WABAC

Feb 13, 2026 Last reply: 5 months ago 2 Replies
D

Well, apparently, it was originally conceived as "Waybac":



From

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in re: the Wayback Machine (archive.org):



"On another note, we got a nice letter from the last living director of the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, Gerard Baldwin, because he read about the "fantastic project". Our Wayback Machine is a tribute to their more cleverly named "Waybac Machine" which in turn was a reference to the Univac. Sherman and Peabody live on."



I think WABAC would have been more in style with the times (and Wikipedia seems to suggest the same) -- think of RUDI, Uniblab, etc.) but certainly "Wayback" is a colloquialization for folks with more limited imaginations.


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M

Finger print key reader on a usb key vault?

Cheers

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D

The only reference to "wayback" in the cartoons is "WAY BACK". (Much like the Brits' "Way Out")

The director, cited, explains it as being "Waybac", originally, as a spoof on ENIAC/UNIVAC -- in much the same way that other writers of that era made punned references to technology: RUDI, Uniblab, Ultron, MAC, ARDVARC, Brainiac, Cerebro, HAL 9000.

A show that was KNOWN for its (horrible) puns would likely not have missed an opportunity to base it's "main character" thusly.

[Most of the cartoons of that era were loaded with such puns and cultural references/criticisms. Dudley Do-Right? Boris Badinov?]
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