The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):
quadruple bucky
n. obs.
1. On an MIT space-cadet keyboard, use of all four of the shifting keys
(control, meta, hyper, and super) while typing a character key.
2. On a Stanford or MIT keyboard in raw mode, use of four shift keys
while typing a fifth character, where the four shift keys are the control
and meta keys on both sides of the keyboard. This was very difficult to do!
One accepted technique was to press the left-control and left-meta keys
with your left hand, the right-control and right-meta keys with your right
hand, and the fifth key with your nose.
Quadruple-bucky combinations were very seldom used in practice, because
when one invented a new command one usually assigned it to some character
that was easier to type. If you want to imply that a program has
ridiculously many commands or features, you can say something like: ?Oh,
the command that makes it spin the tapes while whistling Beethoven's Fifth
Symphony is quadruple-bucky-cokebottle.? See double bucky, bucky bits,
cokebottle.
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
quadruple bucky
Obsolete. 1. On an MIT space-cadet keyboard, use of all four
of the shifting keys (control, meta, hyper, and super) while
typing a character key.
2. On a Stanford or MIT keyboard in raw mode, use of four
shift keys while typing a fifth character, where the four
shift keys are the control and meta keys on *both* sides of
the keyboard. This was very difficult to do! One accepted
technique was to press the left-control and left-meta keys
with your left hand, the right-control and right-meta keys
with your right hand, and the fifth key with your nose.
Quadruple-bucky combinations were very seldom used in
practice, because when one invented a new command one usually
assigned it to some character that was easier to type. If you
want to imply that a program has ridiculously many commands or
features, you can say something like: "Oh, the command that
makes it spin the tapes while whistling Beethoven's Fifth
Symphony is quadruple-bucky-cokebottle." See double bucky,
bucky bits, cokebottle.
[Jargon File]