$DEITY

From the syntax of environment variables in Unix shells, and the practice of putting paths to user's software of choice in generically named variables like EDITOR or PAGER.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdiː.ɪ.ti/, /ˈdeɪ.ɪ.ti/

$DEITY (plural $DEITIES)

1. (Internet slang, humorous) A generic deity; listener's or reader's god of choice.
   • 2000, Justin Warren, Re: newbie learns an arcane command, alt.sysadmin.recovery, Usenet

     No real init that actually works the way it's supposed to. No snoop. No truss/strace. The whole stupid application install method with it's /opt /etc/opt/, /var/opt, /tmp/var/etc/opt $DEITY dammit!

   • 2000, tim The Enchanter ?, Re: Infested by human scum., alt.gothic, Usenet

     For backorders consult a local priest or general religious leader. the translations contain some minor differences, but the overal scope should be the same. " life is shit. Die and glorious things await you * "
     *fine print: only when you are good in the eyes of $DEITY

   • 2000, 2:1, Re: Malloy digest, comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy, Usenet

     For $DEITY's sake, stop `digesting' each other and advocate something useful!

   • 2003, Benjamin Geiger, Re: Diamond Horseshoe to close, rec.arts.disney.parks, Usenet

     Maybe the good people over at the AC can make some room for the performers... $DEITY knows they're talented enough.

   • 2003, Exatron, Re: Thats Just TOO FRIGGEN COOL!!!!, alt.toys.transformers, Usenet

     You're missing the point if you think Transformers need to adhere to what humans are capable of building. They're an ancient race of alien robots for $DEITY's sake.

   • 2006, Marcus Alexander Hart, Caster's Blog: A Geek Love Story, Lulu.com (→ISBN), page 28

     I'm telling you, you need to just take Shadoe out on your own. Just take her out for $DEITY{possessive} sake!

   • 2006, James Farrar, For $DEITY's sake..., alt.sports.football.pro.sf-49ers, Usenet
   • 2011, John Welch, iOS 5 in the Enterprise, Peachpit Press (→ISBN), page 76

     I'm not the only one, the silly thing just doesn't want to build. Then again, it hasn't been updated in a dog's age. As near as I can tell, no one's done anything with it since 2001. $DEITY knows what OpenSCEP will build on now.

   • 2014, Tom Coffeen, IPv6 Address Planning: Designing an Address Plan for the Future, O'Reilly Media, Inc. (→ISBN)

     In this chapter, we'll take advantage of the topics we learned in Chapters 4 through 6 to walk through building from scratch a couple of sample IPv6 address plans for a (thank $DEITY) fictional company.

   • 2015 March 30, Daniel James, “Re: [anti-topic] rant, idiots should probably avoid”, in comp.mobile.android, Usenet‎:

     Thank $DEITIES for Open Source!

Often substitutes for god/God in set phrases like thank God or for God's sake.

• Jargon File, Chapter 5. Hacker Writing Style