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From: i9717029@wsuaix.csc.wsu.edu (Matthew Murray)
Subject: Re: "Hello sailor!" (?)
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Date: Sun, 2 Oct 1994 15:22:47 GMT
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     The last time I checked this thread, several people were talking about the
"real-world" significances of this phrase, but few have mentioned its signif-
icance toward the Zork series or Infocom itself.  It is used in Zork III, to,
appropriately enough, cause the viking to give you the flask that can be used
to solve the Guardian puzzle.  But it appears, in various forms and in-
carnations, in almost every game with the word Zork in the title, including, in
some ways, the Enchanter series, and even Zork Zero.  It was a company joke
for many years and it was put in Zork III as a joke as well, because it was
supposedly some phrase that had no use that the creators of the original
mainframe Zork liked for some crazy reason (from what I understand, it's used
there too, but I have never seen it).  It's probably about the biggest running
gag in computer gaming history, and it is funny when you think about it.  I
think it may also have been used in several other Infocom games as well, but I
can't really remember.  Oh well...hope that helps in some way.

--Matthew Murray

