in r/discworld: I don't understand the "GNU Terry Pratchett" reference that elicited the highest voted comment quoting a March 2015 The Guardian article Terry Pratchett's name lives on in 'the clacks' with hidden web code:
Pratchett’s 33rd Discworld novel, Going Postal, tells of the creation of an internet-like system of communication towers called “the clacks”. When John Dearheart, the son of its inventor, is murdered, a piece of code is written called “GNU John Dearheart” to echo his name up and down the lines. “G” means that the message must be passed on, “N” means “not logged”, and “U” means the message should be turned around at the end of a line. (This was also a realworld tech joke: GNU is a free operating system, and its name stands, with recursive geek humour, for “GNU’s not Unix”.) The code causes Dearheart’s name to be repeated indefinitely throughout the system, because: “A man is not dead while his name is still spoken.”
What better way to remember the beloved inventor of this fictional system, then, than “GNU Terry Pratchett”?
Users of Reddit (and users of Wordpress plugins) even embed "GNU Terry Pratchett" among the HTTP Response header (the "envelope" of a website's response to your browser) when accessing any page within the r/discworld subreddit in this post-telegraph world, aka. the Internet (source Wikipedia). To my surprise, it is still in effect today! I verified it using a tool like Fiddler / Postman / Curl (which you can also do using your favorite browser's built-in debugger):
The original meaning of 'GNU'
Terry Pratchett seems to borrow Richard Stallman's 1983 invention of the recursive acronym "GNU" = "GNU's Not Unix", the brand name of Free Software Foundation's software projects (see also Wikipedia).
A brief background for non-geeks: at the time, many critical software (such as an operating system, most notably Unix) needed a very expensive source code license when a programmer wanted to fix/extend the software at the source-code level because the official owner couldn't adapt fast enough to the rapidly changing computing hardware and computing needs. The user / programmer would need to submit a bug report and could have waited weeks/months before a patch is released. By modifying the source code themselves, they could fix not only a bug but also extend the functionality of the software and share it with others (an expression of Christian love, in fact, when proper copyright laws have been observed). "Source code" is the human readable version of a series of binary computer instructions ("executable") written in a computer language.
Conclusion
As @Lesley's post indicates, there is no spiritual reference to Christianity. I would consult your client to verify that Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld reference is indeed what the deceased and/or the client would have meant, and if so, it's best that the rendering follows Sir Terry Pratchett's fans convention.
Upvote:0
I have no idea if the letters GNU have anything to do with Christian faith but I did find this information:
Apart from the Gnu being a large South African antelope, the GNU acronym is the name of the Free Software Foundation's project to develop a free UNIX-like operating system. GNU is a recursive acronym for “GNU’s not Unix”. Richard Matthew Stallman launched the GNU Project in September 1983 to write a Unix-like computer operating system composed entirely of free software. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman
Good News Unlimited is a Christian mission outreach. “GNU doesn’t represent a church; we simply represent the essential truth of the Gospel with no boundaries or limitations.” https://goodnewsunlimited.com/
GNU Atheist: A term used by atheists online to ridicule the idea that there is such a thing as a "New Atheist." Those Gnu Atheists are so militant in their hatred of religion! https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Gnu%20Atheist
MIT Physicist Ian Hutchinson Calls Gnu Atheists “Militant” and Wants Greater “Respect” Directed Toward Religion and Faith https://santitafarella.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/mit-physicist-ian-hutchinson-calls-gnu-atheists-militant-and-wants-greater-respect-directed-toward-religion-and-faith/
Before you start to engrave the urn with those letters, perhaps you should check to ensure that you have the correct letters and whether there should be a full stop between each of the three letters.
Upvote:2
Lesely and Grateful Disciple are probably correct in the no reference to Christianity reference:
Here's a pretty decent list of acronyms on EWTN.com in case you ever come upon a similar case again
https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/list-of-abbreviations-and-acronyms-9534
and there's a wiki for latin abbreviations:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_abbreviations
I didn't find it in there so... GORK?
More post
- 📝 LDS Church view of Hebrews 6:13 and Isaiah 43:10
- 📝 Is there such a thing as Orthodox Lutheran Christian?
- 📝 If believing that Jesus is God is that important, why doesn't Jesus say it more often?
- 📝 Why does the Salvation Army not administer the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper?
- 📝 What exempts a Catholic from going to Mass on Sunday at church?
- 📝 Is there any evidence that Paul was a descendant of Jonathan?
- 📝 What do Christians believe Kaneh Bosem translates to?
