The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):
cokebottle
/kohk'bot?l/, n.
Any very unusual character, particularly one you can't type because it
isn't on your keyboard. MIT people used to complain about the
?control-meta-cokebottle? commands at SAIL, and SAIL people complained
right back about the ?escape-escape-cokebottle? commands at MIT. After the
demise of the space-cadet keyboard, cokebottle faded away as serious
usage, but was often invoked humorously to describe an (unspecified) weird
or non-intuitive keystroke command. It may be due for a second inning,
however. The OSF/Motif window manager, mwm(1), has a reserved keystroke for
switching to the default set of keybindings and behavior. This keystroke is
(believe it or not) ?control-meta-bang? (see bang). Since the exclamation
point looks a lot like an upside down Coke bottle, Motif hackers have begun
referring to this keystroke as cokebottle. See also quadruple bucky.
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
cokebottle
/kohk'bot-l/ Any unusual character,
particularly one you can't type because it isn't on your
keyboard. MIT people used to complain about the
"control-meta-cokebottle" commands at SAIL, and SAIL
people complained about the "altmode-altmode-cokebottle"
commands at MIT. After the demise of the space-cadet
keyboard, "cokebottle" was used less, but was often used to
describe weird or non-intuitive keystrokes.
The OSF/Motif window manager, "mwm" keystroke for
switching to the default keybindings and behaviour is
control-meta-bang. Since exclamation mark might be
thought to look like a Coke bottle, Motif hackers referred
to this keystroke as "cokebottle".
See also quadruple bucky.
[Jargon File]
(1995-01-04)