Yet another instance of hackerdom's peculiar attraction to
mystical references - a common humorous way of making
exclusive statements about a class of things. The template is
from the "Tao te Ching": "The Tao which can be spoken of is
not the true Tao." The implication is often that the X is a
mystery accessible only to the enlightened. See the
trampoline entry for an example, and compare has the X
nature.
[Jargon File]
Nearby terms:
Theseus « The story of Mel, a Real Programmer « The World Of Cryton « the X that can be Y is not the true X » thicket » thick Ethernet cable » thicknet