- 📝 Comparative religion textbooks from a Catholic viewpoint
- 📝 What is masturbation, according to the Catholic Catechism?
- 📝 Is God accountable for all things - good AND bad?
- 📝 On Biblical Verses Invoked in Papal Encyclicals or Ecumenical Councils
- 📝 Has the name "Jesus" ever been used for naming Jewish children since the Savior's incarnation?
- 📝 What are the major arguments Protestants use against both Catholic and Orthodox claims of authority re scriptural interpretation?
- 📝 Did Jephthah sin at the moment when he sacrificed his daughter?
- 📝 How should we react facing a disease? Should we fight against a disease? I mean, to seek for healthcare. Do diseases have a purpose?
- 📝 What is a year dedicated to a certain saint or something else?
- 📝 What are the major differences between the NKJV and the ESV translations?
- 📝 How do Christians discern genuine spiritual experiences from hallucinations or other mundane psychological phenomena?
- 📝 Why did Eusebius quote this passage?
- 📝 Has Madonna been excommunicated by the Catholic Church?
- 📝 In Scripture - Was Prophecy That was Spoken in Good Faith, ever Corrected?
- 📝 Other than non-Trinitarian, what terms are there for Christians who don't believe in the trinity?
- 📝 Is there any scriptual proof of annihilation?
- 📝 Did Moses have an Egyptian Stepbrother?
- 📝 How did the cross come to be a symbol for Christianity?
- 📝 The statements of the early Church Fathers regarding the doctrine of the Trinity (pre-Nicea)
- 📝 Was St. Joseph alive when Jesus came to preach in his hometown?
- 📝 How do opponents of Decision Theology distinguish themselves from Universal Salvation?
- 📝 What are ways in which God reveals Himself to a Christian in the context of a two-way, one-on-one relationship?
- 📝 What is the Calvinist view of God's sovereignty?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What is the meaning of "GNU" and how should it be displayed on a cremation urn?
- 📝 What is the meaning and origin of bridal veils in Christian weddings?
- 📝 What is the purpose and meaning of the Christian Flag?
- 📝 What is the meaning of 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice'?
- 📝 What is the Lutheran doctrine of consubstantiation and how does it differ from transubstantiation and a more general protestant sacramental view?
- 📝 What is the background of the words "notitia," "fiducia," and "assensus" and how do they relate to the biblical notion of "faith"?
- 📝 What is the source of the count of 40000 denominations, and how are they classified?
- 📝 What is the Meaning of Hebrews 2:11 - he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one
- 📝 How long, and in what cases did Catholics participate in the Black Fast?
- 📝 What traditions believe that a woman's relationship with God must go through some man and how do they support it from the Bible?
- 📝 Does God want things? What are some of the things He wants, and how did we find out?
- 📝 What are the differences between Mormonism and Islam, and how do Mormons react to comparisons with it?
- 📝 What is "Apologetics", exactly, and how is it used to defend the Christian faith?
- 📝 How do Christians who adhere to the maxim “in essentials unity; in non-essentials liberty; and in all things charity” determine what is essential?
- 📝 What was the Law of God Before Moses and How was It Disseminated?
- 📝 How should other churches respond to a pastor and congregation who live contrary to the Gospel?
- 📝 What is the origin of the Mormon Temple Ceremony and how has it changed throughout the years?
- 📝 What is a gospel, and how many gospels are there in the Catholic Bible?
- 📝 What does it mean to say the Bible is the "Word of God" and how is it justified?
- 📝 What is Typology in the context of Christianity, and how does it help understand doctrinal matters?
- 📝 What is the reason and meaning of the symbols on the garments worn by Temple-worthy LDS members?
- 📝 What is the prayer roll at an LDS temple, and how is it used?
- 📝 What is the Anglican and Episcopalian basis for viewing the Trinity as a family that should contain a feminine element?
- 📝 What is the meaning of 'the Sun and the Moon' in Joseph's dream?
- 📝 How do Protestantism and the LDS Church differ as to what is required for a believer to attain salvation and eternal life?
- 📝 What does the Bible say about how we should pray?
- 📝 Where Catholicism lost influence and property during the reformation, what did Luther think should be done with the acquired assets?
- 📝 What is meant by "order" in reference to ministries within the Church, and how did its usage come about?
- 📝 Jesus says, that God the Father is a Spirit AND Paul says there is one (1) Spirit. How do trinitarians understand who or what the Holy Spirit is?
- 📝 What is the origin and meaning of the rosary?