The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):
flarp
/flarp/, n.
[Rutgers University] Yet another metasyntactic variable (see foo).
Among those who use it, it is associated with a legend that any program not
containing the word flarp somewhere will not work. The legend is discreetly
silent on the reliability of programs which do contain the magic word.
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
flarp
/flarp/ [Rutgers University] Yet another metasyntactic
variable (see foo). Among those who use it, it is
associated with a legend that any program not containing the
word "flarp" somewhere will not work. The legend is
discreetly silent on the reliability of programs which *do*
contain the magic word.
[Jargon File]