Editing Fsck (section)

==As an expletive==
The severity of file system corruption led to the terms "fsck" and "fscked" becoming used among Unix system administrators as a [[minced oath]] for "[[fuck]]" and "fucked".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/oldversions/jarg415.txt |title=fscking |work=[[The Jargon File]] |date=September 24, 1999 |author-link=Eric S. Raymond |last=Raymond |first=Eric S |quote=fcking: /fus'-king/ or /eff'-seek-ing/ adj. [Usenet; common] ''Fucking'', in the expletive sense (it refers to the Unix filesystem-repair command fsck(1), of which it can be said that if you have to use it at all you are having a bad day). Originated on {[[alt.sysadmin.recovery|scary devil monastery]]} and the [[Bastard Operator From Hell|bofh.net]] newsgroups, but became much more widespread following the passage of {[[Communications Decency Act|CDA]]}. Also occasionally seen in the variant ‘What the fsck?’ |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5mVBHbWKJ?url=http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/oldversions/jarg415.txt |archive-date=2009-01-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It is unclear whether this usage was cause or effect, as a report from a question and answer session at [[USENIX]] 1998 claims that "fsck" originally had a different name:

:'''[[Dennis Ritchie]]''': ''"So fsck was originally called something else"''
:'''Question''': ''"What was it called?"''
:'''Dennis Ritchie''': ''"Well, the second letter was different"''<ref>{{cite web | url=https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/alt.sysadmin.recovery/tsGbbkvHo2c/6T-Pj9d3A6wJ | title=Report from Usenix | publisher=[[Usenet]] | work=alt.sysadmin.recovery | access-date=2016-02-20 | author=Crosby, Matthew}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?MindFsck | title=Mind Fsck | publisher=C2 | work=[[WikiWikiWeb]]}}</ref>

That story has been confirmed by [[Rob Pike]] on the Mastodon social network on December 17, 2023:
{{Blockquote
|author=[[Rob Pike]]
|text=Ted Kowalski, username frodo, may he rest in peace, was the original author, just down the hall from my office in Murray Hill, and his name for the program had a 'u' where there is now an 's'. Management made him change it for distribution, but they couldn't make him change his pronunciation.
|source=<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Rob Pike]]|url=https://hachyderm.io/@robpike/111593487329402102 |title=Rob Pike on Mastodon: the truth on fsck pronunciation and original naming|date=17 December 2023 |access-date=2023-12-18}}</ref>
}}

"Go fsck yourself", is occasionally used online as an injunction to a person to go and correct their issue (attitude, ignorance of the subject matter, etc.) - in the same way that running fsck involves fixing fundamental errors.