[ABnormal END]
1. Abnormal termination (of software); {crash}; {lossage}. Derives
from an error message on the IBM 360; used jokingly by hackers but
seriously mainly by {code grinder}s. Usually capitalized, but may
appear as `abend'. Hackers will try to persuade you that ABEND is
called abend because it is what system operators do to the machine
late on Friday when they want to call it a day, and hence is from the
German Abend = `Evening'.
2. [alt.callahans] Absent By Enforced Net Deprivation -- used in the
subject lines of postings warning friends of an imminent loss of
Internet access. (This can be because of computer downtime, loss of
provider, moving or illness.) Variants of this also appear: ABVND =
`Absent By Voluntary Net Deprivation' and ABSEND = `Absent By
Self-Enforced Net Deprivation' have been sighted.
[glossary]