moof en · INTJ · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- /muːf/
- /muf/
- (US) audio
Etymology
Blend of moo (“lowing sound of a cow”) + woof (“barking sound of a dog”). Coined by American computer programmer Mark Harlan in 1987 or 1988 in internal memoranda within Apple Computer. First publicly attested in 1989. Trademarked by Apple from 1992 to 1999 (U.S. Reg. No. 1,695,826).
Meanings
-
(humorous, onomatopoeic, usually) Used to indicate the lowing or barking sound of a dogcow or similar chimeric creature.
Before you reconfigure, mount a scratch monkey. A dogcow makes a moof. An aliasing bug can smash the stack.
2009 May 11, Heather McHugh, “Hackers Can Sidejack Cookies”, in The New Yorker, volume 85, number 13, New York City, retrieved 12 Apr 2025:“But it has ten legs and goes ‘moof-moof’,” Eddie joked.
2007 March 1, Holly Haggarty, Summer Dragons, Toronto: Dundurn Press, →ISBN, page 99:“And won’t you just cry out and beg for mercy? You know, Alisha dear,” warm breath on him, “I used to think he was just a dog, and then I thought he was a cow, but I think—I know—he’s just a cross between both, a cow and a dog. Cows go moo, dogs go woof, so what does a dogcow go? Moof moof moof. Go moof, Chuck, go moof.”
1995, Michael A. Hemmingson, Nice Little Stories Jam-Packed with Depraved Sex & Violence, Denver: CyberPsychos AOD, →ISBN, page 23:You can predict, we bet, the sound she makes: Moof! (Yes, the Dogcow is a she—as is every cow. Otherwise, she would be a dogbull.
2001 June 29, David Pogue, Joseph Schorr, “The inevitable Dogcow sidebar”, in Macworld? Mac? Secrets?, Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley, →ISBN, page 1040:Everyone knew where the hackers were sitting when they started yelling “Moof! moof!” at the screen—“moof” is the sound the LaserWriter Options dogcow makes.
1998 September 3, David Morgenstein, “BMUG Report: The Cupertino Shuffle”, in MicroTimes, volume 7, number 9, Oakland, California: BAM Publications, page 178:His name, they say, is Clarus. His bark, they say, is Moof.
1998 October 29, Bob LeVitus, “The tail of the dogcow”, in Mac OS 8.5 For Dummies, Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley, →ISBN, page 162:Upon closer examination, I discovered that dogcows actually "speak." In a very excited condition, like being near an open can of Mountain Dew, dogcows will say "Boo Woo! Moof!" But it is much more common to hear them just say, "Moof!"
1989 April 14, Mark Harlan, “The Dogcow”, in Machintosh Technical Notes, number 31, Cupertino, California: Apple Computer, archived from the original on 02 Feb 2004: